Not Much Upstairs

An initiative by the greenest government ever to get Britain's lofts lagged seems on course for the usual whimpering success. The Government's own impact assessment predicts that the number of homes being insulated will drop by more than eighty per cent; however, this must be considered in the context of a previous assessment, which predicted a drop of more than ninety per cent. The Department for Emissions and Copious Carbon extruded a spokesbeing which duly claimed that the lack of delivery was due to the policy's having worked so well: a mere two hundred thousand homes will have no insulation at all by the end of the year, despite the fact that some companies are having to bribe people to let them do the work. Given such glorious incentivisations, small wonder that the greenest government ever has decided to give loft insulation and cavity walls the same treatment as it gives solar energy and other malignant distorters of the fossil fuel market: "We have limited resources and we therefore have to make choices," said the spokesbeing. "Public subsidy must be targeted where it is needed most", and the recent cut in the top tax rate can hardly be expected to sustain Lord Ashcroft for ever.