Leading article: Cold comfort
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Icebergs in the North Sea. Panic stations! What next? A polar bear "threat" to Skegness? In reality, there are lumps of ice in the North Sea, which is hardly surprising, given the recent cold snap. Even salt water freezes eventually.
One wonders when we got so fearful about cold weather. This is no excuse for the mannagers of our airports, who have shabbily treated those passengers stuck in terminals for days. It is just to point out that cold winters per se are nothing unusual in this country.
The late 17th century, for example, marked the start of a mini-ice age in Britain, which some scientists see as enduring well into the Victoran era. People just got on with it and, indeed, made good use of the long cold snaps, with winter "frost fairs" becoming a regular occurence on the River Thames.
Much more recently, plenty of people alive today can recall the freezing winters of 1947 and 1963, when the snow really did lie deep and thick and even, to quote from a well-known carol. The difference was that far fewer people went anywhere at all in winter.
That was a time for hunkering down round a blazing fire at home. If colder winters of the type that they had in Restoration England are to become the norm, we may have to learn to do the same.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments