It is remarkable how a country can adjust to diminished expectations. Think of Japan post-Fukushima, or even post-war Britain under rationing. By December 2029, Britain, governed by the Green-Your Party coalition under prime minister Zack Polanski, will have quickly learned how to make do with very little. Let’s wind forward four years.

Four years from now, Polanski’s new government has spent its initial months in power congratulating itself on an historic decision to decommission all North Sea oil and gas sites and accelerate the phase-out of nuclear power. ‘A Christmas gift to the planet,’ ministers call it as they do the rounds on Good Morning Britain, Newsnight and PoliticsJOE.

Yet, energy, it turned out, had been rather useful. Even before the shutdown, British households were straining under high electricity costs. Back in mid-2024, the UK already had some of the highest domestic energy prices in Europe, ranking fourth highest on the continent. Families paying close to 30p per kWh were ready for someone, anyone, to try something different.

Such changes were defended as a cure for the moral rot of consumerism

When the grid began rationing households to pre-ordained ‘usage windows’, the public accepted it with the weary good manners of a people long accustomed to apologising for being inconvenienced. Rooms were lit briefly each evening; entertainment ended once families retired to blankets and solar-powered torches. Officials described this as an ‘opportunity to rediscover low-impact........

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