Energy-saving advice is load of hot air

LORD, I’m tired.

Not of life or through heat-induced lack of sleep but tired of reading wellmeaning articles about how to save on energy costs.

Because, however well intentioned, however well written, they are ultimately pointless. No amount of tin foil behind the radiator or switching off the stand-by on the telly is going to truly tackle the eye watering bills coming down the line for us all.

It’s like attempting to offset a tsunami wave with a few sandbags.

Some of these jaunty ‘10 ways to save on fuel costs!’ lists set my teeth on edge, too, with their tone of patronising helpfulness.

Telling families already struggling to put food on the table that they should double glaze their home or buy more efficient appliances would be laughable if it wasn’t so cruel.

Why not take a three month cruise this winter? That will cut the cost of heating the house!

And yet as much as these lists and advice grate on my nerves it is all we have to go on, all we have to refer to by way of answers or guidance.

The Prime Minister – remember him? – has just returned from holiday but he might as well have stayed in sunnier climes (saves on the heating!)

given how little the man in charge of the country is doing to tackle the coming storm.

Forecasts this week predict energy prices could rise by 82%, taking average annual bills to £3,500 by this October. A further rise in January may see that figure tip over £4,000.

The figures are scary.

The consequences are scarier, yet nobody is even pretending to be in charge.

Instead we’re being treated to the melodrama of a Tory leadership battle when the real fight – for people’s homes and jobs and even lives – is pressing down upon us.

You might think that the two people fighting to be in charge when this catastrophe hits might have a plan. But you would be wrong.

Liz Truss is firm she isn’t going to give ‘handouts’ (don’t you love that word? She could have said ‘help’ or ‘aid’ but ‘handouts.’ It’s almost Dickensian). Or maybe she is. It’s a bit confusing.

Anyway, she’s going to cut taxes which, of course, is the best news ever – if you pay tax, which those most in need don’t.

Meanwhile there’s Rishi ‘I’m just like you with a hole in my £450 shoe’

Sunak. Well, I’m not sure what his policies are to offset the coming mayhem but I’m sure he’ll wear a nice suit when he announces them.

It’s almost as if there’s an acceptance, a what-can-you-do shrug, that millions will be plunged into poverty in the coming months.

The short term answer is clear. While the politicians scrap among themselves put someone sensible in charge, like consumer champion Martin Lewis.

He has no political credentials but it feels as if he’s on our side.

And that gets my vote every time.