AND FINALLY: Lest we forget

In December 1952 a thick fog descended on London.  No bus to school.  In fact we walked in front to help the driver.

The cause.

A period of cold weather, combined with an anticyclone and windless conditions, collected airborne pollutants—mostly arising from the use of coal in power stations and households to form a thick layer of smog over the city.

A change of weather meant the smog lifted after five days.

It is thought that eventually 12,000 people died and 150,000 were hospitalised from its effects.

Something to think about.

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OUR READERS' FINEST WORDS (All times and dates are GMT)

All comments are filtered to exclude any excesses but the Editor does not have to agree with what is being said. 100 words maximum

Andrew Sharp, Surbiton

There was also a report in the FT recently that, while around 3500 died in China from coronavirus, 20 times that number normally die in China in January and February from polluted air. Many of those lives were saved this year because the polluting factories were shut down. Some of that pollution eventually ends up here, of course!

Paul Kay, London, UK

...So the majority of these 12,000 good people survived the B****Y war which ended 84 months earlier with many of those brave people returning from the front line back to peace and tranquility...."Where They Kept The Home Fires Burning".... Obscure Adage?..."Look Carefully At What Your Doing Now However Right And Normal It Seems and 'THINK' Hard... So As The New People In our Front Line Do Not Have To Suffer In Their Future"....

David Starkie, London

Smogs like this continued even after the 1956 Clean Air Act (bad one in 62?). Incidentally, it was calculated that about 12% of smoke came from steam locos at one time.