Is it the mission of our overlords to make everyday life less convenient? Is there any intrusion into our homes that cannot be justified in the name of net zero and the environment? And for those wanting to enjoy the full domestic luxury that many of us once took for granted, is the only option to move across the Atlantic to the United States?
Domestic abundance – from huge and groaning fridges churning out ice on demand to universal dishwashers – were once an American preserve that the British could only look at with astonishment and envy. In 1969, the United States did not just offer a glimpse into the future of mankind with the Apollo moon landing, its kitchens were almost as extraordinary.
Gradually these modern wonderments became widely available over here too. In 1970, only a very small percentage, under 140,000 households, possessed a tumble dryer. By 1980, around 20pc of homes had one, and today it is over 50pc.
But 20th-century convenience has sadly faced an inevitable backlash. Our politicians are once more snatching these innovations from us. Of course, the now-shelved ban on new domestic gas boilers was a notorious example of such nannying, but plenty remain.
The latest imposition is Ed Miliband’s planned ban on the sale of traditional tumble dryers. Consumers will have to buy more expensive heat pump dryers costing on average £40 more. The new-style machines will operate at a lower temperature, taking longer to dry our clothes and imparting less of that comforting tumble dryer fluffiness to our towels. There are also reports that these new appliances are much noisier. For decades, manufacturers have promised ever quieter appliances, but no longer.
Lower appliance temperatures have long made life less convenient for British parents. To give just one example, American dishwashers are much hotter than European ones. Accordingly, cleansing baby bottles involves greater palaver in Hampshire than it would in New Hampshire. NHS advice is that it is insufficient to place formula bottles – their very use is of course regarded as sinful by many of the natural childrearing brigade – in the dishwasher. No, they need to be sterilised afterwards.
In the US, the official Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises that the dishwasher treatment is sufficient, provided it has a sufficiently hot setting: “If you use a dishwasher with hot water and a heated drying cycle to clean infant feeding items, a separate sanitising step is not necessary.”
Hotter dishwashers just work better. They bring you cleaner crockery. But due to energy efficiency and environmental concerns, we are left with subpar domestic gadgetry.
The latest tumble dryer manoeuvre is, in truth, not just about environmental dogma. It has as much to do with European alignment and Starmer’s Brexit reset.
As Jim Allister, the Traditional Unionist Voice MP, pointed out, the Windsor Framework means that the EU’s dishwasher regulations had to be imposed on Northern Ireland – adopting such measures is a consequence of the decision to keep that part of the UK within the Single Market. Rather than having divergent regulations on either side of the Irish Sea, the Government has decided to impose the EU’s rules on the whole of the UK.
Allister has put it well: “The reason why the sale of new vented and condenser tumble dryers is being banned in England, Wales and Scotland is because the EU has already banned it in Northern Ireland and having the ban in one part of the UK, but not the other, doesn’t work.” This gives Labour a convenient excuse to do what it would like to do anyway – cosy up to Brussels.
As Allister says: “In truth, however, the fact that part of the UK effectively remains in the EU is hugely helpful in providing Starmer with justification for seeking to undermine Brexit in the rest of the UK under the cover of needing to avoid divergence within the UK. This is a strategy that extends far beyond tumble dryers!”
The fact that the policy can be given an environmental gloss is the icing on the cake.
How should consumers respond? It is being reported that retailers are experiencing a surge in demand for the traditional machines. This is an act of resistance we can perhaps all embrace, making our own lives easier and more comfortable, while at the same time sticking two fingers up at environmentalist dogma and the creeping reversal of Brexit.
Is it the mission of our overlords to make everyday life less convenient? Is there any intrusion into our homes that cannot be justified in the name of net zero and the environment? And for those wanting to enjoy the full domestic luxury that many of us once took for granted, is the only option to move across the Atlantic to the United States?
Domestic abundance – from huge and groaning fridges churning out ice on demand to universal dishwashers – were once an American preserve that the British could only look at with astonishment and envy. In 1969, the United States did not just offer a glimpse into the future of mankind with the Apollo moon landing, its kitchens were almost as extraordinary.
Gradually these modern wonderments became widely available over here too. In 1970, only a very small percentage, under 140,000 households, possessed a tumble dryer. By 1980, around 20pc of homes had one, and today it is over 50pc.
But 20th-century convenience has sadly faced an inevitable backlash. Our politicians are once more snatching these innovations from us. Of course, the now-shelved ban on new domestic gas boilers was a notorious example of such nannying, but plenty remain.
The latest imposition is Ed Miliband’s planned ban on the sale of traditional tumble dryers. Consumers will have to buy more expensive heat pump dryers costing on average £40 more. The new-style machines will operate at a lower temperature, taking longer to dry our clothes and imparting less of that comforting tumble dryer fluffiness to our towels. There are also reports that these new appliances are much noisier. For decades, manufacturers have promised ever quieter appliances, but no longer.
Lower appliance temperatures have long made life less convenient for British parents. To give just one example, American dishwashers are much hotter than European ones. Accordingly, cleansing baby bottles involves greater palaver in Hampshire than it would in New Hampshire. NHS advice is that it is insufficient to place formula bottles – their very use is of course regarded as sinful by many of the natural childrearing brigade – in the dishwasher. No, they need to be sterilised afterwards.
In the US, the official Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises that the dishwasher treatment is sufficient, provided it has a sufficiently hot setting: “If you use a dishwasher with hot water and a heated drying cycle to clean infant feeding items, a separate sanitising step is not necessary.”
Hotter dishwashers just work better. They bring you cleaner crockery. But due to energy efficiency and environmental concerns, we are left with subpar domestic gadgetry.
The latest tumble dryer manoeuvre is, in truth, not just about environmental dogma. It has as much to do with European alignment and Starmer’s Brexit reset.
As Jim Allister, the Traditional Unionist Voice MP, pointed out, the Windsor Framework means that the EU’s dishwasher regulations had to be imposed on Northern Ireland – adopting such measures is a consequence of the decision to keep that part of the UK within the Single Market. Rather than having divergent regulations on either side of the Irish Sea, the Government has decided to impose the EU’s rules on the whole of the UK.
Allister has put it well: “The reason why the sale of new vented and condenser tumble dryers is being banned in England, Wales and Scotland is because the EU has already banned it in Northern Ireland and having the ban in one part of the UK, but not the other, doesn’t work.” This gives Labour a convenient excuse to do what it would like to do anyway – cosy up to Brussels.
As Allister says: “In truth, however, the fact that part of the UK effectively remains in the EU is hugely helpful in providing Starmer with justification for seeking to undermine Brexit in the rest of the UK under the cover of needing to avoid divergence within the UK. This is a strategy that extends far beyond tumble dryers!”
The fact that the policy can be given an environmental gloss is the icing on the cake.
How should consumers respond? It is being reported that retailers are experiencing a surge in demand for the traditional machines. This is an act of resistance we can perhaps all embrace, making our own lives easier and more comfortable, while at the same time sticking two fingers up at environmentalist dogma and the creeping reversal of Brexit.