As we’ve been known to say around here if you wish folk to change the way they do things then create that alternative first. Show that it is indeed better than the current method and people will voluntarily switch. That people don’t switch is, in and of itself, all the proof needed to show that it is not, in fact, better. At which point why would you ban the first method in order to force the uptake of the new and worse?

New natural gas-only boilers are facing a ban within four years under net zero proposals for the grid to use hydrogen instead.

All boilers installed after 2026 would have to be hydrogen-ready under the plan, which the Government announced in a consultation on Tuesday.

No, that’s the ban coming first, that’s the wrong way to do it. The proof being:

Subzero temperatures are pushing Britain’s already struggling industrial sector to the brink, heralding a winter of shutdowns that could do lasting damage.

Wholesale electricity prices soared on Sunday as the first snowfall of winter prompted a scramble to secure power supplies. While households are protected by the price cap, industry must pay the higher prices if they are to secure the power needed to run their businesses.

Gareth Stace, director of industry association UK Steel, said very high wholesale electricity prices on Monday caused all his members to shut down some production until rates settled again.

We’ve banned fracking, banned thermal coal in any useful sense, forced the building of windmills and solar, both things that don’t, in fact, work well in winter stills at our high latitudes. The result? Industry has to close down. The correct answer was and is, as above, build the new and better first and gawp in amazement as all voluntarily switch to the new and better.

And if it’s not better they won’t switch and why should they switch to something worse? Further, if they won’t switch we’ve our proof that it’s not better.

Striving to make the world a better place is an excellent activity. But the sequence has to be build the better first, not ban the old and hope like hell.