Snowed under

This is, in a way, a rather trivial post but then again it's not. When snow falls in the UK we seem to inevitably come to a standstill. That's fine; but when the snow starts to stick, as it is right now, people start to complain. That's fine too; it causes enormous disruptions and we never seem really very prepared.
However, there has been much speculation this week on whether we could be more prepared. There are key issues with this. Even though the snow right now feels (and has been described as) rather Scandinavian, unlike Scandinavian countries we cannot know when snow will hit, for how long and where. So gritting the roads constantly from November until late March would definitely not be cost effective.

We also have the issue of how much government intervention we actually want in natural emergencies. By this I don't mean that they should leave us to it. I admire Philip Hammond for demanding an enquiry as to why we aren't prepared in the reserve for unusually long freezes. However, do you really want a Westminster agency, along the lines of FEMA in the US, to be in control of recovery in your area? What I mean here is that councils are much more aware of the local situation and can assess needs minute by minute. The gritting on main roads in the east, for example, has been particularly effective this year.

It seems that unless we become truly Scandinavian there isn't much of a choice. As long as the gritters are ready to go, which they have been following last year's disastrously poor showing, then the council can't much help that visibility is poor and schools feel entitled to close. For now let's wrap up and hold tight.