In the beginning there was fire. Just as cavemen once crouched around the flames, so coal scuttles and mantelpieces became the focus of modern life. “There’s an emotional connection between people and combustible energy sources,” says the environmental historian Melanie Arndt of Albert Ludwig University, Freiburg.

Now coal is on its way out, so are wood burners, and governments in Europe are poking in people’s cellars, telling them to change their living habits in the next few months. That’s how Germans are beginning to see it and it’s no good telling them that they voted for it. As the net zero deadlines gallop closer, as states get tougher in their restrictions, so political tensions are starting to crackle across Europe.

Britain should watch out. It’s coming our way unless we work out new ways of mustering public support for the big climate decisions.

[UPDATE: I’m hearing this is paywalled which, of course, it wasn’t when I put it up, dang it.]