If there’s one thing dull British politicians often get excited about, it’s insulating the nation’s draughty homes.

As boring as it sounds, cavity-wall insulation was one of the great green hopes of Gordon Brown when he was UK prime minister. More recently, energy secretary Claire Coutinho committed the Conservative government to spending £1 billion on insulating 300,000 homes. The Great British Insulation Scheme was one of many government-funded insulation initiatives that have cropped up in recent years. It was sold not only as a way to knock hundreds of pounds off household bills, but also as a huge win for making the UK a more environmentally friendly place.

It’s easy to forget how much of a fuss was made over insulation just a couple of years ago. So much, in fact, that an entire protest group formed around the cause. Insulate Britain, founded by members of sister group Extinction Rebellion, proved to be a monumental nuisance to the public throughout 2021. Insulate Britain rose to infamy by blocking off major roads, stopping people from going to work, travelling on holiday and even getting to hospital. Activists demanded that the government pledge ‘a low-energy and low-carbon retrofit of all homes in Britain by 2030’.