Clothing choice key for reducing energy bills

In this week's Gossage, our columnist ponders whether clothes really do make the man, especially considering they could have a significant impact on reducing energy bills.

All TV news programmes love to screen vox pops. They consist of inviting unidentified members of the public to pontificate about a key topical item. Right now, nothing is more contentious than the enormous price hikes for electricity and gas purchases, being endured by just about everybody. 

Cameras are stuck in front of indignant householders, filmed standing at their front door. On each occasion, the person waxes eloquently (or, failing that, loudly) about the enormous burden being placed upon both them and their nearest and dearest by these vast fuel bills, and expresses concern/horror/despair about how they will ever manage to get these bills paid. 

What astonishes me is just how many of these interviewees agree to be filmed emerging from their home wearing just a T-shirt or a singlet on even the coldest of days. In my view, only those wearing a thick jumper and (preferably) a nice woolly hat deserve to be listened to. They at any rate have appreciated that wearing these warm clothes enables the indoor thermostat to be turned several degrees down; thereby significantly reducing the size of precisely the energy bills they are moaning about.