No cold comfort here

Hypothermia deaths are up again from 950 in 2006/07 to 1,876 in 2010/11 almost doubled in fact, no doubt the recent cold snap will have claimed a few more. It used to just be pensioners at risk at this time of year, but the risk has moved into other age groups too as fuel prices consume a much higher percentage of a household budget than they did  10 years ago.
Mail.

Frozen to death as fuel bills soar: Hypothermia cases among the elderly double in five years

• 1,876 patients treated for hypothermia in 2010/11
• Hypothermia death toll within 30 days up from 135 to 260
• Coincides with a surge in energy prices
• Industry analyst estimates 8 out of 10 households ration energy use

Age UK says a quarter of all pensioners live in fuel poverty
The number of pensioners dying from hypothermia has nearly doubled in five years, a period when a succession of cold winters has been coupled with drastic rises in energy bills.
The official figures emerged after several days of Arctic conditions which drove temperatures across the whole country as low as minus 10C (14F).
They showed that 1,876 patients were treated in hospital for hypothermia in 2010/11, up from 950 in 2006/07.
An industry analyst, uSwitch has calculated that in 80% of home energy is being rationed, and called for a cut in VAT on energy bills. 

Some people are complaining that energy firms are making a profit, though I'd expect any firm anywhere to try and make a profit, the profit margins though come on top of government levies such as VAT (20%) and the so called "environmental or green levy" (12%) so 32% of the charges you get go directly to the government, not the supplier, yes that's right, 1/3rd of your fuel bill goes straight into the governments coffers to pay no doubt for bird mincers and expensive solar panels which are then subsidised so they can sell you back the expensive power produced and line the pockets of those who have invested in the useless "green" energy scam.
This government and the previous one have put in place measure that have killed people struggling on the margins of financial stability. They have instituted policies that have driven up the price of heating a home in the name of non existent global warming and the cost has been thousands of our elderly and infirm dying of the cold in the winters they claimed were becoming a thing of the past.
Yet they show no sense of shame, will not remove their grubby paws from out of our pockets and their influence away from our lives.
I wonder just how many would die if say we reduced their heating bills by a third?
They wont though, they'd rather have blood on their hands than give up on their cherished principles of preparing the country for something that isn't happening...