Does [url=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2531291/What-happened-Blitz-spirit-Kirstie-Allsopp-says-storm-victims-spent-Christmas-without-electricity-spoilt-getting-compensation.htmlKirstie[/url have a point? Have we, as a nation lost that essential streak of resolve that was typified by Londoners during the Blitz? That very British stubbornness of simply dealing with the situation, without making a song and dance about it, like so many of the more theatrical Nations. Have we in an instant communication World, become used to a quick fix solution to all our problems, with a pouty mouthed demand that not only should someone bear responsibility, but we should also receive compensation for our inconvenience?



I watched a news clip, where a woman became quite agitated, not so much that her power had been off for a couple of days, but she hadn't been kept informed as to when it would be restored! I kid you not! If I was up a ladder, in all weathers, attempting to fix and restore a power line, and some local was tugging at my trouser leg demanding to know just when she could get on with her life, I doubt the response would be too diplomatic!



Wouldn't have happened under Maggie.....

A touch of irony that the article is in the Mail, renowned for being utterly hysterical in order to whip up the masses into a frothing frenzy?

Standards are slipping at The Mail, possibly because their regular journos are on xmas break, I mean, they have not mentioned her dress size once in that article or her ample buso-oom.

Its because of the profit is first, do everything on the cheap, privatisation is best dogmatic system that the woman and her cronies created.



This a very big part of the mess the country is in at the moment on so many levels and this kind of rubbish goes a long way to prove it.

How droll. And would the good people of Humberside be whipped up into a frenzy if the article had been carried by the Hull Daily Mail instead?

Since she was never part of the blitz how the hell would she know what blitz spirit was.

It sounds rather gay ... blitz spirit anyone?

Make mine a double!



On a serious note, I had no idea people had lost their power because they were being bombed ... now that IS terrible.

You could always ask them (no point asking me, I don't live there).



Only thing I do know is its not been Humberside for a long time

This from the daughter of a tory peer, who has never known hardship or deprivation in her entire life?



Imagine the temerity of those paying for a service to actually expect compensation for being deprived of that service? Of course contingencies should have been made, the company profiting from providing the "service" should be the ones making those contingencies however, not the customers.



Allslop is correct in one respect though, there are millions who subsist on little electricity, there are also millions who subsist on a low-calorie food intake too, maybe if she followed their lead she could shift some of that blubber she's carrying.

I think the point she was making was about getting compensation rather than feeling downhearted or otherwise upset by being without electricity/being flooded out for Christmas. That she was making such a point so soon after the event was a little insensitive to say the least but I do think that she has a point. People seek compensation now for pretty much anything and everything, which probably shows up something other than the theatrical in our culture.



As for a Blitz spirit, some of the people interviewed did indeed show such a spirit. They were clearly upset by what had happened but could also recognise that it was nobody's fault that the wind blew at 80mph and felled trees which landed on power lines or that bucket loads of rain swelled the rivers to the degree where they overtopped and flooded houses. There was the couple who planned to barbeque their turkey, another family who had moved the fridge upstairs and ate their Christmas dinner in their son's bedroom. Then there was the woman who took her turkey to a community get together at a place which still had power and shared it out. Those individuals when interviewed suggested that the Blitz mentality is still alive and well, albeit possibly in the minority of people. I found those people heartening to listen to.

I agree, but that culture has been actively encouraged by the right and the free market. Every time we turn something, be it a service like the post, energy, healthcare, bus etc into simply yet another product like a DVD then we expect the same level of compensation when that thing doesn't work.

Given the ridiculous increases in energy bills over the last few years damn right I would want compensation if the service that I had paid an extortionate amount of money for was not provided.

On the other hand if you've not been able to use any electricity for five days then you won't have been charged for any either, the only compensation you should be "entitled" to is five days worth of any standing charges, which is going to be pretty feeble.