A Burning Issue

Despite apocalyptic warnings to the contrary, most of London avoided avalanches on their way to work this morning. And as global warming is the new religion, we could be forgiven for believing that this was the last snowfall ever. Bing Crosby, your dream is officially dead. And it is us, the sinners, who are too busy burning fuel, driving cars, heating offices, consuming goods and flying planes, to accept responsibility.

All of which makes for great timing as tonight the Pool of London will be hosting London's first ever festival of light - Switched On London. A number of sites alongside the river have been chosen - including London Bridge, HMS Belfast and the Tower of London - to be temporarily lit in dramatic and theatrical ways by some of the best lighting designers and manufacturers in the UK. All of which is timed to coincide with the architectural lighting show, ARC show, at the Business Design Centre. The festival also includes sustainable street lights powered by donkey dung (which has nothing on hair salon, Hari's, bull semen hair treatment!) The aim is to get Londoners thinking about energy use at night and to promote the responsible use of light for urban improvement.

Apparently all of the festival lighting costs less to run than the building's usual illuminations. Which begs the question: is the festival more about saving jobs for lighting maunfacturers or saving energy? Because surely the best answer is to just switch off?

Switched on London, Pool of London
8th-16th February
4PM to Midnight
Free