So: whose fault is it? The winter chaos I mean.

It was fun before Christmas but we have all grown heartily sick of it and there is now rumour of crisis. The Independent on Sunday’s front page was a bumper crop of statistics: £690 million in lost production, 14,188 cancelled trains, 25 deaths and so on. The Army is on standby in Kent, the fire brigade is delivering meals on wheels and farmers report that they can’t get crops out of the ground. Meanwhile there are warnings of gas shortages.

Locally people are cursing councils for failing to grit roads and pavements. Some of this blame is legitimate. Last February was a wake up call but many authorities simply batted away opposition criticisms and said that the circumstances were extraordinary. Stockpiling did not take place. New suppliers were not sought out and so an even longer cold snap caught them out again.

The salting priorities also look suspect. My own county council boasted in December (it has been boasting almost daily during the cold snap) that it had gritted around schools. This was on the last day of term when the vast majority of schools had closed. Major roads remain untreated because they are not considered as key thoroughfares by the distant powers in county hall. Pavements have been done, if at all, because district councils had managed to beg some supplies from county.

Most of the culprits are Conservative controlled and so it is small wonder that the Tory front bench has criticised the government – a diversionary tactic in the face of some serious public anger.

But the story is more complex. Why do people ring the police to complain about snowball fights? Why have people been phoning the fire brigade to ask for help because ‘my car is stuck in the drive’? Why do schools close? Why do motorists get stuck in snow?

Some of the answer is the infantilisation of society. Snowball fights are what children do: if they don’t they should be made to (and forced to play conkers for that matter). If your car is stuck in your drive that is your problem. And schools should stay open, especially if snowfalls are heavy.

Some is the joy of snow days. I got to county hall last week – but many councillors from the same part of Hertfordshire mysteriously could not make it.

Some is just not coping: buying a fancy rear-wheel drive car and then discovering its uselessness on icy roads. Or not knowing how to turn into a skid. Or not having the right footwear. Or not saying: weather happens and life goes on but I’ll need to change a few things.

The real worry, though, is the gas. We are vulnerable in energy terms in ways we were not in the cold winters of the 40s and 60s when we sat on an island of coal. The Russians know this.

And this one really is the Government’s fault.