Bright Sparks

During the Party conference season we are treated to people bounding up to the rostrum to say they are going to make extensive changes to make everybody, if not rich, then a lot better off and happy. The buzz word is "transforming".

History tells us that when politicians go in for major changes the one certain thing is that while some people will gain, notably politicians and their affiliates, banks, money men, bureaucrats and those of that ilk down among the workers and peasantry necessarily there are many who will be worse off.

It is arguable that one of the things that did make ordinary people a lot better off was the invention of electricity which owed little or nothing to politicians who, if anything, largely delayed many of its applications and insisted on organising in a way that slowed the rate of progress as well as adding to the costs.

If we go back to 1885 and 1886 in the UK we had a major political shambles when Gladstone's Liberals fell apart after the 1885 General Election despite being the winners only to lose the 1886 one which let in the Conservatives led by Lord Salisbury. There was a lot of change in all this and in Ireland and India certainly transforming was to be had.

Meanwhile in 1885 three Hungarian engineers and in 1886 William Stanley of Westinghouse Electrical on sick leave came up with devices called Constant Electrical Transformer's. This major advance in technology allowed the supply of electricity we have in the modern world to be available on a large scale and for everyone.

The populations of the world and especially those in the UK have a lot more to thank these men for than we have for either Gladstone or Salisbury or any later ruling powers of all nations, including the so-called "democratic" ones. During all the wars, internal disruptions, strikes etc. all too often the lights were turned off.

So when you turn on the TV for the news and get a lecture from a politician about transforming, make sure you have the oil you will need for the lamps and heaters for when the transformers needed for your electrical supply are turned off.