Blackouts - nothing to see here

Photo by Ricardo IV Tamayo on Unsplash

The Story

Whether it be the increase in sexual assaults in during the refugee crisis, the efficacy of Covid measures, or last year’s “temporary” rise in inflation, the pattern of public discourse is always the same.

On each occasion, the far-right twists the issue out of all proportion, elements of the mainstream media play the problem down, and overwhelmed government agencies give schizophrenic messaging that only unnerves the public more.

This winter it is the turn of blackouts hitting the electricity grid.

At the weekend, the head of the Civil Office for Disaster Protection (BBK), Ralph Tiesler, told Die Welt newspaper:

“We have to assume that there will be blackouts this winter. By this I mean a regional and temporary interruption to the power supply. The cause will not only be energy shortages, but also the targeted, temporary shutdown of the networks by the operators, with the aim of protecting them and not endangering the overall supply.”

He went…