Shocked

Battery technology is advancing rapidly, but I don't quite believe this. The accompanying (considerable) noise was unmistakably four-stroke. Putting two-and two together, in the absence of any reliable information: we have been having short-lived power cuts, lasting only minutes. A friend who is an allotment holder said that men from the National Grid arrived there and asked about a report that nearby power lines had been generating sparks. No-one present knew anything about it, so they discussed growing perennial vegetables instead, and the men left. Now this

There is a great deal of turmoil around electricity. The renewed growth of onshore wind and solar farms. Stuttering investment in offshore wind farms. A developing culture war about pylons and cables taking offshore power from the coast to the power grid. The need to beef up the entire network to support both distributed power generation and the anticipated growth in electric vehicles. Regional pricing: good or bad? Smart meters not rolling out fast enough in the face of customer mis-trust. Can electric heating - specifically heat-pumps - be retro-fitted to existing UK housing stock? The silly mess that is the end result of the Thatcherite fire-sale of public assets in general and power retailers in particular. Burning vast quantities of imported wood-pellets in power stations and calling it 'green' electricity

No easy answers; political resolve and backbone required - a willingness to face down populists bringing simplistic solutions to complex problems. Our recent track-record is not encouraging

Fun to get a picture of the flying machine, but the photo-bombing plantain flower from the green roof (sustainable materials, insulating, natural cooling without air-con, minimising run-off) was a bonus

No power-cut today. Perhaps they found something