A nation of wimps led by chimps

Stress testing is a basic tool of science. Whether you want to measure men or machines, countries or companies, apply a bit of pressure then check out the results. The weak and incompetent fold as the screws tighten, while the strong and efficient thrive and prosper.

Put the UK under stress by introducing a tad of snow and watch the collapse. It is hard to argue that any country whose transport system can be paralysed by snowflakes is not pretty poorly managed. To call us Third World in our response to this climatic challenge risks libelling most developing countries.

How did a nation that built an empire, won two world wars and led the planet in industrial innovation come to this? There is not just a shortage of grit in the councils’ highway depots, but in our national character. We have become a nation of wimps led by chimps.

We maintained public transport and emergency services in the Blitz even if we never quite matched the Japanese, who had trams running in Hiroshima the day after the bomb dropped.

Now our buses and ambulances throw in the towel at the first blow: school closures create chaos, and gas supplies run dangerously low because we have not bothered to invest in proper storage.

I had plenty of time to think about this as I sat outside Peterborough Station on the train to London, blocked by an earlier train that broke down because presumably it didn’t like the cold.

The incompetence of the company running the train service and its lack of organisational skills was disconcerting, but more telling was the other passengers’ attitude to the delay and the lack of information about it.

They didn’t give a toss. I never heard a complaint, a raised voice or a grumpy comment. Perhaps they were all on Prozac. En masse, they just didn’t care.

Well, I care and at DFS we made sure the access roads and car parks at our stores, factories and head office were all gritted and safe to use, and our staff came to work wherever humanly possible.

Perhaps motivation improves when people work for family companies rather than faceless conglomerates or the Government. We continued to market strongly, emphasised the web and sold many millions of pounds worth of furniture on the days when much of Britain gave up.

We were not alone. Plenty of retailers continued to advertise and trade in below freezing conditions, just as they do year in year out in Alaska, Switzerland and Russia. By the time you read this we may well be basking in a heatwave, but it is important not to forget the lessons retailers could teach the public sector.

Perhaps Terry Leahy or Justin King should be drafted in to advise the incompetents who control our destiny that it might be a good idea to keep a bit of salt in stock for times of peak demand.

Or they could ask my pal Malcolm Walker, who after all runs Iceland - the company - and knows a thing or two about picking up from incompetents and handling the cold.

As for Iceland the country, seeing how we coped with their everyday weather, who can blame them for recognising what a joke we are and refusing to hand back our cash?

Lord Kirkham is chairman of DFS