Burning books to stay warm

Over at Wattsupwiththat.com there's a report that pensioners in Swansea are buying old encyclopaedias and hardback books to burn in their fires. At 5 or 10p a volume, they're cheaper than a bag of coal.
Read this
"
Metro News, 5 January 2010
Excerpts:

Hard-up pensioners have resorted to buying books from charity shops and burning them to keep warm.

…

Temperatures this week are forecast to plummet as low as -13ºC in the Scottish Highlands, with the mercury falling to -6ºC in London, -5ºC in Birmingham and -7ºC in Manchester as one of the coldest winters in years continues to bite. Workers at one charity shop in Swansea, in south Wales, described how the most vulnerable shoppers were seeking out thick books such as encyclopaedias for a few pence because they were cheaper than coal.
A lot of them buy up large hardback volumes so they can stick them in the fire to last all night.’
A 500g book can sell for as little as 5p, while a 20kg bag of coal costs £5."

Unfortunately we don't have a fireplace so it's the gas central heating for us. The current freeze is having an effect on supplies, so I'm hearing that we'll have to import more gas, and pay more for it as well.

The wind farm at Burton Latimer hasn't turned a blade in days or even weeks, just to prove how unreliable wind power is. So the coal fired power stations are keeping the country's electricity supply going. And the greens want to shut them down.

We have nothing to fear from global warming, only from its adherents. It's the cold that will kill us.