Does this strike you as being EXTREMELY reminiscent of the US power outages a couple weeks ago? I mean I've heard the explanation for NE outage was simply a mechanical failure...however it seems highly suspicious that both of our nations were hit by a wide-spread power outage only a few weeks apart. Call is conspiracymongering if you like, but it seems a little too odd for coincidence.

No, Matt, it struck me the same way. I mean, we've had power outages before, but they're usually presaged by brownouts or localized problems or heat waves and energy usage warnings for days. These two seemed to come out of nowhere.

I don't know about conspiracy, but...computer fallout from the latest internet worms, maybe?

Oh good grief! You guys had better climb done off that Grassy Knoll, right now.

George Peery writes:

"Oh good grief! You guys had better climb done off that Grassy Knoll, right now."

I don't know about those two, but I'm staying right where I am. It is far too coincidental and, identically, without any obvious cause.

Y'all come over to Texas. We have our own grid. AC for everyone!

Of course, you'll have to deal with excessively high temperatures of a sort not seen in Britain for at least 2 weeks.

No conspiracies. It's just that it rained for the first time in a month and took the system by surprise. Britain just isn't set up for weather. Of any kind.

Once is happenstance,
Twice is coincidence,
Three times means war.

-some chicago gangster

I'm in Selhurst in south London, just north of Croydon. The power is fine here, and has been all afternoon. Unfortunately it is raining. Thus the big positive of blackouts - a better view of Mars - isn't happening for those people who may have one.

The BBC is reporting that power is back everywhere, so it looks like it was a fairly minor event. I'm sure Samizdata HQ will be reporting in soon.

Has the Beeb blamed Tony Blair's pro-war stance on Iraq yet? Or are they simply blaming the Americans as usual?

No, I'm staying with the “conspiracists” (conspiracist?!?! Is that a word??) on this one.

Obviously the BBC management ordered all their employees to turn on their “electric fires” at once to create a power failure and draw all the unwanted attention away from the “BBC feeding frenzy” going on.

Or…..that twit, Graham Norton, has something to do with this…..doesn’t he work for the BBC too???

Oooooh, I'm geting goosebumps...more conspiracy here than meets the eye…….

Apparently the powers back on now, and the cuts were fairly localised covering only Brixton, Battersea, and London Bridge and the tube network. Not really in the same league as the US cuts. Still that's not to say the won't be alot of angry commuters who poor souls will have been on jam packed trains at 6:15.

Can someone tell me if the electrical grid and power companies are private or state owned?

I'm thinking one of the Mad Mullahs of London stuck his fork in the socket...electricity, after all, is haram to all good muslims and an example of crusader perfidy.

It's all privately owned. Mrs Thatcher sold the lot.

Things were only off for half an hour at most.

Unfortunately train services out of Cannon Street were stopped for an extra hour because passengers had jumped off trains between stations and the power had to be kept off until they were all rounded up.

Has the Beeb blamed Tony Blair's pro-war stance on Iraq yet?

No, but the two senators from New York are on a jet to London now, to address Parliament. They will tell you that it is the fault of the Republicans because of deregulation, and that the grid must be nationalised. Wait a minute...

O.K. I refuse to let a perfectly good conspiracy be led astray by something as mundane as "facts."

What about those militant Scots wacko environmentalists who are trying to preserve the breeding grounds for the highland Haggises (Haggi??)

How about those “Isle of Wight” separatists????

I was in London working for a big client and the computer systems have been overwhelmed by the latest worms, servers were going down repeatedly and the phones kept cutting out. I couldn't do any work. So bad that I left at 4pm and avoided all the chaos by getting out of London before the power went (whew) I reckon it was the recent couple of major virus outbreaks hitting the grid control systems but it would be commercial suicide for a company to admit it was not properly protected.