Peter Rhodes on computers, confusion and how war-fever can spread like wildfire

My guess is that there wouldn't be much enthusiasm. An old soldier once told me that when army reservists were called up for the 1956 Suez Crisis, half the mobilisation letters were returned with “B****cks” written on them. And yet strange things can happen when the drums begin to roll.

I once interviewed the First World War historian Lyn Macdonald who, as the Falklands War kicked off in 1982, went to see the Task Force sailing from Portsmouth. She was horrified. She honestly believed that the riotous, flag-waving hysteria of 1914 would never be seen again and yet here was modern Britain, whipped into war fever against Argentina in a matter of days and waving the lads goodbyee. She stood on the dockside and wept.

Some days ago, mindful that I hadn't seen an electricity bill for some time, I checked my account online and found I owed them just under £300. This was less than I expected so over the next few days I made a couple of payments which should have taken my balance to about zero. I then checked my account online and found I was in surplus - by a whopping £1,200.

In a fit of honesty, I emailed the energy company pointing out this could not be correct. The company agreed and said the correct figure was £390 in credit. The next day an energy statement arrived by post. It runs to 13 sides of A4 with dozens of readings, calculations and “reversed charges” and concludes that my new balance is £905 in credit. Their latest email says, with not an ounce of irony: “I hope this has cleared the confusion.”