What should we make of confusing EU/government edicts which are forcing us to adopt a not-so-brilliant way to light our homes?

It was only last year that my own temperature started to rise when Eurocrats decided that no more mercury-filled thermometers were to be made, on the grounds that the toxic heavy metal is a danger to humans, the ecosystem and wildlife.

I don't recall an outbreak of exploding thermometers making the news. But it seems only commonsense to assume that similar products would also get the boot from our homes and workplaces.

Not a bit of it!

We now learn that those pesky, newfangled, energy-saving light bulbs pose a greater threat to our well-being than the humble thermometer ever did!

They are literally timebombs ticking away in your light sockets.

It's all because of their mercury content, of course.

But there's no chance of THEM being snuffed out — they're here to stay, with sales of all the old incandescent bulbs scheduled to be banned in four years' time.

Many retailers have already started the process by not selling the 150watt variety.

Why the safety fears?

Official advice from the Department of the Environment states that if a low-energy bulb is smashed, the room needs to be vacated for at least 15 minutes.

A vacuum cleaner should not be used to clear up the debris, and care should be taken not to inhale the dust.

Instead, rubber gloves should be used, and the broken bulb put into a sealed plastic bag — which should be taken to the local council for disposal.

However, this advice is not printed on the packaging in which low-energy bulbs are sold.

Household waste recycling plants run by West Sussex County Council have special facilities to accept broken bulbs (but let's forget about our bigger carbon footprints by having to take the bulbs to these tips).

A university toxicologist has played down the toxic danger, saying that someone would have to break about five bulbs at the same time to be in danger.

It makes you ask, though, when has a slight risk stopped the busy-bodies clamping down on what was previously held to be pragmatic practice?

This nanny government will have its way, however, and it still leaves the ambiguity of allowing upwards of 40 mercury-filled light bulbs in our homes, and yet the poor old thermometer (perhaps three or four per household?) is given the heave-ho.

Also, I'm still not over-enamoured with the expensive, low-energy bulbs I've acquired during the past four years.

Their garish light emission and slow warm-up time annoys me, and a few of them have "died" well before their much-heralded, long-term burn-out date.

So much for "things can only get better" .