Switching off street lights

Abo wrote:
Interesting one, this. My wife came home from work yesterday with an
interesting bit of news; one of her collegue's husband works in the
lighting bit of my local council. Apparently they are mulling over the
idea of switching off the town's street lights in an attempt to cut back
on their electricity usage.

Something on the BBC website recently about this. See
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/3681938.stm

Apparently many councils are now considering it as it would save
millions. I gather that indeed some semi-rural areas already have a
midnight 'curfew' for the lights.

The free papers in London of course all picked up on this and filled
their pages with scare stories about rises in crime. Never mind that
studies showed the reverse effect. And Derek Barnett, of the PSA, needs
to actually do some research before opining.

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/a...ash/article.do

And I know which photo I prefer - oh, look, is that Orion?