During the recent 25th anniversary celebration for the Nuclear Agency of Malaysia, the following announcement was made to the press :

Malaysia may have to resort to nuclear power as an alternative power source by the year 2020, said Datuk Kong Cho Ha.
While various other power sources such as hydro, wind and solar energy were tangible alternatives, the Deputy Science, Technology and Innovation Minister stressed the need for a “reliable” power source.

“Eighty five percent of electricity generated in the nation is produced by fossil fuels such as natural gas, oil and coal.

“These resources are progressively depleting and getting very expensive, giving reason for the Government to consider nuclear power as a very serious option.

“We need a power source that is both reliable and environment-friendly - two aspects which are very hard to pinpoint in other energy sources,” said Kong, adding that there was increasing pressure from the global community to decrease carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from fossil fuels.

Speaking after opening the event, Kong said that many other countries had also begun adopting nuclear power as an alternative.
“Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand and Australia have already begun to structure their nuclear power programmes. We should definitely not be left behind.

“To do this, we need the support of the public who are still against nuclear energy.


Somehow I smell hints of a politically motivated agenda rather one that is based on pure scientific arguments, especially in the phrase "Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand and Australia have already begun to structure their nuclear power programmes. We should definitely not be left behind."

Fossil fuel remains as the primary source of energy all over the world. However, in the recent light of soaring crude oil prices, countries have to wean off their reliance on fossil fuel for power generation. Currently, 80% of Malaysia's electricity needs is supplied by fossil fuel.

Without any discoveries of new oil fields, Malaysia's domestic oil reserves is expected to dry up by 2010 and natural gas reserves is expected to be exhausted by 2040.

While most are contended to carry on with their ignorant lifestyles, the upper echelons of elites, (and may I add usually corrupt...) within Putrajaya are slowly begining to grasp the seriousness of the issue facing our nation. Factor in the fact that attainment of nuclear power is frequently associated as a shot-in-the-arm to boost a nation's political ego, it is easy to see that for our nation to go down the path of nuclear power is actually taking the easy way out.

The thing about nuclear power in the context of geo-political relationships is that when one country goes nuclear, the rest of the neighbouring country in the region must jump on the bandwagon to avoid being left behind.

When viewed purely on a technical level, yes I can agree that nuclear power is a viable solution to our rising demand for electricity. Sure, the upfront construction of a nuclear power generation facility is high but spread that out over a period of 60 years, which is the average lifespan of a nuclear power plant, the energy costs are relatively cheap. On the environmental side, greenhouse gases emissions are relatively low.

And I quote from the Director General of IAEA, Nuclear power emits virtually no greenhouse gases. The complete nuclear power chain, from uranium mining to waste disposal, and including reactor and facility construction,emits only 2-6 grams of carbon per kilowatthour. This is about the same as wind and solar power, and two orders of magnitude below coal, oil and even natural gas.

Worldwide, if the 440 nuclear power plants were shut down and replaced with a proportionate mix of non-nuclear sources, the result would be an increase of 600 million tonnes of carbon per year.

That is approximately twice the total amount that we estimate will be avoided by the Kyoto Protocol in 2010, assuming Russian ratification.

The benefits of nuclear power was again mentioned in another report by The Sun. Noticed the stance taken by our local media, the arguments presented is always in favour of nuclear power. As usual, I did some amateur investigation on my own using the most powerful tool ever known to "man-on-the-street" - the Internet.

Contrary to the optimism of our ruling local governments, the optimism for nuclear power is not shared by many developed nations who are already running civilian nuclear power facilities in their countries.

Germany will gradually be phasing out nuclear power over the next 14 years, albeit in a politically motivated move by Chancellor Angela Merkel to gather more support from the younger and more environmentally conscious Germans normally associated with the Green Party. Replacing the position of nuclear power will be a series of new policies that includes government subsidy for renewable energy sources such as solar and wind and also a policy that emphasises on energy conservation and efficiency rather than building more power plants. Kudos to the German politicians for being able the source of the problem is inefficient use of energy rather than a lack of energy supply capacity. I hate to see Malaysia committing itself to an archaic technology that many of the more technologically advanced states are eager to get rid of.

France is currently the world leader in nuclear power electricity generation. Out of the 440 nuclear power plants in the world, 56 are in France where they supply 76% of the French electricity needs. The biggest issue confronting the French government pertaining to nuclear power generation is on nuclear waste disposal. While proponents of nuclear might argue that spent uranium fuels can be reprocessed into plutonium to be used in another nuclear reactor, it still does not change the fact that there will be nuclear waste that nobody wants to deal with at end of its lifecycle.

Nuclear waste can remain highly radioactive and they sometimes take up to 250,000 years to decay to a safe level. As mentioned by Claude Mandil, the General Director for Energy and Raw Materials at the Ministry of Industry, "People in France can be proud of their nuclear plants, but nobody wants to be proud of having a nuclear dustbin under its feet." Until the issue of disposal of nuclear waste can be solved, I do not see how is nuclear energy a viable alternative to our current energy sources. Lets be pragmatic, if a leader in nuclear energy management like France has yet to solve the problem, I do not see what are the advantages to committing ourselves to a long list of potential ramifications in the future should we follow the path of nuclear power.

Nuclear waste is an enormously difficult political problem which to date no country has solved. It is, in a sense, the Achilles heel of the nuclear industry. If France is unable to solve this issue, then I do not see how we can continue our nuclear program,
Claude Mandil, the General Director for Energy and Raw Materials at the Ministry of Industry


"Nuclear Agency of Malaysia had been directed to prepare the manpower, resources and know-how by 2020 to run a full-fledged nuclear power programme,"
Datuk Kong Cho Ha, Deputy Science, Technology and Innovation Minister.



Are those constrast a difference in opinions or is it due to opposing intellects?

As for the arguments on cost benefits of nuclear power, a study by MIT comparing nuclear energy generation in USA, UK and France revealed that the cost effectiveness per kWh of nuclear energy is highly dependent on various local / regional parameters. In short, there is no one-size-fits all solution of nuclear energy for every country's energy needs.

However, my greatest concern over the adoption of nuclear power in Malaysia is not about cost or nuclear waste disposal. Our present government is not one that has a very good track record in transparency in awarding construction contracts, nor is the recent high-profile news reports of leaky ceilings and falling roofs do great favour to instill public confidence in the way megaprojects are managed. Our Works Minister is one who conveniently blames everyone but himself whenever bridges, school labs or government buildings crack / collapses. The usual victim will be God himself, for sending too much rain... In Japan, a series of cover-ups of mishaps in nuclear facilities have dented the public's confidence in the ruling government and also on Japan's reliance on nuclear power. Are you seriously confident enough that the current administration regime is professional enough in their daily tasks, that a repeat of such similar incidents is not possible in Malaysia?

To manage a nuclear facility require an army of scientific and engineering elites, which Malaysia have them in plenty. The only problem is that they are everywhere around the four corners in the world except Malaysia. Simply because they are not welcomed here by virtue of their skin colour and political inclination. Side track : The French's elite technical and government leaders are usually graduates of Ecole Polytechnic, providing a constant supply of technical, business and government elites not only to the French nuclear industry, but also to French industrial interests like Airbus and Renault-Nissan. One of the most charismatic leaders to graduate from Ecole is Carlos Ghosn.

In short, Malaysia needs to realise that ultimately countries are not measured by their superiority in managing nuclear technology, but by achieving respectable economic growth powered by knowledge and value added services. A wise long term sustainable energy policy is not one that includes pushing a potentially hazardous and highly expensive to dispose nuclear waste to the Malaysians of the next 50 years. Also, a sustainable energy policy goes hand-in-hand with a policy on efficient use and conservation of resources, something which is lacking in many countries thus far.


In closing, I found this interesting photo-blog of one woman's biking adventure across a ghost-town of Chernobyl. It is a stark reminder of what happens when nuclear technolgy is mismanaged in a totalitarian government lacking in transparency and accountability to its people.

The following is a follow-up to an earlier entry on climate change.

As promised, this time around the focus of my attention will be on sustainable mobility. Or rather how do we reconcile our needs for mobility and transportation, not only for ourselves but also to mobilise our economy. As a petrol-head, I have to constantly manage an internal conflict within myself between with my love for fast cars and my inner-conscience that we cannot continue our current lifestyle if humanity is to survive for another 100 years on this planet. Some car enthusiasts may argue that electricity generation, airplanes, ships and industrial activities are the main culprit to our environmental woes, and automobiles have been unfairly singled out. I mean how much distance does an average Porsche 911 or even the magnificient Carrera GT travel in its lifetime to produce enough carbon emissions to change our climate anyway?

That's a fair enough argument, but I believe that irrespective of the auto industry's share of guilt in the great pie of environmental degradation, car companies have a moral obligation to do all that is within their capability to create a vehicle that better co-exist with our surroundings. Noticed that I used the term "surroundings" rather than the conventional environment. The term "environment" has been heavily politicised and over-used by our media, thus is unintentionally created a psychological perception that "environment" is something distinct and seperated from our daily modern lives. Which is of course not true. Thus, I hope my readers will recalibrate your understanding.

And no, this will not be another blind pro-hybrid post by another "greenie" Prius driving hippie. In the following text I will be discussing on various available alternatives ranging from petrol-electric hybrids, clean diesels, biofuels and hydrogen. While I may be slightly biased towards hybrids but please read through my arguments and I will be glad to listen to any intelligent counter-arguments to my stance.

1. Hybrids
A hybrid vehicle is generally a vehicle that is powered by two or more energy converters, in lay man terms - 2 power sources, with the most common being a petrol engine and an electric motor. The problem with conventional cars is that it is very inefficient. Less than 20% of all the total energy contained in petrol / diesel fuels is converted into kinetic movement. Also, internal combustion engines (ICEs) have varying range of efficiency throughout its "rev-range." It also wastes energy when it is idling at the traffic lights / stuck in a jam or during braking. The entire concept of hybrid can be simplified by thinking it as an intelligent car that constantly switches between petrol / electricity as its power source depending on driving conditions. A typical hybrid vehicle will run on electricity during low speeds and the engine kicking in during acceleration or high speeds. While conventional car burns fuel without getting anywhere when it is idling or braking, a hybrid automatically shuts down its engine when the car is stationary and any braking will charge the electric battery. The catch? Weight of the battery, complex algorithms for the engine's computer to seamlessly switch between two power sources and of course, cost.

Learn more about hybrids here : Toyota Motors Asia Pacific's Hybrid Portal and Hybrid Synergy Drive Information terminal


And of course, no discussion on hybrids can be complete without mention of the Prius. Believe me that I have tried very hard to avoid giving credits on hybrid technology to Prius, the honour goes to Honda Insight which was the world's first hybrid car. But in typical Toyota fashion, it is the combination of superior execution and follow-up that lead it to claim the "rights" to hybrid technology in the eyes of the general public. Moreover, the second-generation Prius pushed the envelopes of hybrid technology further by utilising a series-parallel system which it calls Hybrid Synergy Drive, while Honda's Integrated Motor Assist only makes do with a less efficient parallel system.


Honda Insight.

Despite being the first of its kind, the Insight was a complete commercial failure and its production will cease very soon, if it haven't already. While the Prius is going from strength to strength and have spawned varius Toyota hybrid variants including Highlander hybrid and Camry hybrid, while Honda will be discontinuing its Accord and Civic hybrid due to poor sales. Similar fate is shared by GM, Ford and Nissan hybrid models. Prius is now synonymous with hybrids just like Maggi is to instant noodles, Tupperware is to plastic food containers and Xerox is to photocopying.


First generation Prius. Not a very pretty car.



Second generation Prius. Much better.


The Prius didn't quite catch on until a creative marketing exercise done in 2003. After learning that Leonardo DiCaprio and Cameron Diaz bought the first generation Prius, an arrangement was made between Toyota Motor Sales in USA and a Californian public relations agency to provide five Priuses for the 2003 Academy Awards. At the red carpet affair, while the other Hollywood celebrities arrived in the plush stretched limousines, Harrison Ford and Calista Flockhart were photographed arriving in counter-culture style in a Prius. And then the rest is history. Nevermind the fact that many of these celebrities have another Hummer or fuel-guzzling SUV parked at the garage. They are only in for the image, but as for Toyota, the PR-mileage obtained was so great that no other manufacturer seems to be able to catch it.

Read more : Birth of Prius

Bosses of GM and Nissan once laughed off the Prius are nothing more than an interesting curiosity. The German boys of DaimlerChrysler and BMW stucked on with their hydrogen vehicles project. Fast forward 5 years later the need to jump on the hybrid bandwagon was so strong that it has forced "rivals to sleep together." Arch-rivals BMW and Mercedes and also GM has sinced formed an alliance called Global Hybrid Cooperation group to catch-up with Toyota. Nissan now licences its hybrid technology from Toyota for its models.


From left : BMW's Dr. Helmut Panke, DCX's Dr. Dieter Zetsche, GM's Rick Wagoner.
Business rivals can work together if there is a common enemy. And the common enemy now is Toyota.



Toyota has since went on to showcase its hybrid technology in the super-luxury segment via its Lexus brand and its flagship car - the Lexus LS 600hL.

Mercedes too has shown two concept hybrid version of its S-class in the 2005 Frankurt Motor Show; one diesel -electric hybrid called Bluetec Hybrid and another petrol-electric hybrid called Direct Hybrid. The cars however are not for sale nor production ready. Details of the vehicle remains sketchy although it is widely believed that it is an early result of the then-sketchy Global Hybrid Cooperation.



Begining this year, some of the famous yellow New York Taxi cab which for many years have been in the form of a Ford Crown Victoria has been replaced with the Prius. I am not sure if this will set a precedent where all future NYC cabs will be Prius. If it is this will have serious impact not only to Ford's fleet sales but also it change the landscape of NYC, which for many years the backdrop of many NYC picture is a yellow Ford Crown Victoria cab.
Prius is fast closing in to replace the Ford Crown Victoria as NYC's cab?








As for why the Prius is not available in Malaysia? Well that requires another post by itself. It short - its the same reason why Honda Insight or even Civic hybrids are not sold here. Blame it on the protectionist tax regimes that protects Proton but at the expense of the public's exposure to better cars and technology. It wouldn't make much sense for a Prius to be sold here unless there are some exceptions to the current tax structure for "Green" cars.

So after so much praises for the Prius, do I believe that hybrid is the answer? No and it has nothing to do with hybrids not being able to deliver its promised fuel economy in the real world. I will explain why later. But for now, lets look at other alternatives.

2. Clean diesels
This is the favourite option among opponents of hybrids. These new generation of common-rail high precision direct injection engines have many strong points, and more importantly, they are MORE powerful and cleaner than petrol engines, in a way. Which explains why hybrid-averse car enthuasists frequently touts diesels are the way of the future. I myself was one of those people until I began to learn more about the petroleum and energy industry. More about that later. The latest generation diesel engines produce higher torque levels than petrol engines at lower rpm ranges, making it a perfect choice for city driving. If you are wondering, torque is defined as twisting force and to get the complex physics out of the way, think of it as the actual stuff that moves your car. In city driving, having more torque is more important than horsepower. And because most of the torque are available at very low "rev-ranges," most of the power is available very early on and the driver does not need to apply a lot of pressure on the accelerator pedal. Thus using less fuel.

As such, diesel engines produce far better real world fuel economy than any other hybrid cars. The fuel economy promises of a Prius can easily be bettered by a humble and cheaper Volkswagen Polo, or even the Lupo. While the Prius boasts of a 50mpg plus fuel economy, the previous generation Lupo 3L achieved a staggering 78mpg. However, unlike the Prius, the Lupo 3L was quickly discontinued due to poor sales. The latest Polo Blue Motion is able to deliver over 60mpg in the real world, whereas most Prius owners will be lucky to get anywhere near 40 mpg.


A turbo-diesel common-rail direct injection Volkswagen Polo Blue Motion delivers much better fuel economy in the real world than a Prius.

Diesel technology is an area where the Germans are very strong, particularly Volkswagen, Audi and Mercedes-Benz. To prove its prowess in diesel technology, Audi is currently campaigning a diesel powered racing car, the Audi R10 TDI in various endurance racing including 24 Hours of Le-Mans, 12 Hours of Sebring and the American Le-Mans series. All of which the Audi has won multiple times over.

Audi's multiple 24 Hours of Le-Mans winning diesel Audi R10 TDI. Better change your perception towards diesels soon.

Mercedes too is currently in an offensive strategy to introduce its variants of Bluetec diesels in USA. How will the market respond to it is still left to be seen. However they ought to be credited for pioneering cleaner emission diesel engines not only for passenger cars but also for their commercial vehicles.

Despite its promises, adoption of clean diesel engines have been very limited to European countries. The success of clean diesels is very much reliant on very unlikely partner; oil companies. See, the latest generation of clean diesel engines achieve their outstanding performance by means of very precise fuel delivery via a common-rail fuel line. These systems are highly sensitive to sulphur content and other contaminents in the fuel. Thus, the use of such engines is only limited to countries that are able to deliver high quality clean diesels, which until today is only available in Western Europe and little elsewhere, not even in North America or Australia, let alone China and India, let alone Malaysia which uses some of the lowest grade diesels. Before clean diesels can be made available, oil companies have to invest more to upgrade its oil refinery facilities. And why should oil companies invest in something that will allow drivers to use less fuel? The economics don't really add up and this is the reason why adoption of clean diesels have been so slow. Also, greater amount of energy is required to refine crude oil into clean diesels, thus erasing much of the environmental benefits of clean diesels.

Viewed in that context, it is easy to see why Toyota has decided to go down the hybrid path as the key success factors are very much within their own control, so long as they are operating a free-market, unlike in Malaysia. The long term goal for hybrid technology is to adapt it to run on diesel engines, thus allowing it to substantially increase fuel efficiency.

Unless there is strong political will from the government, adoption of clean diesels will continue to be slow. In Malaysia, our diesel fuel quality only meets Euro 1 standard, while Europe is in the process of adopting Euro 5 quality diesel fuels soon. Without going into lengthy technical details of fuel quality, it is easy to understand that many of these precise direct injection engines are not suitable for use locally. Even the common-rail diesel engines sold by Ford and Toyota in their Rangers and Hilux are a generation behind our Thai counterparts, who get far more powerful turbo-intercooled common rail direct injection engines for their Hiluxes and Fortuners. Some manufacturers like Mercedes and BMW have been selling diesel variants of the passenger cars, but judging by the lack of sales effort and publicity, I suspect that the rationale of their introduction is in their risk management towards warranty claims on fuel system failures. For some manufacturers, one single claim is manageable but for others, one claim is one too many.

3. Bio-fuels
This to me is the greatest hoax among the all the other alternative fuels debate. To me, the problem is very clear and I don't understand why the Bush administration is busy promoting E85 ethanol fuel. As it is right now, most of our planet's arable land are being used for food production, and in many developing countries, shortage of food has resulted in famines of various severity.


The 265 bhp bio-fuel powered Lotus Exige 265E.


In Malaysia, there were some talks last year on bio-diesel, of using a mixed blend of palm oil as additives in the refinery process of diesel to reduce our dependence on crude oil. However, my understanding tells me at this very moment we are facing shortage of palm oil supply for food production. Same thing applies to maze, soya and other crops hailed as sources of renewable energy.

To convert our existing plantations for agro-fuel plantations will exert greater pressure on our already stressed food supply chain. Not to mention the potential deforestation that will result as more forests are cleared for agro-fuel purposes.

I shall use these two commentaries by BBC and IHT to explain the rest in greater detail.
The biofuel myth
Biofuels: Green energy or grim reaper?

4. Hydrogen
This is an area of research that is currently lead by BMW and Mercedes. BMW's strategy involves a much more conventional system, using a traditional internal combustion petrol engine that runs on both petrol and hydrogen, while Merc favours a highly sophisticated hydrogen fuel-cell powertrain.


Picking from the pages of Toyota's marketing books, BMW produced a series of hydrogen powered E65 /E66 generation 7 series to be leased by celebrities and other high profile individuals. Earlier this year, Brad Pitt was seen arriving at the debut of Ocean 13 in a BMW Hydrogen 7. Prior to this, BMW unveiled its concept 745h, which is a V8 powered engine capable of running on hydrogen. The latest Hydrogen 7 is based on a V12 powered 760i.


The latest Hydrogen 7 is a culmination of BMW's over 30 years of research in hydrogen powertrain development. From top to down : E12 5 series, 7 series starting from E23, E32, E38. The preceeding "E" means Entwicklung, German for development / evolution.


BMW Clean Energy World Tour

Download this uber-cool promo ad of the 7-series hydrogen here.

BMW's rationale in adopting hydrogen power is that hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe. Burning of hydrogen will only emit clear water. How about that for an ultimate eco-car? And more importantly, the the characteristics of hydrogen combustion best matches BMW's character of being a driver oriented vehicle. The drawback? Who is going to invest in building hydrogen filling stations throughout the country? While hydrogen is abundant, they do not exist on their own, thus requiring a very complex chemical processes to recover hydrogen either from water or other hydrocarbons.



Concerns on hydrogen refueling infrastructure is one of the main drawbacks for hydrogen power.

At the moment, it takes more energy to extract hydrogen from water or any other sources than the energy that is carried by hydrogen. Much of the energy used in the extraction process will come from carbon emitting powerplants.

BMW argues that in the future, alternative energy sources like solar and wind power would have matured to allow cost-effective extraction process of hydrogen from water via electrolysis. Again, there-in lies the problem with BMW's strategy. Like clean diesel, its key success factor lies in the hands of energy companies who have very little incentive to invest in new facilities.


Unless oil / energy companies are willing to invest in building the hydrogen filling station network and unless cost of solar and wind power drops low enough, hydrogen powered cars are a zero sum game.

The other problem is driving range and the huge size of hydrogen fuel tank, making it impractical for small cars. The Hydrogen 7 can only run purely on hydrogen for about 200km, after which it would have to switch back to petrol power by using a switch on the steering wheel.







Of course BMW is not stupid, which is why they are part of the Global Hybrid Cooperation group with arch-rival DaimlerChrysler (or should I say Daimler AG, since DCX is now seperated). Their website has mentioned "In the medium term, the hybridisation of vehicles from mild to full hybrids will play a significant role in increasing efficiency. Hybrid technology will soon be available in BMW vehicles."

5. ConclusionThese are all the reasons why I believe that hybrid powertrains are the best short term solutions for us at this point of time. It is not perfect, but in an imperfect world controlled by politicians with various interests and by oil companies, hybrids are the best option available to car manufacturers. When Toyota started its hybrid powertrain development, they were laughed at and scoffed as being pointless and too costly. In hindsight, it is obvious that hybrids are more cost effective for a car manufacturer, if you factor in the lobbying effort cost required to obtain support from governments and oil companies, which is of course nearly impossible.

The image below is an outline of Toyota's alternative energy strategy in its quest for the ultimate eco-car. Notice the words below : Having the right vehicle in the right time and at the right place. Explains all doesn't it?


Back to my earlier statement that hybrids are not the answer. The long term solution does not lie in any fancy cars. The long term solution lies in us remodelling our society and reshaping our perception towards mobility and transportation. No matter how eco-friendly a car is, it is still a product that produces various forms of hazardous pollution from its manufacturing to its scrapping. Hybrid cars runs on batteries which are made of exotic rare earth metals, which are mined in very environmentally destructive ways.

If you are interested in saving the planet, forget about what the Hollywood superstars says. Get a bicycle!

In my ideal society, the concept of private cars will be almost non-existant. Something which I cringed at the thought because I am a car enthusiast. Motor-racing might still exist using various dedicated purpose built racing machines on tracks, but are illegal outside it. Sub-urban centers will be connected to city centers by highly efficient and high volume mass transist trains or zero emission taxis. Intra-city travelling will be done using an advance Segway-like contraption "personal mobility unit" available on a pay as you use basis. Just slot a payment card and off you go. Park it at your next destination and the next customer will collect it from there. Isn't that great? No wories about parking or traffic or vehicle maintainence. In fact, that sort of society is already being explored by Toyota during the 2005 Aichi Expo. There will come a time where cars are a thing of the past, a post-car age. And Toyota is preparing for it.


Toyota's IMTS buses used at the Aichi Expo 2005 in Japan hints at the direction for future public transport.


From left : i-Foot, i-Unit in slow mode, i-Unit in fast mode.
Check out this demo video of i-Foot.
More on the i-Unit.

Updates will be a little slow for this period of time. Blame it on the combination of a fried modem (lightning), unresolved Internet connectivity and back-to-back occupied weekends

Meanwhile, further to my earlier post on climate change, Europe has been hit by a series of freak weather patterns. Central and Eastern Europe is currently facing severe heat-wave which has resulted in more than 500 deaths while England is facing some of the worst floods it has ever seen in recent history. Reports of water supply and power cuts has been dominating headlines of many British / English dailies.


This certainly does not look like modern Britain. More like scenes from the apocalyptic movie 28 Days Later.