As Gordon Brown prepares to announce his woefully limited solution to soaring energy costs, he can console himself that others have done far worse.

While Mr Brown is set to offer some British households help with lagging their lofts and cavity wall insulation, he may take comfort that just over the Atlantic, Barack Obama, the Democrat presidential hopeful, told cash-strapped Americans to put more air in their tyres to save fuel and offset the pain of a $4 gallon of gasoline.

Mr Brown's offer to provide free attic lagging and the like for those on low incomes and pensioners, appears to be ill-fated from the outset. As Number 10 sends out press releases boasting of the biggest state backed programme to modernise energy use since the 1960s, the price of oil tumbled below $100 a barrel.

While the timing is embarrassing, more broadly, the programme falls well short of addressing the problems that British households face in the next few years.

House prices are falling, banks - stung by the credit crisis - are reining in offers for loans and extending existing credit, and inflation is rising. As Britain hunkers down for winter, it is also preparing for a very cold economic slowdown.

Even though the price of a barrel of oil slipped below $100 last night - ahead of Opec's announcement last night that it would cut output and as the hurricane season failed to hit production in the Gulf of Mexico - only the foolish would take heart from such a fall. Households cannot win whichever way the oil price goes. If it rises, the cost of living increases. However more worryingly, if it falls, it would most likely signify a sharp slowdown in demand from the economic powerhouses of China and India, on both of which the British economy relies heavily.

Unfortunately, Mr Brown will find that he cannot approach the crisis of soaring energy costs in the same way as he did when Labour first came to power. Then, the Chancellor gave £100 winter fuel allowances to pensioners to keep them warm during the winter months. With the recession of America sweeping towards Britain, it will take a good deal more than a cheque and free loft-lagging to protect households from economic frostbite.

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