If the graph were a hospital ECG measuring my heart rate, I wouldn’t just be in cardiac arrest, I would be wheeled off to the morgue. The line chugs along at 7,000, then starts to climb at 6.02pm with the most alarming rapidity. By 6.05pm it has sailed through 200,000 and a mere minute later it smashes through a million before briefly hitting 1.2 million.
Although the graph is not my heart rate, it is starting to give me serious palpitations. The line along the x-axis, which resembles the north face of the Eiger, represents the pollution levels in my kitchen.
The graph has been sent to me by Douglas Booker, a co-founder of National Air Quality Testing Services (NAQTS). He installed a machine, which