3 December

In 1952 London had a 5-day smog emergency (picture). About 12,000 people died from the filthy air. Sydney is in the middle of a week of filthy air, the rest of us have been too. The damage that does to lungs and blood vessels in particular will kill and permanently damage thousands of us too. What’s worse, the really damaging tiny particles (the PM2.5) are too small to see - cars belch these out in huge amounts, so that a modern big city actually can have more air pollution than these old smogs, even on ‘clear’ days. Some believe the greatest cause of heart attacks and stroke isn’t diet, it’s air pollution. We’re obsessed with combustion, and it’s killing us.