There is a weary sense of predictability about the depressing inability to keep Heathrow Airport open in the face of a fire at a nearby electrical substation. Time and again, our critical national infrastructure is shown to have little or no resilience to unexpected events – triggering mayhem, misery and multi-billion-pound losses. Yet we keep making the same mistakes. The Heathrow fiasco is a global embarrassment. How is it possible that a blaze two miles away could completely wipe out the power of one of the world’s busiest airports, bringing it to a shuddering halt? That Britain’s gateway to the world is so vulnerable is both scandalous and terrifying. At least 1,350 flights were cancelled or diverted in the bedlam, heaping misery on 300,000 passengers, stranding travellers abroad and precipitating global flight chaos. This is not just a massive blow to the economy, but also to our international prestige. While counter-terror police are involved in investigating what sparked the fire at the west London substation on Thursday, early indications suggest there was no foul play. But even if it was a catastrophic accident, hostile states and other bad actors can’t have failed to notice the ease and speed with which Heathrow was brought to its knees. There is evidence that the substation was both antiquated and running in excess of its safe capacity. And what has caused demand for electricity to soar? An explosion of power-gobbling data centres and electric cars. Yet our AI and Net Zero-obsessed Government wants more of both, without bothering to set out viable plans to ensure the National Grid will be able to cope. This risks make the problem infinitely worse, not better. It beggar’s belief, too, that Heathrow relies on a single substation for power. Why was there no back-up supply to keep the airport operating? That seems an obvious blunder. Whatever the cause, blame must be attached to the Government, Whitehall, the National Grid and Heathrow. But everyone involved in national planning must heed the warning. Making sure crucial infrastructure – from airports to docks and nuclear power plants – is as resilient as possible under immense stress is vital for national security. This must be prioritised – not dismissed once again as too costly or too difficult. On borrowed time Rachel Reeves has suffered another painful blow before Wednesday’s mini-Budget with Government borrowing £20 billion more than expected. But can the Chancellor be surprised? Splurging inflation-busting pay rises on the public sector the moment Labour got into power was bound to dent Britain’s finances. To balance the books, she is supposedly planning a raft of deep spending cuts. Whether she is tough enough to wield the knife is another matter. The robust talk on a welfare crackdown ended up being hot air. With the economy slowing due to her inept stewardship, it’s surely only time before she turns to tax rises again to fill the coffers. Growth remains Labour’s No1 mission. How Ms Reeves will achieve it with the nation buckling under the heaviest tax burden since the Second World War is a mystery. Secure our borders In record time, the number of small boat migrants reaching Britain this year has hit 5,000. The trafficking gangs Sir Keir Starmer vowed to ‘smash’ remain resolutely unsmashed. What’s needed is a deterrent to make the crossings pointless, yet Labour ridiculously axed the Rwanda scheme before its launch. The Prime Minister is spending a lot of time trying to secure Ukraine’s borders. Will he ever get serious about securing our own?