The story involves a new ice age hitting Europe, British refugees fleeing to Nigeria, and what a later group find when they return.

Leedon meets with David Cartwell, a Home Office civil servant and useful source, to see if he can find out more.

The winter of that year is, as predicted, long and harsh, but by January is it becoming clear to insiders that the solar downturn is worse than Fratellini had calculated and no upturn is in sight.

Those in the know, including Andrew's estranged wife, sell up and move south to the tropics and countries such as Nigeria.

Taking with him Cartwell's wife Madeleine, he moves to Lagos in Nigeria, finding that the tables have now turned – white refugees fleeing from the ice-bound northern countries are living in slums, unemployed or with only menial jobs, and penniless, as African governments have withdrawn recognition of currencies such as Sterling and no longer recognize the British Government, with reason, as it no longer exercises sovereignty over its own land.