Utility Week

Community The real me Love or hate her, you've got to give Theresa May full marks for her dogged determination. Despite uniting the country only in the belief that the Brexit deal she's come up with is really crappy, she's determined to press on to the bitter end. Things could be worse for her, however. She could be Nigerian president Muham- madu Buhari, who at the time of going to press was in Poland for the latest climate change booze-up. While meeting a group of Nigerian expats in the country he was forced to publicly deny rumours that he was a clone. Buhari has spent a lot of time out of the country over the past year being treated for an illness he refuses to give any details about. The result has been a conspiracy theory that he has died and been replaced by a clone, specifically a looka- like from Sudan called Jubril. The rumours were spread, predictably enough, on Face- book, Twitter and YouTube. It looks as though 2018 is drawing to a close pretty much as it started out, bathed in alternative facts. Google glitch? To many people the US tech giants are the bad guys of the modern world, bent on cor- rupting our politics if not our sense of objective reality, but Disconnector wonders if the multi-billionaire whiz kids who run those corporations are as firmly in control of things as their PR people – and egos – would have us believe. In the summer it was discovered that asking Google to translate "dog, dog, dog" from Yoruba (a West African language) to English resulted in a sinister faux-biblical warn- ing reading "Doomsday Clock is three minutes at twelve. We are experiencing characters and dramatic developments in the world, which indicate that we are increasingly approach- ing the end times and Jesus' return." The self-same message had earlier appeared on a Hawai- ian-to-English translation, according to Reddit users. The whole thing was explained away as a glitch, but now another anomaly has appeared, this time on Google Maps where points of interest are displayed by little icons, such as a fork and spoon for a restaurant – except that instead of a fork and spoon some res- taurants are getting swastikas. A Google spokesperson reportedly explained that the icon was the Buddhist symbol of peace, not the bad Nazi one, which was definitely off-brand so far as Google was concerned. Good to know. Disconnector's advice to Google would be to simply bin the swastika altogether. Okay, it might offend a few Buddhists, but on the plus side they should be the people most likely to be okay with that. Something to believe in If you think apocalyptic mumbo jumbo on Google or wild tales of Nigerian presiden- tial clones on Facebook are just plain old nonsense, well you are in the minority. A major study has con- cluded that 60 per cent of British people believe at least one conspiracy theory. The figures were the result of an international project con- ducted over six years and in nine countries by researchers at the University of Cambridge and YouGov, funded by the Leverhulme Trust. So, for instance, in the UK a striking 31 per cent of Leave voters believed that Muslim immigration was part of a wider plot to make Muslims the majority in Britain. In the US, 47 per cent of Trump voters believed that man-made global warming was a hoax, compared with 2.3 per cent of Clinton voters. It's enough to make Discon- nector wonder how a nation so dumb ever managed to fake the moon landings. Disconnector Publishing director, Utilities: Ellen Bennett, t: 01342 332084, e: ellenbennett@fav-house.com; Acting editor: Suzanne Heneghan, t: 01342 332106, e: suzanneheneghan@fav-house.com Acting content director: Denise Chevin, 01342 332087, denisechevin@fav-house.com; Deputy editor: Jane Gray (maternity leave); Features editor: Lois Vallely, t: 01342 332080, e: loisvallely@fav-house.com; News editor: Katey Pigden, t: 01342 332082, e: kateypigden@ fav-house.com; Energy correspondent: Tom Grimwood, t: 01342 332061, e: tomgrimwood@ fav-house.com; Policy correspondent: David Blackman, e: davidblackman@fav-house.com; Reporter: Adam John, t: 01342 332069, e: adamjohn@fav-house.com; Production editor: Paul Newton, t: 01342 332085, e: paulnewton@fav-house.com; Business development manager: Ben Hammond, e: benhammond@fav-house.com. t: 01342 332116; Business development executive: Sarah Wood, e: sarahwood@ fav-house.com. t: 01342 332117 Conference sponsorship manager: Sophie Abbott, t: 01342 332062, e: sophieabbott@ fav-house.com; General enquiries: 01342 332000; Membership enquiries: Peter Bissell, t: 01342 332057, e: peterbissell@fav-house.com. ISSN: 1356-5532. Registered as a newspaper at the Post Office. 2,500 Average circulation Jan–Dec 2017 Membership subscriptions: UK £769+VAT per year. Overseas £781 per year. Contact Peter Bissell on: 01342 332057 Utility Week is a member of the Independent Press Standards Organisation (which regulates the UK's magazine and newspaper industry). We abide by the Editors' Code of Practice and are committed to upholding the highest standards of journalism. If you think that we have not met those standards and want to make a complaint please contact the publishing director, Ellen Bennett, at ellenbennett@fav-house.com. If we are unable to resolve your complaint, or if you would like more information about IPSO or the Editors' Code, contact IPSO on 0300 123 2220 or visit www.ipso.co.uk UTILITY WEEK | 7TH - 13TH DECEMBER 2018 | 31 James Kerr @james_h_kerr Good news! Here's the next stage of the TCR/ SCR for electricity network residual charges and embedded benefits. Looks like consumers will benefit with either option but need to review detail in the distributional analysis. Adam Boorman @AdamBoorman A genuinely (if geeky) exciting announcement! The codes and governance hold huge power in the industry, but arrangements have changed little over the past 10 years despite transformation of energy. Grant Wilson @DrIAGWilson November set new records for GB renewable energy – well into 8TWh for the month. On track for around 82TWh in 2018 (over 25 per cent of generation) – impressive increase on 73TWh in 2017. Claire Spedding @ClaireSpedding So fitting that the wind record was broken just as @ScotRenew arrived at @ NGControlRoom for a visit; impressive magic worked there! #StormDiana Ann Robinson @AnnRobinson8 Every time I go out in a strong wind and it is grey and threatening to rain at least I can console myself that it is driving the wind turbines and is good for the environment. Jonathan Gaventa @jonathangaventa I remember going along to a pre-COP climate march in Brussels in about 2011; only a few hundred took part. Estimates of today's march are between 65,000 and 75,000. Something is changing. Doug Parr @doug_parr As a species we are definitely weird. We contemplate planetary-scale sun-dimming experiments, whilst being unable to muster the will for loft-lagging programmes. Tim Rotheray @trotheray Expecting suppliers to repay customers and also promising payments will be paid out to CM participants was what I think we now call "cakeism" on the part of @beisgovuk. Top Tweets

• Cover