Utility Week

Community obsessed or just too dumb to care about climate change, help is at hand in the form of a climate change-themed range of clothing and footwear designed by climate scientist Ed Hawkins, a professor at the University of Reading. Hawkins set out to design an easy-to-grasp, easy-to-replicate visual of our planet's warming temperatures over the past century, and came out with a series of stripes running running from various shades of blue, through pinks, to red, each one representing the average global temperature for a single year. As the years march on, the bands of colour shi• from blue (colder years) to red (hotter years). Now when you stare long- ingly at yourself in the mirror, you can reasonably claim that you're not admiring your skinny legs but pondering the fate of the planet. Are we there yet? Thank goodness there's only one more week of all this Brexit business. Exactly one week today – on 29 March – we will at last leave the European Union for good. Well, at least that's over with. It was all getting to be a bit of a bore, tbh… Disconnector Publishing director, Utilities: Ellen Bennett, t: 01342 332084, e: ellenbennett@fav-house.com; Content director: Jane Gray, janegray@fav-house.com, t: 01342 333004; Acting editor: Suzanne Heneghan, t: 01342 332106, e: suzanneheneghan@fav-house.com Acting content director: Denise Chevin, 01342 332087, denisechevin@fav-house.com; 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 Offi ce. 2,500 Average circulation Jan–Dec 2018 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 Labour press team @labourpress Tory energy cancellations risk power for 20 million homes. Doug Parr @doug_parr Very unclear what Labour could now do in govt to deliver new nuclear before 2030 without doing full-scale taxpayer-funded sweetheart deal with one of Japa- nese companies. Renewables ExeterUni @Renewables_UoE A new generation of nuclear is too expensive, whether state subsidised or owned. The UK still has no long-term nuclear waste storage. Renewables get cheaper every year while nuclear remains a ƒ nancial black hole for future Britons. Time to adopt a manifesto for 21st century. Tom Steward @Steward_T Ban on gas heating in new homes, improved energy e‡ ciency for new homes and increased levels of green gas. All good policies, but a long way short of addressing the policy gap on decarbonising heat. We need a step-change in policy – particularly around energy- e‡ ciency retroƒ t. Je Hardy @jjeh102 If we build new homes to really high standards, why do we need to heat them at all (hot water aside)? Josh Newbury @JoshNewburyEUA Sensible intervention from GMB union on government's reckless approach to future of heat. Those with gas heating are 1½ times less likely to be in fuel poverty than those with electric. Top Tweets like to o‰ er a little cheer that at least you haven't had as bad a week as the would-be opportun- ist burglar who scaled a fence in Potters Fields Park, near Tower Bridge in London, and landed on top of a bee hive. Surveying the scene the next day, beekeeper Dale Gibson said it looked likely that the unlucky thief had landed directly on top of one hive, which had a completely smashed roof, and then stum- bled into another, which was partially upended. Each hive contains around 20,000 bees and, according to Gibson, the usually chilled out creatures become "very defensive" if they feel their hive is under threat. "I would imagine causing that damage in ordinary clothing would result in several stings pretty immediately… and the smell given o‰ by a bee sting is a marker for other bees to sting in the same area," remarked Gibson matter of factly. Up to 80,000 bees could have been involved when it all kicked o‰ , as there are four hives in close vicinity to each other. Sometimes crime really doesn't pay – and quite spec- tacularly at that. Let your legs do the thinking For empty-headed fashionistas everywhere who are too self- Beware of the chickens More evidence emerged last week of the topsy-turvy times we're living in. And no, Discon- nector is not talking about Con- servative MPs making speeches in favour of an amendment and then voting against it; the great man is referring to the strange case of the dead fox in the chicken coop. Usually, when one refers to a "fox in the chicken coop" the unspoken assumption is that it is the chickens that are in trouble, but apparently that is not always the case. Thus it was that students at an agricultural school in France were shocked to discover the carcass of a fox as they made their rounds to check on the farm's š ock. They believe the victim entered the henhouse at dusk and became trapped inside by light- controlled hatch doors that close when the sun goes down. Pascal Daniel, head of farm- ing at Le Gros Chêne school in Brittany, said the hens were the prime – indeed, only – suspects. Be afraid. Be very afraid. Do you hear a buzzing sound? For those readers who are coming to this o‰ the back of a bad week, Disconnector would UTILITY WEEK | 22ND - 28TH MARCH 2019 | 31 University of Reading. design an easy-to-grasp, easy-to-replicate visual of our planet's warming various shades of blue,

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