Utility Week

Community The mini-tour of Canada and the US was aimed at promoting all things Scottish and culminated in New York's Tartan Day (guest of honour Billy Connolly). The Americans love tartan, with all its harking back to a mythic "old country". Of course, and as Fabiani and McArthur will doubtless be aware, the association of di… er- ent tartans with di… erent clans is neither ancient nor Scottish, it was an invention of English Victorians (as was much else), but Disconnector is sure they were not so churlish as to point this out to their hosts. Hey, we've all got to hustle for a buck, right? I'll drink to that Disconnector was struck by the news that sales of water coolers in the UK hit an all- time high last year. A report by consultancy Zenith Global says the UK water cooler market has grown steadily over the past six years and as of 2018 was worth £140—million, a rise of 4.9 per cent on the previous year. There are now nearly 700,000 water coolers installed up and down the land (bottle or mains fed). That equates to an awful lot of people each year hanging around o› ces exclaiming: "I can't believe he said/did that." (Insert any past or future story about Boris Johnson here.) 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; 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 Tom Steward @Steward_T Lots of people talk about gas as a bridge to a low-carbon energy system. Unfortunately, what looks like a bridge at the beginning, can easily turn out to be a pier. Forget the bridge, build renewables. #EnergyTransition Mike Foster @mikefosterEUA Tom, gas can be low carbon too. So not just a bridge but possible long term solution, especially to chal- lenge of heat and peak demands that need to be met a• ordably. Our energy requirements are not just electric generation. Shaun Spiers @ShaunSpiers1 This almost cheered me up: @dustin_benton on the impor- tance of the UK's climate leader- ship. Away from Brexit, "Britain's place in the world is being deˆ ned by its approach to climate change. If there is to be a global Britain, it will be green". Biofuelwatch @biofuelwatch Secretary of State @GregClarkMP & @beisgovuk must reject Drax's mega gas power plans, 96,000 individuals and 89 organisations demand. Drax's gas plans and #biomass plus #coal burning aren't compatible with the Paris Climate Agreement. #BeyondGas #AxeDrax Josh Atkins™@Josh__Atkins Local authorities and elected mayors have a huge amount of influence in driving the response to #climatechange but there's a growing need to leverage wider influence esp. over buildings and land-use via planning policy. Top Tweets German car manufacturers to tell Emmanuel Macron to stop dicking around and surrender. Bonkers Brexit If understanding Brexit is mak- ing you feel the strain, you're in good company. In fact it's emerged Defra was so worried about sta… charged with delivering a mind-boggling Brexit that it contracted outside counselling. Gloucester-based "employee assistance company" Care First was paid £40,000 to provide "cognitive behavioural counsel- ling" to Defra sta… – primarily those involved in preparing plans for a no deal exit. The contract ended in Janu- ary this year, when the service was brought in-house. As the sign on the wall says: "You don't have to be mad to work here…" Scottish play Despite the assurances of Liam Fox and his mates that the world is falling over itself to sign trade deals just as soon as the UK can free itself from the clutches of those ghastly Europeans, the Scots are clearly hedging their bets. The deputy presiding o› cer of the Scottish parliament, Linda Fabiani MSP, and Liam McArthur MSP took part in a series of engagements in North America at the beginning of April promoting "Scotland Week". A fi shy tale Okay, now this Brexit busi- ness is getting serious. And no, Disconnector is not talking about Theresa May ¨ ying o… to Brussels for crisis talks (she's always ¨ ying o… to Brussels for crisis talks). The reason it's getting seri- ous is because it's threatening that hallowed staple of the British working man, © sh and chips. Yup, you read that right. Apparently we're not only reliant on the continent for our supplies of fruit and veg (of which, let's face it, no-one would complain if they were forced to eat less) but also white © sh such as cod and haddock. There aren't enough in UK waters to meet demand, and in the event of a no deal, the EU would slap tari… s on all food exports to the UK. Cheese is one thing. If you want to eat brie, that's your fault, but © sh and chips? Next they'll be coming for pickled eggs and that'll be game over. In the name of impartiality, it should be recorded that Con- servative MEP Daniel Dalton dismissed the threat as "a load of codswallop". He fumed: "This is just more posturing by Brussels, but in an area where the EU has got far more to lose than the UK." Hmm. Maybe Daniel is hoping the European © shing industry will team up with UTILITY WEEK | 12TH - 18TH APRIL 2019 | 31

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