Utility Week

Community 'Set the PR on stun' Disconnector is a great fan of all those flying the flag for smart meters. They are an essential part of the smart revolution, which is itself an essential part of the road to net zero. As charted regularly in this column, the smart meter rollout is oen attacked in the red tops for being a Soviet-style imposi- tion of authority. So it's good when the government comes out to bat for this flagship energy policy. However, the great man thinks that climate change min- ister Lord Duncan might have over-egged the pudding when he told a committee of MPs that eventually smart meters will reach the "Star Trek phase". What he meant by this was simply that they would at some point be of benefit to consumers. The great man doesn't wish to sound dismissive, and we all like to save a few pennies. But smart meters don't beat a replicator or a transporter, and if you were to describe the speed of the rollout it would be "glacial" rather than "warp factor 9". Trampling on tradition Disconnector couldn't help but smirk on hearing of the travails of Tim Martin, better known as "that bloke what runs Weth- 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; Editor: Suzanne Heneghan, t: 01342 332106, e: suzanneheneghan@fav-house.com Digital editor: James Wallin, 01342 332015, jameswallin@fav-house.com; Intelligence editor: Denise Chevin, 01342 332087, denisechevin@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; Water correspondent: Ruth Williams, e: ruthwilliams@fav-house.com, t: 01342 332069 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. 2,500 Average circulation Jan–Dec 2018 Membership subscriptions: UK £950+VAT per year. Contact Jo Nikiforov on: 01342 332077 Utility Week is a member of the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO), the regulator of 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 we have not met those standards and want to make a complaint, please contact the Editor. If we are unable to resolve your complaint, or if you want more information about IPSO or the Editors' Code, contact IPSO on 0300 123 2220 or visit www.ipso.co.uk. Too much politics Call Disconnector an old cur- mudgeon if you like, but even though it's only 35 sleeps till the general election, the great man just can't get excited about it. Okay sure, most of the front- benchers from both main parties are anonymous and second rate, but that's par for the course these days. In our more "presidential" times it's front men who count, not their backing singers. And on that count we should be laughing: both main party lead- ers have name recognition to die for, and the mention of either is enough to make their opponents froth at the mouth in rage. But for the rest of us it's all a bit ho hum, to be honest. Maybe it's because we've been round this track before. It doesn't mat- ter how may times Matt Hancock stares earnestly into the camera and warns us that Jeremy Cor- byn is a tax-raising pinko who will drag the country back to the 1970s. That's old news, and anyway the 1970s had steady work, social housing and great rock music. The biggest problem we had back then was a morose economy and being sidelined on the international stage. Fortunately we managed to sort that… by joining the EU. But of course Matt Hancock doesn't know anything about that. How can he? He's only 12 years old. We precious few… It's no longer le or right, we're told, but Leave or Remain. It's all about identity now rather than class. But Disconnector reckons there's a deeper divide in the UK right now: the one between young and old. The young see themselves as a generation short-changed by a lack of access to housing, pensions, or decent jobs, while they in turn are dismissed as a bunch of whingeing millenni- als who didn't have to fight a war by asset-rich baby boom- ers (who also didn't have to fight a war). The great man thinks it unlikely that the mood of twenty-somethings slaving away on zero-hours contracts is going to be mollified by the news that the number of over-50s visiting hospital with cocaine-related ailments has trebled in the past five years. Yup. It appears that Cameron and Osborne were wrong when they claimed that austerity was an "we're all in it together" sort of a deal. Some of us were in it, but others were sitting in houses doubling in value every year while they waited for their index-linked salaries to kick in but were still so bored that they literally hos- pitalised themselves hoovering up too much Charlie. UTILITY WEEK | 8TH - 14TH NOVEMBER 2019 | 31 erspoons", who has run into a little local difficulty in the town of Barry in the Vale of Glamorgan. Tim likes to give his boozers a bit of local identity, so when he refurbished the Sir Samuel Romilly in the town – at a cost reputed to be in the region of 700 grand – he thought a nice flourish would be to stick the town's coat of arms on a big rug in the main bar. However, when the local council heard that punters would be walking on the town's livery to get to the bar and toilets, they unani- mously voted against grant- ing retrospective permission for the pub to use the image. And as it turns out, the badge is a patented bit of heraldry granted by George VI in 1939 and should not be used for commercial purposes. Martin is refusing to ditch the carpet, claiming it was installed "in good faith", while the council is taking legal advice about pursing the mat- ter in the Court of Chivalry. Mr Martin is wont to come over all dewy-eyed when it comes to things British. Y'know things like the war, Spitfires, the bulldog spirt and all that sort of thing. Disconnector would have thought that get- ting on your high horse about something as twee as a coat of arms was right up his street. Apparently not.

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