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utILIty WeeK | 28th February - 6th March 2014 | 31 Community Disconnector Editor: Ellen Bennett, t: 01342 332084, e: ellen.bennett@fav-house.com; Energy editor: Megan Darby, t: 01342 332087, e: megan.darby@fav-house.com; Features editor: Karma Ockenden, t: 01342 332086, e: karma.ockenden@fav-house. com; Reporter: Mathew Beech, t: 01342 332082, e: mathew.beech@fav-house.com; Reporter: Conor McGlone, t: 01342 332083, e: conor.mcglone@fav-house.com; Production editor: Paul Newton, t: 01342 332085; Business development manager: Ed Roberts, t: 01342 332067, e: ed.roberts@fav-house.com; Sales executive: Nicky Shaw, t: 01342 332070, e: nicky.shaw@fav-house.com; Publisher: amanda barnes, e: amanda.barnes@fav-house.com. General enquiries: 01342 332000; Subscriptions: UK £577 per year, Overseas £689 per year, t: 01342 332011. ISSN: 1356-5532. Registered as a newspaper at the Post Office. Printed by: buxton Press, Palace Road, Buxton, Derbyshire SK17 6AE. Published by: Faversham house Ltd, Windsor court, Wood Street, east Grinstead, West Sussex rh19 1uZ Children of the revolution Once again revolution is in the air – this time with a Slav Spring in Ukraine seeing off Russia- backed strongman Viktor Yanu- kovych, whose taste for gaudy opulence would make a Saudi sheik blush. Enthusiasm in the West is muted, perhaps because the Arab Spring didn't turn out so well for many citizens of the Middle East, who've found them- selves hopping from one frying pan into another. Perhaps, too, Western observers are nervous about the fact that waiting in the wings to fill the power vacuum is the country's former prime minister, Yulia Tymoshenko, sporting her trademark golden braided hair and looking like a mythic rural goddess as drawn by Walt Disney. During her last stint in power her incompetence and ruthlessness were such that Ukrainians voted in Yanukovych to sort out the mess. Which he promptly did by putting on a show trial and throwing Tymoshenko in prison. The only other political heavyweight in the country is Vitali Klitschko, who is also literally a heavyweight. He's a former boxing champion who was still slugging it out in the ring in 2012, aged 40. So the portents for a happy ending are not good, and this is of more than academic inter- est to the rest of Europe. Russia supplies about a quarter of the natural gas consumed by Europe, Disconnector and more than three-quarters of it passes through Ukraine. In 2005 Gazprom realised the Ukrainians were siphoning off gas destined for customers in the West, and demanded they pay up. When they couldn't, or wouldn't, the Russian energy giant cut them off – and all their Western customers. So the relationship between Ukraine and Russia matters to all of us. So far the Russians have described the anti-gov- ernment activists in Ukraine as "armed mutineers" and have withdrawn both their ambassa- dor and much-needed funding. Centrica may yet regret its decision last September to cancel £1.5 billion-worth of gas storage projects in Baird, off the Norfolk coast, and Caythorpe, in East Yorkshire. And Cameron may regret his government's decision to be so miserly with the subsidies on offer. The peasants are revolting A renewed focus of energy secu- rity might be good news for the nascent fracking industry in the UK, of course. While Cameron's administration has come out foursquare behind shale gas exploration it is uncertain how the chaps in hard hats will be greeted when they turn up in the shires to sink their wells. Not warmly, is the guess of many politicians, among them grassroots Tories who are scram- bling to distance themselves from the government's pro- fracking stance quicker than you can say "deselect". The Department of Energy and Climate Change has just published a constituency- by-constituency map of the licences awarded for shale exploration, 22 of them cur- rently held by Conservatives. In chancellor George Osborne's own constituency of Tatton, three licences have been granted. The Conserva- tive leader of the local Cheshire East council, Michael Jones, has declared the area frack- ing free and vowed to fight development. It's incongru- ous picturing the well-heeled denizens of Cheshire taking to the barricades to fight fracking, but that's exactly what hap- pened in affluent Balcombe, West Sussex, where Cuadrilla was persuaded to pack up its test rig and go home. In fact, in Balcombe, local Tory member Sue Taylor has warned that the local MP could face deselection unless he comes out against shale. The local MP is Francis Maude, the Cabinet Office minister. If events in Ukraine have taught us anything, it's that politicians living in gilded palaces (literal or metaphorical) ignore the people at their peril. Of course, you can only take the analogy so far. For all his faults, David Cameron is no villainous Slavic dictator, and neither is Ed Miliband a Teutonic-looking milk maid. And no way is Nick Clegg a heavyweight, inside the ring or out of it. 3,580 Average circulation Jan–Dec 2012 Subscriptions: UK £577 per year, Overseas £689 per year fhcustomerservices@ abacusemedia.com Greg Barker @GregBarkerMP Very encouraged by my meeting with Haringey Council this morning and their plans for roll- ing out #GreenDeal street-by-street Andrew Lever @Andrewdavid70 Are #energy efficient homes making us ILL? No. Lousy ventilation systems are #green #health ow.ly/tLTL7 Energy Institute @EnergyInstitute No clear vision for gas in EU 2030 targets. This is likely to impact negatively on invest- ment levels. #ipweek James Beard @JamesBeardREA Leaders in small AD are such strong ecopreneurs. Really gutted for them. 2014 plans based on November's reassurances. La lutte continue! Richard Benyon @RichardBenyonMP 1.3m homes have NOT flooded 'cos of well designed defences. Many more if u add in Water Co sewer imps and local auth minor works #flood Richard Hall @richonlyinname Bizarrely, real progress in EDF getting max call waiting time down to 13 mins. Used to be measurable in tree rings or plate tectonics. GeorgeMonbiot @GeorgeMonbiot Depressing to see Salmond and Cameron arguing over who will extract the most oil and gas. Should be leaving it in the ground. Bill Grimsey @BillGrimsey Should a power company CEO be incentivised to focus on share price or sustainable clean efficient energy production? Clearly the latter. James Murray @James_BG UK-Scotland oil and gas spat is like watching two old men arguing over who gets the horse and cart, while the neighbours buy cars. Alex Marshall @alexends Sometimes I think if all worlds oil firms announced they were stopping producing + investing all money in renewables, people would still complain. Top Tweets