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UTILITY WEEK | 29TH JANUARY - 4TH FEBRUARY 2016 | 31 Community Editor, Utility Week, and content director, Utilities: Ellen Bennett, t: 01342 332084, e: ellen. bennett@fav-house.com; Assistant editor (insights): Jane Gray, t: 01342 332087, e: jane.gray@ fav-house.com; Associate insights editor: Mathew Beech, t: 01342 332082, e: mathew.beech@ fav-house.com; Research analyst: Vidhu Dutt, t: 01342 332026, e: vidhu.dutt@fav-house.com; Reporters: Lois Vallely, t: 01342 332080; e: lois.vallely@fav-house.com; Lucinda Dann, t: 01342 332083, e: lucinda.dann@fav-house.com; Saffron Johnson, t: 01342 332050, e: saffron.johnson@ fav-house.com; Tom Grimwood, t: 01342 332061, e: tom.grimwood@fav-house.com; Business development manager: Richard Powell, t: 01342 332062, e: richard.powell@ fav-house.com; Business development executive: Sarah Wood, t: 01342 332077, e: sarah.wood@fav-house.com; Publisher: Amanda Barnes, e: amanda.barnes@fav-house.com. General enquiries: 01342 332000; 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 3,580 Average circulation Jan–Dec 2014 Membership subscriptions: UK £637 per year. Overseas £749 per year. Top Tweets Anyone cold? Do you suffer from the cold? Well, it might turn out that it's not just the want of a thicker jumper and a pair of gloves that's to blame – you could be allergic. Yup. It turns out that being allergic to the cold is actually a thing, at least according to GP Dr Helen Webberley. "Like any allergy, a reaction to the cold is brought on by mast cells [a type of white blood cell] in the body releasing the chemical hista- mine as a result of a trigger," she says. "This can cause aller- gic reactions such as rashes, watery eyes and sneezing." Dr Webberley concedes that the condition is rare, but she insists it is real. The problem, as readers have doubtless already spotted, is that watery eyes and sneezing doesn't narrow the field down much in winter. Disconnector is waiting for someone to discover that being allergic to work is a thing, and we can all go home and put our feet up. Hot tips Regular readers will know that we're always on the lookout for useless energy-saving advice in the popular press, but last week's Seven Low-tech Ways to Warm Your Home in the Wellbeing section of the Daily Telegraph takes the biscuit. For starters, there were only six, but given that the top three were "Draw the curtains", "Get off the sofa" and "Make spicy food", perhaps this was a mercy. The advice on curtains carried the qualification that you should open them in the day "to let the sun in", which the great man wholeheartedly endorses. He would advise everyone to open the curtains during the day anyway, regardless of the weather. Likewise, it's a good idea to draw them at night. Who the hell needs to be told this stuff? The remaining "tips" are to stick foil behind the radiators (doesn't work), draught exclud- ers (can't argue with that) and "spend quality time with your pet" (presumably not if it's a lizard). It paints a grim picture of Great Britain with its freezing citizens being told to hug a dog rather than sit motionless in a darkened room all day. Cheers Kim! Meanwhile, over in the socialist paradise of North Korea life just got even better with the announcement by state-run Taedonggang Foodstuff Factory that it has invented hangover- free alcohol. The factory has been work- ing for years to substitute sugar with burnt rice in the fermenta- tion process, with little success until last week. Not only suc- cess, but with the added bonus that the alcohol produced doesn't give you a hangover. "Koryo Liquor, which is made of six-year-old gin- seng, known as being high- est in medicinal effect, and the scorched rice, is highly appreciated by experts and lovers as it is suave and causes no hangover," the Pyongyang Times reported. The "medicinal effects" of ginseng the paper refers to are that it cures SARS and Aids. It doesn't, but cherubic Dear Leader Kim Jong-un says it does. Therefore it does. The world awaits his pronounce- ment on the qualities of Koryo Liquor with baited breath. Flint-hearted Meanwhile, in the land of capitalist lackeys – the USA – a scandal is gathering momen- tum over who knew what and when about water laced with lead being pumped into the homes of the residents of Flint. Flint is a city on the ropes, decimated by the collapse of the American auto industry and now run by state-appointed managers. The majority of its population is poor and black. Two years ago, one of these managers switched the city's water supply from the Detroit system to the River Flint to save money. Unfortunately, the new supply had high levels of chloride; chloride is corrosive to lead pipes; Flint has lots of lead pipes… A lot of people got sick. Every one in authority is blam- ing everyone else, and the city is being kept going with bottled drinking water doled out by the National Guard and Red Cross. Disconnector jessica lennard @JessicaLennard If #Hinkley goes ahead it will cripple #EDF. It's been a gd, long fight, but it's time to pull the rip cord guys. William Marchant @richonlyinname Mm. By avoiding SCR, an estimated 13-19 months will be saved. But the powers won't be introduced until "mid-2017" – about 13-19 months away. Keith Chegwin @keithchegwin E'on have reduced ur energy bills by £31 a year. That's 61p a week. WOW! U lucky people. Go on treat yourselves 2 half a loaf Caroline Lucas @CarolineLucas Extraordinary summing up by Minister of #EnergyBill, yet again justifying huge subsidies to #nuclear, yet cutting subsidies to renewables Tesla's Cat @LaReyneDEpee Why is UK govt inexplicably strangling renewables? Cos ministers have personal "interests" in fossil fuels, perhaps? Stuart Haszeldine @Haszeldine #Fracking flowback water injection causes 100's earthquakes USA. Couldn't happen in the UK? Oh yes it could! World Economic Forum @Davos Start with the basics and invest in infrastructure. Without electricity, there is no internet: Matsi Modise #21stcenturydream #wef Frank Gisonni @GisonniFrank #climatechange will have as much of an impact on the #economy as it will the #environment RenewableUK Cymru @RUKCymru Fund the Swansea Lagoon to give hope to Port Talbot Southern Water @SouthernWater Astronauts r water saving experts! They use the same a00mount of #water in 1day as we do with a single flush of the loo