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Community A long time in politics It's been a bad week for The- resa May. A central plank of the Conservative manifesto on making the middle classes pay towards their social care lasted exactly four days. Dubbed the "Dementia Tax", it provoked the right-wing press to angrily stray off message, and stay off message. That message is that Jeremy Corbyn is an unpatriotic le-wing nutter, and it is vital that the electorate is reminded of this fact over their cornflakes every morning or they might forget that they're not sup- posed to vote for him, and The- resa May's decision to call an election when she didn't have to would look even more dis- astrous than David Cameron's decision to call a referendum he didn't need to. The fiasco is unlikely to prevent May returning with an enlarged majority, but it could damage her standing in the Conservative party – the constituency from which she is really seeking a mandate. So much for strong and stable leadership. Hue and cry Theresa May, Boris Johnson and Philip Hammond, et al, all seem to have been recruited from a Ealing comedy. Jeremy Corbyn, meanwhile, is the innocent abroad who through an implausible set of circumstances finds himself the leader of a major political party while Ian Duncan Smith sneers at him from the wings like a latter day Terry Thomas. At any other time it might make one embarrassed to be British. But this is the Age of Trump, and while Donald is King of America (which is surely what he thinks he is), it seems churl- ish for the peoples of any other nation to complain about the stupidity of their leaders. In an upcoming interview in The New Yorker, leaked in advance, the prez reveals that he gave up exercise aer col- lege because he "believed the human body was like a battery, with a finite amount of energy, which exercise only depleted". Donald Trump doesn't need to seem anything more than his own intuition to tell him whether or not something is true. Maybe this also informs his economics, that there is only a "finite" amount of money around and a business deal is therefore a zero sum game – either you win or the other guy does, but not both. Sigh. It's like that kid's playground game where they say "that's your mum, that is", except played with the leader of the free world. Top of the class Meanwhile, the Chinese are showing no sign that they're going to take it easy while we skulk around like moody teenagers trying to stop anyone playing with our football. Oh no. In China the motto seems to be "take everything very seriously". Especially edu- cation. We've all heard about the famed Dragon Mothers, pushing their kids relentlessly to be high achievers, but now oversubscribed private schools in Shanghai are conducting tests and checks not only on prospective pupils but also parents and grandparents. In China, it seems, there's no such thing as trying too hard. Naughty step Disconnector noted with despondency the tale of two Blackburn thieves who were caught removing earth wires. David Hodgson Smith, 31, and Shaun Kevin Lally, 31, entered a substation by drop- ping in from an overhanging branch, but didn't anticipate that they couldn't use the same route to get out. One of the men's lawyers said: "This pair of idiots would probably have killed them- selves if they had tried to steal anything else." They were jailed for 14 weeks. Disconnector Editor, Utility Week, and content director, Utilities: Ellen Bennett, t: 01342 332084, e: ellenbennett@fav-house.com; Deputy editor: Jane Gray, t: 01342 332087, e: janegray@ fav-house.com; Insights editor: Mathew Beech, t: 01342 332082, e: mathewbeech@fav-house. com; News editor: Lois Vallely, t: 01342 332080, e: loisvallely@fav-house.com; Deputy news editor: Jamie Hailstone, t: 01342 332050, e: jamiehailstone@fav-house.com; Senior reporter: Tom Grimwood, t: 01342 332061, e: tomgrimwood@fav-house.com; Reporter: Josh Downes, t: 01342 332102, e: joshdownes@fav-house.com; Policy correspondent: David Blackman, e: davidblackman@fav-house.com; Business development manager: Kevin Pearce, t: 01342 332116, e; kevinpearce@fav-house.com; Business development executive: Nigel Searle, t: 01342 332009, e: nigelsearle@fav-house.com; Conference sponsorship manager: Sophie Abbott, t: 01342 332062, e; sophieabbott@ fav-house.com; Publisher: Amanda Barnes, e: amandabarnes@fav-house.com. 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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 William Marchant @richonlyinname If RWE and Engie do merge, presumably they won't want to be running two separate retail- ers in the UK. RIP Npower? Julie Minns @ElectricJoules Basil Scarsella, UK Power Networks: "There's so much change coming, the next regulatory period is likely to be shorter." #UWL17 NG Control Room @NGControlRoom On Sunday #renewables generated 379GWh (28.3% of demand), slightly less than #fossil generation at 420GWh (31.4%). Ann Robinson @AnnRobinson8 NatGrid investing in capacity to handle electric cars etc. Need local distribution companies to invest too if we are to move to low-carbon future. Dustin Benton @dustin_benton Local grid risk is real. But easy(ish) to solve via mandatory smart charging and opening up markets for balancing. Simon Brammer @SimonBrammer Trying to set up my parents "smart" meter. Mystifying. One of us definitely isn't smart enough. They got 2 mins training from installer. Ed Matthew @Ed_Matthew1 Rate of energy efficiency investment must increase x2.5 to meet Tory fuel poverty target. But must increase x5 to meet their climate pledge. Richard Howard @RichardHowardPX #torymanifesto has energy price cap as expected but leaves significant wiggle room re: nature and scope of cap. £100 figure doesn't feature. Hugh Taylor @RoadnightTaylor Smart switching between suppliers within 15 seconds… this is game-changing stuff! Top Tweets UTILITY WEEK | 26TH MAY - 1ST JUNE 2017 | 31