Daily Mail, Thursday, August 29, 2019 Page 21SQUEAKER John Bercow,
throwing his toys out of
his holiday playpen, surely
dreads his official role at
the end of the prorogation
ceremonial in the Lords. He is obliged to
return to the Commons to read, not from
his throne but from an adjacent lowly
chair, the words: ‘We do, in Her Majesty’s
name, and in obedience to Her Majesty’s
Commands, prorogue this Parliament.’
Maybe he’ll have a diplomatic illness and
get his deputy Lindsay Hoyle to do it.PRINCE Albert’s biographer A N Wilson
describes as laughable Prince Andrew’s
description of himself as a digital Prince
Consort, remarking: ‘Compare the Great
Exhibition 1851 into which Albert sank his
own money and Andrew’s constant drain
on the public purse. Compare Duchess
Toe-sucker Fergiana and Queen Victoria!!!
Put a sock in it Andrew!’CELEBRATING its 40th anniversary, the
London Review of Books republishes
economist Wynne Godley’s 1979 essay,
which states: ‘The implications for Britain
of EEC membership are rapidly becoming
so perversely disadvantageous that either
a major change in existing arrangements
must be made or we shall have, somehow,
to withdraw.’ The LRB wouldn’t take such
a pro-Leave stance today. Subscriptions
would be cancelled en masse!CAROL Drinkwater –
Helen Herriot in the
original All Creatures
Great And Small –
wants Kate Winslet,
pictured, to play her in
the Channel 5 remake,
saying: ‘Kate is proba-
bly much too famous
but it needs an actress
of that kind of quality.’
Kate, 43, would want more money. ‘I was
on £250 an episode,’ adds Carol.BORIS is savaged in the New York Review
of Books for his alleged cynicism and men-
dacity, with Irish academic Fintan O’Toole
calling his 2016 claim ‘Brexit means Brexit
and we are going to make a titanic success
of it’ his best joke. O’Toole adds: ‘If the
ship is going down anyway, why not have
some fun with Boris on the upper deck?’STEPTOE actor Harry Corbett’s widow
Sheila Steafel, who has died aged 84, was
furious when a BBC 2008 biopic, The Curse
Of Steptoe, claimed Corbett was having
an affair with future second wife Mau-
reen Blott while still married to her. The
BBC apologised, promising never to
broadcast the offending plotline again.DONALD Trump’s London envoy Woody
Johnson must be mightily relieved he’s no
longer involved in family firm Johnson &
Johnson, just fined £468million for its part
in fuelling Oklahoma’s opioid epidemic.
Woody, whose great-grandfather Robert
co-founded the firm, has his own £4billion
fortune and co-owns the New York Jets!FRISKY socialite Kathy Lette, 60, responds
to a report that optimists live longer,
claiming on Sky News: ‘Psychologists say
on the happiness-ometer Scottish reeling
comes higher than sex. So what I want to
do is have sex at a ceilidh.’ Form a queue
Caledonian twirlers!Ephraim
Hardcastle
tomers their power usage.
A further 13 per cent said their
new meter stopped functioning
for no obvious reason.
Suppliers are under pressure
to offer every home a smart
meter by 2020 and face heavy
fines if they fail to prove they
have done enough to encour-Email: [email protected]about the aggressive tactics
used by energy giants to push
smart meters.
More than a fifth of house-
holds said they felt pressured
into taking a smart meter, while
5 per cent said their supplier
tried to install one without their
permission.
Earlier this month Money Mail
reported how most energy
giants now reserve their best
tariffs for customers who agree
to have a smart meter.
Martyn James from com-
plaints website Resolver said:
‘There have been endless
examples of inappropriate highThere is a real opportunity to
build more confidence in smart
meters now, if households are
given the right information to
make the most of their new
device and they’re only offered a
second generation meter which
shouldn’t go dumb if someone
switches supplier.’
Robert Cheesewright of Smart
Energy GB, the body set up by
the Government to promote
the meters, said: ‘Thousands of
second generation smart meters
are being rolled out every day –
in the coming days the two mil-
lionth second generation meter
will have been installed.’pressure sales, misleading
advice and unfair incentives
since the smart meter rollout
began. It’s also clear that for
countless people, smart meters
aren’t working.
‘That’s why it’s important that
the whole roll out is slowed
right down and done properly,
so people can actually get what
they were promised – cheaper,
more accurate bills – not break-
downs and blank screens.’
Rik Smith, energy expert at
uSwitch, said: ‘There are still far
too many issues with the rollout
which are damaging consumer
confidence in the whole scheme.By Amelia Murray
Money Mail Chief ReporterONE in three households have
suffered problems with their
smart meter since it was
installed, figures reveal.
The meters are supposed to make
life easier for customers by auto-
matically sending gas and electric-
ity readings to suppliers as often
as every half an hour.
Households should then be able to
see on a separate monitor how much
power they are using in pounds and
pence. However, around four million
smart meter users have reported
issues with the devices since they
began being installed in 2013.
Of those, a third said their devices
went ‘dumb’ or stopped working when
they switched supplier, according to
comparison site uSwitch. The most
common issue experienced was a bro-
ken smart display, which shows cus-First generation
devices can go ‘dumb’
when switching supplier
Households with poor
mobile signal cannot use
the meters, pictured
Do not work in many
homes with thick walls
Display screens
showed incorrect÷
÷
÷
÷
figures to around 7,000
Bulb customers in May
Families are still
offered first generation
meters when they
should be getting
updated devices
Some energy firms
won’t offer meters to
homes with solar panels÷
÷
One in 3 have
problems with
controversial
smart meters
Devices go ‘dumb’ and give wrong data
age customers to get one. But
the national scheme has been
hit by a series of delays and
technical issues.
Suppliers were expected to
stop offering first-generation
meters, known as Smets1, in
March as they typically stop
working when suppliers are
changed. Yet one in five homes
said they have continued to be
offered these older meters,
according to uSwitch.
It is hoped the new devices
will put an end to estimated
bills and help households reduce
their bills by encouraging them
to cut energy consumption.
The scheme is estimated to be
costing £11billion.
But the majority of users sur-
veyed said they were not told
how the smart meters could
save them money.
Households also complained‘Breakdowns and
blank screens’Unmasked? Michael Purdy is said to be behind the Helch tagIs this the Helch
pest of Windsor?
Defaced: The 60ft letters spoil the view of Windsor CastleTHE vandal who ruined a view
of Windsor Castle by spray-
painting the 60ft graffiti tag
‘Helch’ on a viaduct may have
been unmasked.
According to his friends,
Michael Purdy is the artist
responsible for the huge let-
ters on the Victorian bridge,
which thousands of visitors
see as they near Windsor.
The Queen is said to be
‘extremely upset’ by the graf-
fiti. Mr Purdy, 27, who lives
with his parents in Hayes,
west London, ‘seems to think
he’s going to be the next
Banksy’, a former friend said.
The word ‘Helch’ has been
spotted on London railway
and Tube stations, and even
on bridges on the M4 and M1.
But when asked for com-
ment by MailOnline yester-
day, Mr Purdy refused to
answer. And his mother Lynn,
57, insisted: ‘Michael says it’s
not him.’Daily Mail Reporter