Bruce Hamill - Daily Update

Opinions are everywhere. Research isn’t.
I find that people want the truth, until you tell them a truth they don't like.

[Bruce Hamill - Daily Update @BruceHamill_DU]

All people keep saying to me is, "I'm on a water meter, have been for years, I don't see what the issue is"

Well this......

A water meter and a smart water meter are NOT the same thing.

A traditional water meter simply records how much water you've used. Somebody reads it periodically and you're billed for the volume.

A smart water meter records your usage far more frequently and sends that information automatically. It can show not just how much water you're using, but when you're using it.

And that's the important bit.

That data creates the infrastructure for different prices at different times, seasonal pricing, peak-demand pricing and higher charges once certain usage levels are reached.

This isn't hypothetical. Ofwat is already allowing water companies to trial new charging models, and Severn Trent began testing a rising-block tariff in 2026.

So when people say, "I've had a water meter for 20 years, what's the problem?"

The meter isn't really the issue.

It's what a fully connected smart-metering system allows them to do with your usage data, and how they may eventually choose to charge you for it.

But hey what do I know.....

#SevernTrent #SmartWaterMeters #WaterBills #SurgePricing #CostOfLiving

[Bruce Hamill - Daily Update @BruceHamill_DU]

Severn Trent customers across the Midlands are being switched to metered water bills without being asked, with universal water metering planned for every household by 2035. The company's own wording says you are "being moved" to a measured bill.

Full video here at 6pm: https://t.co/vpL4PF2zWo

[Bruce Hamill - Daily Update @BruceHamill_DU]

The UK Government's nationwide wildfire alert caused chaos as 999 lines were flooded with calls reporting neighbours for barbecues, drivers reported near-crashes on motorways, and charities warned the alert could expose hidden phones belonging to domestic abuse victims.
The emergency system, set up in 2023 for life-threatening situations, now faces questions over who approved its use and why.

[Bruce Hamill - Daily Update @BruceHamill_DU]

A website is charging £49.99 to coach benefit claimants on exactly what to write on their PIP forms to secure maximum disability payments, with copy-paste answers covering 131 conditions. With PIP claims hitting four million and the welfare bill under scrutiny, this raises real questions about how the DWP assessment system actually works.

[Bruce Hamill - Daily Update @BruceHamill_DU]

Schools in England must teach pupils about misogyny, consent and healthy relationships under new RSHE guidance from September 2026. Bruce reads what the guidance actually says about boys and girls, and explains why the real risk is how individual teachers interpret it, pointing to what happened with the Prevent programme.

[Bruce Hamill - Daily Update @BruceHamill_DU]

@nightrider20266 Pretty much

[Bruce Hamill - Daily Update @BruceHamill_DU]

Ofwat is considering plans to let water companies charge surge pricing during droughts, with trials already running at 15 firms,and it could eventually apply to every customer in Britain.
Bruce breaks down what all these stories say about the direction Britain is heading, and who ends up paying for it.

https://t.co/HoaqAYDAht

[Bruce Hamill - Daily Update @BruceHamill_DU]

New rules that came into effect this week give the UK grid operator the power to impose rolling blackouts on millions of households with just eight hours' notice — and crucially, without government approval. Each area could have its power switched off for three hours at a time, with up to 70 per cent of demand now eligible for the blackout rota.

[Bruce Hamill - Daily Update @BruceHamill_DU]

Jess Phillips was filmed being challenged in the street on coercive abortion, and the way she handled it says a lot. Smiling, talking down, acting like the only person allowed an opinion. This one is not about the issue itself, it is about the attitude of a minister when an ordinary person asks her a straight question.

[Bruce Hamill - Daily Update @BruceHamill_DU]

They failed to fix the leaks. Now you'll pay surge pricing for water. Ofwat considering surge pricing on water bills during droughts. Anglian Water trial saw summer rates rise from £2.69 to £4.39 per cubic metre.

[Bruce Hamill - Daily Update @BruceHamill_DU]

@KatieElman And I thank you for it hun 🍻

[Bruce Hamill - Daily Update @BruceHamill_DU]

Three days in Clacton for the by-election, and a proper thank you to everyone I met at Farage Fest. Free food, free drink, fire pits, marshmallows, tents — no other political party in the country puts on anything like it.

Big thanks to the Reform UK volunteers, to Trevor the bus driver, and to every single person who keeps that machine running. Now it's back to reality and back to the job.

[Bruce Hamill - Daily Update @BruceHamill_DU]

@Dillon_993 You can't change a country with 1 seat.

[Bruce Hamill - Daily Update @BruceHamill_DU]

A new tactical voting website has launched telling right-of-centre voters how to stop splitting the vote between Reform UK, the Conservatives and Restore Britain, using real data from the 2024 election and current polling. The Clacton by-election just proved why it matters.

https://t.co/c9vSg7CpzL

[Bruce Hamill - Daily Update @BruceHamill_DU]

Andy Burnham says middle-class areas must house asylum seekers.
Fine. Put them in Bristol, the Cotswolds and my town. Watch how fast it ends.

[Bruce Hamill - Daily Update @BruceHamill_DU]

Britain has just had another Government emergency alert test, so here's the obvious question: what's next? A winter edition telling us to wear a coat, avoid slippery roads and not eat yellow snow.

[Bruce Hamill - Daily Update @BruceHamill_DU]

You genuinely couldn’t make British humour up. 😂

We get an emergency alert about wildfires, complete with the groundbreaking revelation that perhaps people shouldn’t be lighting barbecues on tinder-dry ground.

And within minutes the comments are better than the alert itself.

“It was so loud I dropped my barbecue on the floor.” 🍖😂

Then someone asks when the winter edition is coming:

“It’s cold out. Wear a coat.”
“It’s raining. Use windscreen wipers.”
“Don’t eat yellow snow.”
This is why I love this country. Give British people an unnecessarily dramatic government warning and within ten minutes we’ve turned it into a comedy routine.
Common sense may be struggling, but British sarcasm is apparently in rude health.

Unless you’re permanently furious on the internet, obviously. Then this is all very serious and somebody should probably be reported to Ofcom. 😂

#EmergencyAlert #BritishHumour #UKPolitics #CommonSense #WildfireAlert #BritishSarcasm

[Bruce Hamill - Daily Update @BruceHamill_DU]

“People keep asking me why on earth I’ve turned emergency alerts off when they could apparently save my life. So, allow me to explain my extraordinarily reckless decision.

Firstly, wildfires. I live surrounded by countryside and conservation land. If the field a mile away suddenly turns into Mordor, I’m reasonably confident I’ll notice the enormous wall of smoke before my Samsung tells me.

Flooding? I don’t live on a floodplain. If the water outside my house reaches the point where I require a government notification explaining that things have become damp, I suspect we’ve got considerably bigger problems.

Tsunami? I’m in Suffolk. If a wall of water is making its way across East Anglia, I’m fairly sure the news will have interrupted the adverts before it reaches my driveway.

Volcano? Again, Suffolk. Unless Thetford Forest suddenly develops a magma chamber overnight, I think I’m probably alright.

Lightning storm? I’ll employ the sophisticated survival technique of staying inside my house and not standing in a field holding a golf club.

Meteorite? At that point I’m probably going outside to watch it. You don’t get many opportunities like that.

Alien invasion? Absolutely send me the alert. I’ll put the kettle on.

And finally, nuclear attack.
This is the one everybody says could genuinely save you.

No. Don’t tell me.

If Vladimir Putin has launched something with my postcode programmed into it, I don’t want the final four minutes of my life spent listening to my phone make a noise normally associated with the purge.

I’ll remain blissfully unaware, drinking my coffee and wondering why the sky has suddenly become incredibly bright.

That’s the point people seem to be missing.

I’m not demanding everybody turns emergency alerts off. I turned mine off. It’s my phone, my risk assessment and, ultimately, my spectacularly badly informed final moments to enjoy however I choose.”

[Bruce Hamill - Daily Update @BruceHamill_DU]

Millions got tonight's wildfire emergency alert, including people who switched alerts OFF. The government says you can opt out. So why didn't it hold? Check your settings.

[Bruce Hamill - Daily Update @BruceHamill_DU]

I took my camera to Farage Fest and filmed what it was actually like on the ground, the crowd chanting Nigel Farage's name, part of his GB News interview, a walk round the site, and a clip from his speech at around three or four in the morning.

No studio, no edit-suite spin, just the footage and the people who turned up. If you want to see the size and mood of a Reform UK crowd for yourself, this is it. Watch, judge it yourself, and tell me what you think in the comments.