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Environmental Policy

7 articles

The £200 Billion Extraction: How Privatisation Became Britain's Longest-Running Wealth Transfer

• via The Guardian

The £200 Billion Extraction: How Privatisation Became Britain's Longest-Running Wealth Transfer

Four decades of privatisation have funneled £193bn from UK households to shareholders, while infrastructure decays and bills soar.

Since 1991, £193 billion has been extracted from British households and transferred to shareholders of privatised utilities, while promised competition and efficiency delivered polluted rivers, unreliable trains, and soaring bills. This isn't a policy debate anymore. It's a measurable wealth transfer operating at industrial scale.

Delete Your Emails While We Build 6GW of AI Data Centers: Britain's Water Crisis Response Reaches Peak Absurdity

• via The Independent

Delete Your Emails While We Build 6GW of AI Data Centers: Britain's Water Crisis Response Reaches Peak Absurdity

If you believe deleting emails saves water, wait until you see our AI plans.

While the Environment Agency asks Britons to delete old emails to save water, the government plans a threefold increase in AI data center capacity, consuming billions of litres annually. This contradiction highlights the systemic failures of British governance, where performative individual actions replace real infrastructure solutions.

The Sewage State: How England's Water Crisis Exposes Total Institutional Collapse

• via The Guardian

The Sewage State: How England's Water Crisis Exposes Total Institutional Collapse

The UK's water crisis is a textbook case of how privatized monopolies plunder public goods

English water companies dumped raw sewage into rivers and seas at record-breaking levels in 2024, with serious pollution incidents surging 60% in a single year. While politicians promised a crackdown on water pollution, the reality is stark: 75 serious incidents poisoned waterways last year, up from 47 in 2023.

The Anatomy of Extraction: How Thames Water Turned Emergency Aid Into Executive Enrichment

• via The Guardian

The Anatomy of Extraction: How Thames Water Turned Emergency Aid Into Executive Enrichment

Thames Water's executives pocketed £15.7m in bonuses while 16 million customers face hosepipe bans.

While 16 million customers face hosepipe bans this summer, Thames Water's executives have successfully converted a £3bn emergency lifeline into personal windfalls totaling £15.7m. The company that can't maintain water supplies during a shortage somehow found £2.46m to pay 21 managers in April—from funds meant to prevent corporate collapse.

Environment Secretary celebrates "significant progress" while sewage flows and Thames Water collapses

• via The Guardian

Environment Secretary celebrates "significant progress" while sewage flows and Thames Water collapses

Labour's countryside comfort zone can't hide £96 billion in missing infrastructure investment

Steve Reed's appearance at Hertfordshire's Groundswell festival reveals the extraordinary disconnect between Labour's self-congratulation and Britain's accelerating institutional decay. While the Environment Secretary proclaimed "significant progress" from his hay bale podium, the nation's waterways continue to poison swimmers and Thames Water edges toward a collapse that will cost taxpayers billions.