← All Topics

Infrastructure Crisis

2 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.

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.