7 articles
• via Sky News
Britain is facing a drinking water crisis that experts have warned about for nearly half a century. Despite repeated droughts and clear predictions, the government's response has been inadequate, with infrastructure leaking vast amounts of water daily. This crisis is not sudden but the result of decades of institutional failure across multiple governments.
• via The Guardian
Boris Johnson's post-premiership activities reveal a troubling intertwining of public office and private profit, raising serious ethical questions. The leaked documents show a former prime minister leveraging his government contacts for lucrative deals with autocratic regimes, highlighting a broader pattern of institutional decay in British politics.
• via The Guardian
Defence Secretary John Healey's announcement to use military sites for asylum seekers is less a new solution and more a repetition of past failures. With asylum hotel costs at £8 million daily and no clear plan to end their use, the government is recycling failed strategies amid political panic rather than evidence-based planning. This move highlights Britain's institutional decay, where basic governmental functions are outsourced to military resources, reflecting a broader collapse in administrative competence.
• via The Guardian
While millions of Londoners face another week of transport chaos, tube drivers earning £71,000 are demanding shorter working weeks. The capital's entire underground network will grind to a halt for four days because 57% of RMT members voted to strike over their 35-hour week being too long.
• via The Telegraph
Labour's housing promises are collapsing under the weight of reality, with new home construction at its lowest in nearly a decade. Despite pledging 1.5 million new homes, actual building has fallen to 201,000—an 8% drop from last year and a 17% plunge from the 2022 peak. The government's housing targets are not just unrealistic; they are symptomatic of a deeper institutional decay that has left Britain unable to deliver even basic functions of a developed nation.
• via BBC News
Yorkshire Water manages 120 reservoirs, most built by Victorian city corporations or in the post-war reconstruction era. Thruscross was constructed in the 1960s. Grimwith was expanded in 1982. Then, shortly after water privatization in 1989, construction simply stopped.
• via The Standard
Transport for London handed out £639,164 to its chief executive while trains ran late, passenger targets went unmet, and cyber attacks left children unable to access discounted fares. This isn't administrative incompetence—it's how Britain's public institutions now function by design.