• 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.