Usk Friends

Theo, do you think it’s a @futuregencymru issue? Asking for a friend!

Europeans eating salmon is forcing young fishermen in Africa to resort to people smuggling!! rfi.fr/en/environment…

@Feargal_Sharkey @Ofwat Have you never heard of “the mob”?

Mentioning United Utilities can anyone explain how a company can double its profits in just one year, from £170m to £355m, and yet is still be allowed to increase prices by a whopping 32%? Yet again it's the customers who get played and the regulator @Ofwat sits back and allows it to happen. bbc.co.uk/news/articles/…

Ah yes, @Ofwat's magic money tree which apparently makes the water industry worth £106 BILLION. The actual price, close to nothing. Here's how it works. Make up a number for what you think WCs might have been worth in 1990 after privatisation, note the make up the number bit, that's exactly what they did, add interest payments, maintenance costs, costs of fixing the sewage works, leaky pipes, Ofwat's kitchen sink, the EA's kitchen sink, next door's kitchen sink and just about anything else WCs could securitise against that number and when you're done with that multiply the whole damn thing by inflation for the last 35 years and bingo there it is, £106 billion. Easy. Now you know why @Ofwat would have you believe @thameswater is currently worth £21,008,425,000. 🤣 When oh when will ministers learn to say nothing until they understand what they're saying? theguardian.com/business/2025/…

@Feargal_Sharkey They make the mafia look like amateurs.

Holy moly!!!!!!!! So how’s that taking control of the water industry thing working out then?

"It is not stewardship when the ship has been sold off and the crew left to drown." Hear hear that man. Very well said. 👏👏👏 Clive Lewis discussing govt's so called "largest ever", so called review of the water industry.

@peterchilton001 No, sadly, some top people are institutionalised into the problem. Every eNGO's charity should have a shelf life. If they haven't achieved their outcomes/objectives in, 10/15 years, they should just turn into a normal company or fold. Added-up eNGO funding is massive, for what?

@WCL_News @luciemheath @theipaper Actually, no bonuses for Execs who will allways game the system. Get paid to do your job! Don't do your job? You lose it. You know like 90% of folk. Go on, tell me we have such talent in the roles at the moment. The evidence is clear, crooks, liars & professional obfuscators.

Bonuses should reflect excellence, not routine negligence🌊 Our rivers & wildlife continue to suffer because companies have repeatedly prioritised profit over public health & nature🪙 Read more via @luciemheath for @theipaper 👇 inews.co.uk/news/finally-w…

There are many sources of chemical pollution in our rivers, but tertiary treatment for sewage could clean up the meds that pass straight through us & down the loo, household cleaning products, chemicals from skin care, hair care, washing clothes & food. theguardian.com/science/audio/…

Take note

About 1:00pm I’ll be appearing on @theJeremyVine show @BBCRadio2 taking about the water industry. 10 of the water company fat cat CEOs were asked to come and debate it with me. They all refused. Transparency, accountability? There is none. All we are left with is a failed industry, a failed system of regulation and failed political oversight. See you soon. Tune in.

@Feargal_Sharkey @SouthernWater And @OfwatChiefExec is still in a job. A decade of failure, we are here due to regulatory failure. What's he got on @SteveReedMP

LIAR, LIAR PANTS ON FIRE! "This is the largest penalty Ofwat has ever issued," screamed the headlines. Blatantly, and I suspect deliberately not true, it's a lie. Largest fine so far was @SouthernWater in 2019, £126m and you'll want to note, the impression also given, that shareholders reach into their pockets and pay these fines is equally untrue. These fines rarely if ever get paid at all and certainly not by shareholders. No doubt Ofwat, Defra, ministers and government will be keen to set the record straight as obviously no one would intend to blatantly mislead if not down right lie to the British public.

You need to listen to @herdyshepherd1 That's you @Keir_Starmer @SteveReedMP @Eluned_Morgan @huw4ogmore Let the industrial producers into a conversation, but not dominate it. Change isn't faux funding & schemes; change is about outcomes. Our outcomes in 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 are heading south.

Yet another fun 'Fact' that turns out not to be particulate accurate. That number came from a report, written by a think tank, and bought and paid for by 4 water companies. Moody's, one of the world's leading capital / money market research / analyst companies thinks it would cost £14bn Who you wanna believe, 4 water companies and a think tank or one of the world's leading specialists? Hmm? 🤔

Why would these people want to change our food system? They are the corporate interests that profit from the status quo - who made it so bad, who are blind to its flaws, and who lobby for it not changing

Surely north London LAs wouldn't be ducking their responsibilities to deal with sewage being dumped into local rivers would they? "In Barnet, the council told London Centric this is “a complex area with fragmented legislation” and it has held meetings with Thames Water to agree a process for how it can address these problems more swiftly in future." Total nonense. Let me help you @BarnetCouncil see under section 59 Building Act 1984 there's nothing complex about any of it, it's your problem, fix it. PS. I'm told north London councils, @EalingCouncil, @Brent_Council, Barnet, @EnfieldCouncil and @haringeycouncil are sitting on 100s of enforcement case files and doing little if anything about any of them. The only thing "fragmented" in any of this is their inability to do their jobs.

Growth, growth, growth.. That's dividends to overseas “investors”.

We cannot afford more tinkering around the edges while private firms continue to extract wealth from our water, a natural monopoly. Water is a public necessity, not a commodity. If Labour is serious about delivering for working people, it must embrace a radical, democratic alternative: economic democracy. Read more in my @LabourList article. labourlist.org/2025/01/clive-…

On Thurs 30th Jan, I’ll be joining @DefendourJuries at The Royal Courts of Justice to show support for the political prisoners, handed extreme sentences for peaceful protest. Please join us - The Royal Courts of Justice on 29th and 30th Jan from 9am defendourjuries.org/wp-content/upl…