“We” have no water …
This is serious: a water company is allegedly going bust and there are cries for re-nationalisation. The more left-leaning papers are going on about this, shown by a quick glance at the print editions’ front pages: “Newspaper headlines: Thames Water on brink and Madonna in intensive care” (link). Here’s a fun ‘fact’: only the Sun has Madonna’s fate as their leading article. Did ‘staff’ at the BBC think the Star’s leading article on slugs and the King wasn’t as headline-worthy? Hm …
And so to water, Thames Water (TW) in particular. It is a murky story, especially since their CEO, Ms Sarah Bentley, resigned two days ago. Three weeks ago, when we had the lovely dry summer weather and people were wondering if water companies were going to impose hosepipe bans, there were reports that this same Ms Bentley had graciously decided to forego her bonuses. Trade Unions called this ‘a cheap PR stunt’, with reason (all emphases are mine):
“Thames Water has confirmed that its chief executive Sarah Bentley will receive pay and perks topping £1.6 million this year despite the company indicating last month that she will forgo her bonus during the sewage and leakage crisis. […] She said she was giving up the cash because the company had not yet delivered on “a customer service and environmental performance” turnaround.” (link, paywalled)
Two days ago we heard that Ms Bentley resigned as CEO. The DR reported:
“Sarah Bentley’s surprise departure comes amid long-running talks between the owners of Britain’s biggest water company about how to pay for additional investment in the company. […] Ms Bentley stepped down just weeks after saying she was part of a “relatively new team” trying to improve the fortunes of Thames Water, which has been rocked by repeated recriminations over dumping sewage and banning hosepipe use at a time when it had failed to fix leaks.” (paywalled link)
Aren’t ‘new teams’ supposed to put everything alright with vigour, e specially when led by a female? Hm … Next question: who actually ‘owns’ TW? Here’s iNews with an explanation:
“Nowadays, the company is owned by a consortium of pension funds and sovereign wealth funds. Its largest shareholder is Canadian pension fund Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (Omers). Others investors include China’s biggest sovereign wealth fund, China Investment Corporation; the UK’s biggest private pension fund, the Universities Superannuation Scheme; and Infinity Investments, a subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.” (link)
Since the owners are mostly international pension funds it’s not surprising that there’s no big interest in putting more cash into that business. There’s another water company, SES Water, which is owned by Japanese companies and was ‘put up for sale’ in February, reported the FT (link, paywalled). Thus it comes as no surprise when we read that ‘government has growing fears’ over this and other water companies:
“The financial health of up to four other English water companies is being monitored by ministers and regulators after plans were put in place for the effective nationalisation of Thames Water. Officials from the Treasury, the environment department and the water regulator, Ofwat, held crisis talks yesterday after it emerged that Thames was struggling under its £14 billion debt burden. […] Senior Whitehall figures said there were broader concerns about the financial position of up to four other water companies that were warned by Ofwat to strengthen their financial resilience six months ago.” (link, paywalled)
Suddenly, ‘Whitehall sources’ are flowing (sorry, I couldn’t resist!), reassuring us that they’re preparing to:
“[…] put the company into special administration if needed – meaning that the business would be controlled and bankrolled by the taxpayer until a buyer can be found. An administration could last six months or more, City sources said.“ (paywalled link)
Blimey, aren’t “we” generous! Of course, nobody in the Westminster MSM saw fit to ask their Whitehall ‘sources’ about this:
“Customers are already facing a 40pc rise in their water bills over the next five years to pay for the cost of tackling the sewage crisis, according to leaked documents, while the Met Office said earlier this week that the UK is set to have the hottest June on record this year – raising the prospect of fresh hosepipe bans in the coming months.” (paywalled link)
Well, to put it crudely, more people will produce more sh*t. Of course we plebs must play – reducing dividends and salaries for CEOs is unthinkable! And then yon Thames Water CEO resigns, halfway through her appointment … I’m sure she won’t suffer any financial hardship.
Even so, her and certain papers’ excuse, that she was in the job ‘only’ since 2020, sounds lame. Did she not find out about the difficulties of that company before signing on? Did the board of TW believe that a young female would be just perfect, much better than an old white male?
Meanwhile, Labour dithers about re-nationalisation, with Ed Miliband, after declaring this ‘a scandal’, saying that ““We are cautious about nationalisation of the water companies.” (paywalled link). I wonder how much more we taxpayers and water customers will have to shell out. Why isn’t Labour screaming for answers, why are they so ‘extremely relaxed’ regarding the burden for their clients, the ‘workers and hard-working families’?
Let’s not point out that our infrastructure crumbles because the demand of an ever increasing population, thanks to ‘migration’, a policy created by Labour’s T.Blair. After all, we can blame all of that on Mrs Thatcher, can we not, regardless of Labour and Tory governments not touching her work: in the last 30 years. “Muh – Fatcher” as convenient excuse doesn’t play any longer for us plebs.
I suggest that Whitehall and their MSM mouthpieces have been more than happy about the war in the Ukraine because those ‘reports’ fill pages. Nobody asked to investigate the state of our country’s infrastructure. “We” are rich, “we” hand out our expensive armaments to be destroyed, “we” pay more to keep the Sacred Cow running because, so far, all went so well, didn’t it.
Will we see rubbish bags piling up in our crumbling streets, ruined by the weight of EVs, will we see standpipes from which ‘customers’ will have to get their water? Who cares! Not Whitehall, not the HoC, not the Uniparty! It will come crashing down round our ears, and not even the mandarins will remain untroubled.
That’s all I have for today. I’ll just mention that it’s funny how female CEOs seem to be so capable – at running their businesses into the ground. ‘John Lewis’, anyone? Have a good day.
Indeed Colin. It must surely be clear by now that we are governed by a cabal of incompetent traitors. Sadly a General Election might leave too many of them in place added to by a Labour shower of sh1t.
And so the Court of Appeal has declared that the Rwanda plan to send illegal migrants there to be processed is unlawful. Well, we didn’t see that coming did we? Or should I say those of us with half a brain knew that this ruling would be coming down the tracks, but those who didn’t see it coming are the total imbeciles which presently make up the government of this country. Pursuing policies down political cul-de-sacs seem to the order of the day to kick that proverbial immigration can down the road in order so that they don’t have to make a decision in the hope that it ends up in the lap of the next government which they know will not be them. Sunak and his excuse for ministers are political garbage of the first order and they need to be ejected from power. Time to take the bull by the horns and withdraw this country from the European Court for Human Rights, but they will not do that as that would be too much like common sense, and would take guts, courage and a backbone, qualities of which do not exist in this sham of a conservative government. No word is too strong to describe this utter shower of shyte. Resign now and be done with it, and lets have a general election in six weeks time.
I spent most of my working life in the water industry. So often CEOs and suchlike were parachuted in on privatisation with no experience of that industry and, of course, focussed on profitability at the expense of service and common sense. Many of the headlines about dumping sewage into watercourses and the sea also show a misunderstanding of the workings of the sewerage system. Not the place for a detailed technical discussion here but wise to take those headlines with a pinch of salt…
Mary: “Mass migration is a deliberate hostile attack on us and our country”
Indeed it is and long planned it seems.
As if our country wasn’t bad enough, this is unbelievable and a taste of things to come. Here Nigel Farage tells us why it looks like he’s going to have to leave the country.
Nigel has had all of his bank accounts closed as he is regarded as a Politically Exposed Person (PEP) and he can’t open new accounts elsewhere no matter how much he tries.
I know many of you have had enough of videos but this is six minutes long and it is shocking, it could happen to any of us if we say the wrong thing or right thing depending on you perspective.
“Farage: Why I might be FORCED to leave the UK.”
We wait until 19.00 hrs.
Another factor is likely association to Pres Trump.
Biscotte……..I agree, more likely to be his association with Donald Trump. Farage needs to exercise some independence of mind, and seems at present to be backing losers.
I’m speechless with despair. Mass migration is a deliberate hostile attack on us and our country, designed to destroy us in every way. . The chief ringleaders Blair and ultimately its controller Soros who hates Britain and Europe, and subsequent PM’s carrying on their work of destruction.
“…the business would be controlled and bankrolled by the taxpayer…” I don’t understand why “controlled.” I know the taxpayer BANKROLLS every damn thing under the sun, but I don’t see how they have any CONTROL or say over anything. We’re just here to pay up and shut up…
Fat cats, CEO bonuses. Makes me sick.
The John Lewis CEO for example hoovers up colossal bonuses, while the company bangs on about “rainbow” issues and loses money; but apparently has said that staff “will not get a Christmas bonus until the firm can afford it”.
A supermarket deliveryman delivered to me one Christmas: his working day so far had been lugging 5 heavy crates of food up the stairs of at least 1 block of flats, and also up 40 steps leading to a house up a steep hill(one of many as my town is very hilly in parts). With more to follow.
I said to him “You’ll have well earned your Christmas bonus then.” He replied “What bonus?”
That year his CEO hoovered up 9 million as Christmas bonus alone.
Similarly with the water companies, I’d like to know what sort of generous (not) remuneration package is received by those whose misfortune is for example to work down the sewers and do the REAL work.
PS to Mary: Correction: Supermarket Bonus not quite 9 million (I was relying on my memory there!) but was an obscene amount .
“It will come crashing down round our ears, and not even the mandarins will remain untroubled.”
It certainly will, I look on from afar at what is happening to my native land and it makes me feel sick inside, the result of many decades of political betrayal. We live in a world now where our democracy is gone, our politicians represent not us but bankers and corporate entities, those that can pay them well an cater for their perversions.
I’ve heard it said that we now live in not a democracy but a corporatocracy; that’s a nice way of putting it, sort of like calling money printing quantitative easing, anything to make it more palatable to a gullible public.
The truth about the world that we live in today is that democracy is long gone – if we ever had it in the first place – and we live increasingly in a world of extreme Fascism.
Flyer
Corporatism: rich powerful multinationals and individuals plumbing themselves into Governments then sucking them dry?
Recent article explaining it:
https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/a-genealogy-of-corporatism/
Rodney Atkinson too has discussed and explained it.
Need more than you earn? You can borrow or you can sell something. It has been Treasury policy for decades, in collusion with short term politcians, to borrow AND sell to fund public spending. Much of the UK is now under foreign ownership and chickens are coming home to roost.
What they are all not saying is that when these companies were privatised the Government held a golden share to prevent them being sold to foreign companies. Thanks to the EU the government had to sell these thus losing any control. Something the remainders do not want to know.
John R: Thank you for this information. I didn’t know that, or I’d forgotten. .
Us Brits give billions to the 5th most corrupt country on Earth, while their biggest drinking water provider is close to bankruptcy for failing infrastructure and dumping sewage into the Thames.
It is not only young female CEOs obligatoire in Brit industry, but also young females as Ministers of war / defence all across europe and Scandinavia.