View of Thurlestone Rock, taken from South Milton Beach, Devon, yesterday evening whilst walking the dog.
iPhone 11, Lightroom app, processed in Lightroom Classic 📷
Early morning at the allotment 🌱
Currently listening to … Mirror to the Sky from Yes.
Really enjoying this album. Listen on Spotify. 🎶
They’re sorry … while we swim in polluted water.
Water companies apologise for sewage spills and pledge £10bn of investment, but critics say it’s too little England’s water and sewage companies have apologised for polluting rivers and beaches and pledged that more will be done to end it.
Ruth Kelly, chair of Water UK, the industry body, said that the public was “right to be upset” and that “more should have been done” to limit sewage spills.
Image source inews/Robert Brook/Getty
Since privatisation, the water companies have taken billions of pounds in dividends while delivering polluted rivers and beaches. They must pay to clean this up and not pass the costs on to their hard-pressed customers. Unfortunately, the regulator and government don’t seem to be on the side of the public.
Morning dog walk along the estuary at low tide 📷
Aveton Gifford Coronation Street Party
Like many other communities, we arranged a street party to celebrate the coronation. Whatever your opinions about the monarchy, the event brought people together, and everyone had a good time.
Here are some photos.
That was a productive couple of hours at the allotment. The runner bean sticks are up and ready for planting 🌱
Currently listening to … The Clockwork Saga from Gandalf’s Fist.
This album is available on Bandcamp as a combined 5 act adventure, encompassing all songs from “The Clockwork Fable” (2016) and “The Clockwork Prologue” (2019) Albums in full narrative order. Links open in Spotify.
My friend that lives in Spain has gifted me his “Green Goddess,” a 1995 MX-5 (Miata) Mk1 in British Racing Green. If all goes well with the MoT test, she’ll be with us in a couple of weeks, ready for some top-down motoring this summer. I’m already thinking about upgrades… 🚗
Who thought that swearing allegiance to the king is something we’d be told to do in 2023? I can’t believe how out of touch these people are.
Currently listening to … First Two Pages of Frankenstein by The National.
This is the first proper album from The National since 2017’s Sleep Well Beast. It’s worth a close listen. Listen on Spotify 🎶
Misty morning dog walk.
iPhone 11, Lightroom app, processed in Lightroom Classic 📷
Is it time to renationalise our utilities?
If you live in the UK, you will have noticed the increased level of interest in the discharge of sewage into our rivers and seas. The government is concerned about the impact of this on the upcoming local elections and is talking tough but doing nothing.
The situation with raw sewage also affects businesses. For instance, we live in South Devon, where we are fortunate to have access to some of the best beaches in the UK. One of which, Blackpool Sands was voted the “best beach in Britain,” according to the blurb on the website:
Nature’s golden beach, set in an unspoilt, sheltered bay, lapped by clear blue water and surrounded by magnificent evergreens and pines. Blackpool Sands is the ideal family beach to relax, swim or sail. But don’t just take our word for it – come and see for yourself! Relax or play; it’s South Devon’s most beautiful beach any day!
The owners of Blackpool Sands have invested a lot of money over the winter in new and upgraded facilities. I can’t imagine how they feel learning that, according to the Independent newspaper, Blackpool Sands ranks the worst for seaside sewage spillage as shown in the following graphic.
Since privatisation in 1989, private water companies in England* have underinvested in pollution prevention to boost profits*.
They’ve built a debt mountain of £53bn, while giving shareholders £72bn!
Attempts to regulate them have failed. Under privatisation, it clearly pays to pollute.
It doesn’t have to be this way. The UK’s most trusted utility company is publicly owned Scottish Water. They’ve spent £72 more per household per year than English water companies. That’s equivalent to an extra £28 billion being invested in England’s water network!
Send the Government a clear message: stop privatisation, stop the sewage.
You can help by signing the petition organised by We Own It here
If you’re wondering who to vote for in UKs local elections
In case you’re still wondering who to vote for in this May’s local elections, here’s a list of Tory achievements during the last thirteen years:
- 1,000 sure start centres closed.
- 780 libraries closed.
- 700 football pitches closed.
- Food bank use is up 5,400%.
- Homelessness is up 1,000%.
- Rough sleeping up 1,200%
- Evictions at record highs.
- Student fees are up 300%.
- Student debt has risen 150%.
- Eradication of EMA (education maintenance allowance).
- National debt has risen from £850billion to £2.25trillion.
- GBP fell by around 15% versus EUR and USD.
- Manufacturing in recession.
- Construction in recession.
- Services close to recession.
- 25-30% cuts to all govt departments.
- 25,000 fewer police.
- 20,000 fewer prison officers.
- 10,000 fewer border officials.
- 10,000 fewer firefighters.
- 10,000 fewer medical professionals.
- 14,000 fewer bed spaces for mental illness.
- Creation of 1.3m jobs, mainly temporary, self-employed, gig economy and Zero Hours Contract.
- Only 30k full-time work positions were created.
- 25% cuts for our disabled community.
- 80% cuts to Mobility allowance.
- Closing Remploy.
- 40% of working households with practically no savings.
- 70% of households have less than 10k savings.
- 60% of households can only survive 2 months without a wage.
- Increase of 50% in hate crimes.
- Increase knife crime by 150% to 22,000 per year.
- Life expectancy down 3 years.
- Voted down a bill which would have forced landlords to make their rental properties fit for human habitation
- NHS satisfaction level at lowest recorded rate.
- Council home building down 90%.
- 200k social homes lost since 2010.
- Zero starter homes built, despite the Tory flagship programme.
- 36,000 fewer teachers.
- Six form funding cut by 25%.
- 33,000 nurses leave the NHS each year.
- 14 prisons closed down, and the land was sold to developers.
- 50% of all police stations closed.
- 300 + courts closed down, leading to a huge backlog.
- Millions to a shipping company with no ships
- Economy the worst in Europe
- Billions to Tory Donors for PPE that either didn’t work or never turned up.
- Brexit deal that has seen the economy drop even further and exports evaporate.
- Repeatedly broke laws they’d only just made and had parties whilst the rest sacrificed
- Largest tax increase for 70 years whilst the chancellor’s wife and rich people like her simply avoid it.
- Crashed the pound.
- Chancellor of the Exchequer on the fiddle and fined by HMRC
- Voted to allow water companies to dump raw sewage in our rivers and seas for the next 15 years.
It’s not all bad news, though. Although inflation is at a 40-year high, at least corporate profits are at 70-year record levels, so that’s good.
PS - here’s a tip for any grovelling Tory apologists. Save time and brain-ache by selecting one or more of the following responses:
Option 1 response “None of this is true”
Option 2 response “It’s all true, but it’s Labour’s fault”
Option 3 response “More leftie nonsense”
Option 4 response “Labour would have been worse”
Currently listening to … Fuse by Everything But The Girl.
This is the first album from EBTG in 24 years - it was worth the wait! Listen on Spotify 🎶