Feargal Sharkey
@Feargal_Sharkey
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"Regularly touts on Twitter", former Secretary of State for Environment, Thérèse Coffey.
Joined October 2015
Feargal's Big Dummy's Guide to Sewage Dumping updated 22/12/2023.
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104 days after been fined £90m for dumping sewage into the environment and less than 12 hours after Gov voted to protect water companies and not our rivers, @SouthernWater were dumping sewage at 60, yes 60, different locations along the south coast of England. #COP26 hypocrisy
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Crikey!.
Take a bow Feargal Sharkey. Single handedly caused electoral meltdown in many rural Tory wards ✊
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Oh my, I owe you all an enormous, ENORMOUS thank you. 100,000 Twitter followers, who'd have though, when I first started tweeting about chalk streams, sewage, water companies, hopeless regulation & hapless politics that you'd all find your way here. I am humbled. Thank you all
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"Sewage was dumped every four minutes during Therese Coffey’s three years as water minister.". Yep you read that right. "presided over 321-years worth of sewage discharge in three years".
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Currently this Tweet has had 1,997,356 Impressions on Twitter. Wouldn't it be nice to make it 2,000,000?.
104 days after been fined £90m for dumping sewage into the environment and less than 12 hours after Gov voted to protect water companies and not our rivers, @SouthernWater were dumping sewage at 60, yes 60, different locations along the south coast of England. #COP26 hypocrisy
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I was in a shop yesterday and the very wonderful lady behind the counter asked "Aren't you that environmentalist bloke?". Guess that's my music career over then.
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And here they are 👇 the men and woman responsible for dumping 14,027,654 hours worth of sewage into the environment over the last 5 years and helping pollute every single river in the country. Ladies and gentlemen I give you the board of @Ofwat. "In the name of God, go".
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This is massive. Supreme Court rules WCs can sued for nuisance or trespass for dumping sewage even if “There has been no negligence or deliberate misconduct”, by the WC. That opens the way for 1,000s of claims by fishing clubs, swimmers, riparian owners against WCs. WOW just WOW!
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Short 🧵 on sewage:. Following a complaint, in 2012 the EU Commission took the UK Gov to the European Court Justice over allowing water companies to dump sewage into rivers. Court ruled it was illegal and that sewage overflows should only ever be used in "exceptional situations".
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The Secretary of State for the Environment, @theresecoffey dismisses what I do as "Regularly touts on Twitter". I call is sticking up for our rivers, beaches and seas and as it transpires 200,000 have decided to come along for the ride. WOW!. Immense, so, so immense, thank you!
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As of today every single sewage company in England and Wales is under investigation as part of the "largest ever criminal investigation", into "widespread non-compliance". What the hell has @Ofwat and @EnvAgency been doing the last 33 years?.
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We're "sorry" we've given £72,000,000,000 of your money to our shareholders but that means we've now got none left so we think you should give us some more. Let's call it another £10,000,000,000 as a bit of a down payment shall we?. Bloody hell!.
After dumping sewage in seas, chemically polluting rivers, failing to upgrade Victorian pipes & handing huge dividends to shareholders, all water firms have to offer is “sorry - oh by the way we’re putting your bills up”. What a shitshow. @Feargal_Sharkey.
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Welcome to modern Britian on a Monday morning. Red dots is where sewage dumping has been taking places over the weekend, grey dots is where the water company has stopped supplying the data. Why have you done that @SouthWestWater?
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Massive thank you to everyone at @GMB for the opportunity this morning to highlighted the devastation being cause to our rivers and beaches by the water industry and a failed system of regulation. Indebted. @ranvir01 @edballs @Kevin_Maguire @toryboypierce.
'We are slowly killing every single river in the country.'. Feargal Sharkey backs 'super' fines for profiting water companies. The Prime Minister has denied the government is moving away from £250 million fines for water companies.
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The legacy of power, politics and failure in a single picture. The reality of what has been achieved. This is how England looked at 6:30am this morning. The legalised dumping of sewage onto our beaches witnessed in real-time.
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WOW, just WOW!. This clip from @GMB has now been watched a whopping 2.1 million times. Crikey!.
'We are slowly killing every single river in the country.'. Feargal Sharkey backs 'super' fines for profiting water companies. The Prime Minister has denied the government is moving away from £250 million fines for water companies.
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My energy company just offered me a fixed price deal of £7,844.96 for 12 months, £7,844.96 for 12 months worth of gas and electricity. No I’m not kidding. I’m still bloody hyperventilating. @MartinSLewis
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So less than 24 hours after discovering @unitedutilities spent up to 70 days illegally dumping sewage into lake Windermere the company announces it is paying shareholders a dividend bigger than the company profits. And @Ofwat does what exactly?.
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Here's the actual pipe in St Agnes that is dumping all that sh*t onto the beach and into the bay. And @DefraGovUK, @Ofwat & @EnvAgency do what exactly?.
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I gather polio is transmitted via faecal contamination, food, water. Good job we haven't spent 5.7 million hours dumping sewage into England's rivers over the last couple of years then. How's that plan working out @DefraGovUK @EnvAgency @pow_rebecca?.
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Hang a banner from a motorway gantry and you are going to jail. Dump billions of litres of sewage into the environment for millions of hours and nothing. And no matter what anybody says that is not going to change. Justice? 👇.
Both of the actions you see in these photos potentially amount to the offence of ‘public nuisance’. One is punishable with “long, long prison sentences” & the other is rewarded with huge bonuses & billions in profits. Why the disparity? What does this mean for the rule of law?
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Currently this Tweet has had 3,788,219 Impressions on Twitter. Wouldn't it be nice to make it 5,000,000?.
104 days after been fined £90m for dumping sewage into the environment and less than 12 hours after Gov voted to protect water companies and not our rivers, @SouthernWater were dumping sewage at 60, yes 60, different locations along the south coast of England. #COP26 hypocrisy
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And I'm still right.
Feargal Sharkey - "Yesterday morning, dumping sewage into rivers & onto beaches was illegal. but by yesterday afternoon the govt had legalised the dumping of sewage. this is probably the greatest act of violence against the environment I've ever witnessed. ". #BBCBreakfast
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Well that was all very unexpected I have to say. A massive thank you to the readers and everyone at @angling_times for the support, Outstanding Contribution to Angling. Humbled, flattered and really rather excited. A honour.
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Is this really the state of our nation? Is this the world we're trying to build?.
@Graham21 @syptweet @SheffieldStar @yorkshirepost @BBCLookNorth @rbw66 @TheSadSquirrel @JayMitchinson @spacedapenguin @RebeccaHammond7 @SAVEDORETREES @BiancaJagger Here it is. 7 police vans, a CCTV van, 2 inspectors, 20-30 police - keeping our streets safe from a toy trumpet player. Unbelievable.
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Really! Is this what we have come to?.
Great Manchester Police thought it was acceptable to pull over our coach as we travelled from London to Manchester to protest the Conservative Party Conference. Heavy handed police presence to try and intimidate peaceful protesters. We must all oppose this 👇
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E.coli detected at Blackpool beaches. There's simply nothing more to say.
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To repeat. The 3 largest house builders in the UK are over £500,000,000 richer since Michael Gove binned pollution rules on Tuesday morning. Guess who provides 20% of Tory party funding? Not that any of those things are interconnected you'll understand.
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“Water company plans £89m shareholder payout despite sewage conviction.”. And that boys & girls is how it works. We can spend £91.6m fixing the sewage works or dump that sh*t into the nearest river, pay a £2.6m fine and give the rest to our shareholders.
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“You have trashed what last shred of credibility and sincerity you had, and it’s quite obvious you were prepared to sacrifice the environment at the altar of political gain.”.
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Let me help with that. Not a single river in England passes the chemical test, not one, they all fail, every single one. The ecology test? In 2009 25% of rivers were in 'Good' condition, 2016 fell to 14%, govt's prediction by 2027 that will have fallen to 6%. Shame on you.
“It’s a widespread myth that the quality of our water has deteriorated.”. Michael Gove says Britain’s water quality hasn’t gone down since the Tories entered No.10, but our standards have risen. @JPonPolitics | @michaelgove | #TimesRadio
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Not paid any dividends to shareholders?. Perhaps you'd care to explain this line item, page 137, your annual accounts "Dividends £62,337,000", in 2023, £52.6m in 2022?. Really!
@Pink18787 @Feargal_Sharkey @Pink18787 .We have not paid dividends to shareholders for the last seven years. We’re committed to improving our performance as we know a lot of our customers are disappointed with us. Part 1/2. -Megan.
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"Lynmouth swim race cancelled due to sewage release.". You know what's most shocking about that headline? It isn't even surprising any more. What a world we live in.
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@Anna_Firth @Conservatives Hi Anna, dumping sewage into the environment was illegal until 26th Aug 2022. Your gov has now legalised it, giving water companies permission to pollute for at least the next 28 years. You did know and understand that's what your gov did on the evening of 8th Nov 2021?.
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Apparent this is very complex and difficult to understand. So here we go. It rains. Water companies dump sewage on to the nearest beach and or into the nearest river. That's it. The end. Got that?. Do let me know if you found any of it difficult or complex.
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It will be the most important 3 minutes and 20 seconds you spend today. 👇.
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Can't believe I just saw this, @SouthernWater spokesperson on @GMB telling customers. "You then need to use your judgement on whether you feel it's safe to go swimming or not". So it's up to you if you want to go swimming in a load of sewage, not our problem. WOW! @HugoSAS
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"Water chief blames wild swimmers and canoeists for highlighting sewage scandal.". See, if only you'd all mind your own bloody business, stop swimming, canoeing, fishing and in fact being anywhere near a river none of this would have happened. GOT THAT!.
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Ofwat's letter confirming we have already paid water companies all of the money needed to build and operate a properly functioning sewage system. WCs 'certify' annual they've had our money. Q: Where's our money gone, what happened to it, when do we get a refund?
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"It was an offer that I simply could not refuse. This is the perfect opportunity to flip this dysfunctional system on its head and turn it into a regulator that actually regulates. I would be a fool not to accept.".
BREAKING NEWS!. @Feargal_Sharkey has been appointed as the new Chairman of @Ofwat!. Congratulations Feargal; the team at River Action will be supporting you all the way. 💪 👉#FearsomeFeargal #WatchOutOfwat
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How to make £493,964,000 in just 8 hours 30 minutes. Easy, get govt to bin nutrient neutrality laws for house builders exactly what the likes of Persimmon PLC, Barrat Developments PLC and Taylor Wimpey PLC did this morning & that's exactly how much richer they are this afternoon.
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Well, well. Here's a copy of @thameswater's licence to operate as a water company issued by @Ofwat. It's signed by Cathryn Ross as Chief Executive of Ofwat. Would that be the Cathryn Ross that is now Director of Strategy and External Affairs at Thames Water?. Of course it would
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We finally have it, the truth. @Ofwat tells select committee @CommonsEFRA it can't use all of it's legal powers to regulate water companies as it would force them into bankruptcy. So we let them blatantly and deliberately pollute the environment. 🤬🤬.
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YOU HAVE JUST 48 HOURS TO SAVE YOUR LOCAL RIVER. On Monday Gov will vote to legalise the wholesale dumping of sewage into our rives. Just as MPs were mislead over the cost of fixing sewage overflows, #SewageScandal environment groups have now also been mislead.
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"South West Water fined £2.1m for pollution offences.". That is the 161st time @SouthWestWaterhas been fined over the last 10 years, a total of £4,573,634. Fines don't work, something else needs to done. @NickFerrariLBC was right, time for jail.
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Your daily sewage dumping report. Yes every little red dot is a water company dumping sewage into / onto a beach. Grrr. 🤬
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So, less than 24 hours after been fined £90m for illegally dumping sewage into the environment guess who's dumping sewage into the environment again?
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A No10 "Spokesperson said since the industry was privatised in 1989, the equivalent of £5bn had been invested to upgrade water infrastructure.". Let me remind you during the same period WCs have paid out over £72bn to shareholders. Just hold that thought.
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Your live sewage dumping map on the morning of Tue 20th June 2023. Welcome to modern Britian.
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When water companies were privatised in 1989 they were all debit free. We, the tax payer, had written off all of the companies' debts. 33 years later they accumulated £54bn in debt and 20% of your bill now goes towards paying interest. We've been had!.
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I very rarely get this angry. A disabled man who tried to commit suicide after becoming 'overwhelmed' by the process DWP was putting him through has been charged with "possessing a chemical weapon", and has just spent 6 months on remand. 😡. This country is in too much pain.
A disabled man who swallowed poison in a jobcentre in an attempt to take his own life, after becoming “overwhelmed” by the harmful actions of the Department for Work and Pensions, has pleaded guilty to possessing a chemical weapon.
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Fri AM it was illegal for WCs to dump sewage into our rivers "save for exceptional situations". By Fri PM gov made it legal for WCs to dump sewage into rivers for at least next 28 years. Despite the warnings MPs deny that's what they voted for. Why did they lie?. #TorySewageParty
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The man's a legend.
Enthusiastic applause from Paul Whitehouse of @Feargal_Sharkey addressing the crowd at Whitstable beach this afternoon for @SOSWhitstable reading the pollution that goes into our seas. #sewage #seas #pollution #southernwater My pic
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Well that didn't take long. For one brief glorious exploding moment it looked like the environment lobby had found some leadership. Apparently not.
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More of these please.
@AnothervoiceWB @Laura__Farris @thameswater @NewburyToday @ARKennet @GreenJennyJones @natalieben @Feargal_Sharkey @Peter_Henley
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In took just 17 hours of trading yet the owners of Britian's 3 largest house building firms go to bed tonight £643,000,000 richer than when they woke up yesterday morning. This was never about persevering our rivers it was always about persevering Conservative Party donations.
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Now there's a horrifying bit of maths. We, the tax payer, sold it for £6.1bn and so far water companies have "extracted £72bn in dividends + unknown billions through intragroup transactions". We got f**ked.
In 1989, Tories sold English water/sewage entities for £7.6bn, gifted £1.5bn to private companies = net price £6.1bn. To date, shareholders have extracted £72bn in dividends + unknown billions through intragroup transactions. Privatisation is a scam.
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In north London £3,250 a month rent will get you a very desirable 4 bed / 3 bathroom luxury house. Not a bad way to live especially when someone else is paying for it.
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Oh dear. Obviously that wouldn't be a govt minister extolling the virtues of a chalk stream and the "pioneering work to reinstate", it when in fact the work was actually done in 2008 under a Labour govt and paid for using EU money. Shurely shome mishtake.
Inspirational visit to see pioneering work to reinstate parts of iconic chalk stream - the Nare to its original course - great for water quality and nature ; sharing views with @jake_fiennes @TonyJuniper restoring these special places is @Conservatives commitment
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BREAKING: Public told to stay away from 8 beaches in the North West that have been polluted with sewage. @Ofwat you need to stop hiding, you need to be accountable, today, you need to explain exactly what the fu*k it is you've been doing the last 30 years.
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"Shrewsbury residents threaten to withhold water bill payments in disgust at raw sewage washing up.". I'm telling you, this is going to be a massive issue at the next election.
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I know I'm going to make this political and believe me I try really hard not to but this simply can't go on. There are too many in this country feeling far too much pain, it has to stop. We need an election and today would be good, not tomorrow, not the day after, today!.
Devastating @UNICEF league table on changes in child poverty over 7+ years up to 2021: UK in the bottom spot. Report:
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This has to stop.
🔴An anti-Royal protestor holding a poster with the slogan ‘Not my king’ has been pictured being led away by police 👇
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Now this is when it starts to get really interesting. Well done @SteveReedMP 👏👏👏.
Exclusive: Steve Reed, the new environment secretary, has summoned executives from the 16 water companies in England and Wales for talks tomorrow - the same day that industry regulator Ofwat issues crucial rulings on their five-year investment plans.
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"Herne Bay traders slam recent Southern Water sewage releases over dry Bank Holiday weekend.". Now who was it told you sewage only gets dumped during rainfall? Oh yea, the water industry and government MPs. And you believed them?.
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In the last few days hundreds of thousands if not millions of people in London, Kent, Hampshire, Lancaster, Sussex and Devon have being going without a basic life necessity, running water. Ladies and gentlemen meet the Minister for Water.
Top Tory tells Brits 'iron wrapping paper' to save cash as nurses get a pay cut.
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None political party broadcast but @GordonBrown is looking and sounding remarkably like the kind of politician that should be running the country right now.
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Some weeks ago, in an effort to confuse and misinform the general public, @SoutherWater change how they display their sewage dumping map, making it much more difficult to read and understand. As display of public good I thought I'd change it back again. Here's today's map.
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Anyone for a pay rise?. Liv Garfield CEO of @stwater has been paid £27,700,000 over the last 10 years. Can anyone please explain to me how the hell that is justified?.
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"Water industry is 'teetering on the brink of insolvency' warns Feargal Sharkey.". “Not a penny of public money should go into any bailout of these companies,” he said.
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NEWS FLASH: 56% of people say sewage is going to influence how they vote at the general election. Huge well done. 👏👏👏. Responsibility lays firmly and squarely at the feet of govt, regulators and industry. NOW TO MAKE IT 76%.
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I know it seems so utterly incredible as to be unbelievable but London and the south east really is running out of water. Don't believe me? @SouthernWater is in talks to tanker in water from Norwegian fjords and no, I'm not kidding nor is it 1st April.
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And here it is in print. @thetimes “Activist of the Year.” What an honour, something I was simply not expecting. Humbled. Thank you so much once again to @TimesONeill for letting me talk all afternoon and for writing such a brilliant article. Forever indebted. Sláinte.
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So you've broken the law 259 times in the last 2 years alone and receive 146 warnings, what do you think happens?. Err, if your name's @YorkshireWater absolutely nothing, nada, zip, zero. The hapless regulator allows you to carry on like nothing ever happened. Wouldn't that be.
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Imagine being a water industry fat cat boss this morning wakening up to the idea that 72% of the public thinks you should go to jail. "Government needs to stop behaving like a marriage guidance counsellor and act, and act now.”.
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A very close friend of mine has just sent me a text,. "What has this government got against clean water?". Damned good question.
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What a contrast. Paris spends €1bn to clean up the Seine so people can go swimming in it while last year alone @thameswater spent 7,000 hours dumping sewage into 31 of London's rivers all of which ends up in the Thames. Ho hum.
Beyond the doom and gloom, great to see le Parisien splashing on swimming in the Seine today. More than €1billion spent on making it happen.
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THEY LIED!. The last pretence that this govt gives a hoot about the environment finally blown asunder. Greenest govt ever? Lie. Not lower enviro standards? Lie. Leave rivers in a better state? Lie. All of it, lies. NOTE: You cannot offset a dead river.
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"Paul Whitehouse hits out at 'liquid death' sewage dumps in UK rivers.". Paul's new hard-hitting 2 part documentary starts this Sunday, @BBCTwo 8:00pm. Features a certain Irishman of my acquaintance. :).
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It was only a matter of time. "E.coli 'found in Blackpool sea' following raw sewage discharge and no swim warnings across coast.". Candy floss, stick of rock, Kiss Me Quick hat anyone?.
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"We're sorry". So sorry in fact that just 2 of the water companies have already announced they are going to pay shareholders £550m over coming weeks. PS. I see that Liv Garfield, salary last year £3.9m is not on the list of CEOs giving up their bonuses.
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"Swimmers told to avoid these 19 beaches in England considered no longer safe amid diarrhoea and sickness warning.". I still find it utterly shocking, it's 2024, a G7 member state & people are being told to stay away from the beach. What's wrong with us?.
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"Man was left critically ill with sepsis after paddle in River Kennet.". Did I mention the River Kennet between Hungerford and Newbury has been downgraded to 'Poor' ecological status?. The Kennet is a chalk stream, 1 of only 225 in the entire world.
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*** HOT OFF THE PRESS ***. @WildFishCons, which I am honorary vice president of, has just been granted permission to take government to the High Court and challenge the legality of their deeply flawed sewage reduction plan. For more info contact WildFish.
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Good old @SouthWestWater always dependable, always reliable, always crap. Highest water bills in England, customers living under a hosepipe ban since last August and this morning dumping sewage into huge swaths of if not most of Cornwall and Devon. Ho hum.
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I have the answer, ladies and gentlemen meet Karl @uvartscic creator and painter of The Undertones mural. A tumultuous round of applause please. 👏👏👏
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"Conflict of interest fears over Steve Barclay’s wife.". Well that took less than 24 hours then. Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.
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"I'm heartbroken", @thameswater's CEO tells @thetimes but I'm still going to take my £3.24 million salary and bonus from last year she tells @seanfarrington at @BBCr4today while refusing to say that she would not take her bonus this year. Can't be that heartbroken then.
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"River Wye: Why the impending ‘death’ of one of the UK’s longest and best loved rivers should worry us all.". "The state of the River Wye fills me, and should fill everybody else in this country, with a righteous indignation and rage.".
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“River sewage is becoming a serious public health concern, Prof Sir Chris Whitty has warned, as he demanded that water companies do more to keep effluent out of Britain’s waterways”.
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It’s the 3rd time Gov have announced they are going to ban wet wipes in 5 years!. And as for the £1.6bn investment? Does that now replace the £3.1bn announced last year or the £2.7bn announced before that or the £12bn announced before that? . I could go on….
Wet wipes could be banned under plans to clean up England's water supplies. However, ＠Feargal_Sharkey tells ＠kategarraway and ＠richardm56 that the govt's whole statement is 'muddled and confused.'. He adds that it's the third time the govt has made the announcement about wet
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I'm told it was 45 years ago today, yes TODAY!. First ever Tops of the Pops appearance. Less than 12 hours after it was broadcast I was back in Derry, driving my Radio Rentals delivery van dropping off people's coloured telly's.
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So just hours after the great and the good were last seen using the River Mimram (a chalk stream) as a backdrop here what it looks like today. This morning. Polluted. It's turned purple. So much for fine words and speeches all of it devoid of intent and delivering even less.
Our Environment Minister @pow_rebecca joined other members of the Chalk Stream Restoration Group, including @TonyJuniper and @EmmaHowardBoyd, to see the River Mimran and welcome the #ChalkStreams strategy. 💧Read more here @CaBAtweets
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