Celebrities join pollution protest against sewage in Lake Windermere 

Capitalism is all about money

and lets not forget, nobody under 50 voted to do this. thanks boomers and older.

It was never supposed to work for the general public.

privatisation achieved exactly what was intended. How else can we get more money out of public hands into private ones?

Take a vital public service established through decades of hard work and taxes. Underfund and degrade it, then sell it for a pittance to your chums in the city.

+ 10 billion the water companies are going to add to our bills to pay for their years of underinvestment.

Criminals and the corrupt minister put every effort in to protecting these companies, to a point it looks like a complete joke on the public, some individuals are filling their pockets at the expense of public country and environment.

Sadly not criminal. Just capitalism.

@@JohnHuxleySavage normal with a tory government

But but but punishing shareholders would stop them investing more… oh no, wait there 🤦🏽

Tories won't ever do that

The Tory government removed a lot of regulations to allow their donors and friends to rake in the money. They have their own private pools. The UK voted for this "bonfire of EU regulations".

@@solariss452 ...and out...Broadsword calling Danny Boy, etc, etc...

I used to receive the 'Environment Agency' quarterly magazine (since I worked for the Environment Agency in the capacity of a Royal Parks gardener until it was privatised). In the back of that magazine there was a list of companies and individuals that had been taken to court by the Agency with regard to pollution incidents. I don't think there was ever an issue that didn't have the name of at least one water board that had been taken to court. It didn't surprise me to see Anglian Water turn up in the list quite regularly - their water already smells like sewage when it comes out of the tap. Goodness knows what it's like by the time it goes through the sewage system. Northern water boards also turned up with worrying regularity. However, the point to my comment is - it didn't matter how much they were fined. It didn't matter how often they were taken to court. These water boards just carried on in the same irresponsible, slack-handed manner, attending court and paying fines over and over again. The reason why they don't need to be concerned is because they have your money already. They can raise your water rates as much as they feel they can get away with, making poor excuses for the increases (under the banner of 'we're improving water quality just for you!') while using your money to pay off any fines they incur as well as awarding the management those pay increases they think they deserve. That's the beauty of direct debits - championed by our banks under the pretence of 'our convenience.' The only ones who know any convenience are the companies that can raise these direct debits at will - so that you don't have to lift a finger!

Finally somebody needs to say it. Public bodies such as the Environment Agency have been hollowed out. Same with Local Government, Natural England and Historic England. You want decent public services such as education, health and keeping the environment clean and safe for everyone then you pay for it and don't vote for a party who introduced austerity in 2008 and just keep on it. People need to understand there is a direct correlation between paying for decent services through sensible taxation or doing the bare minimum which will get long waiting times for health appointments, overworked teachers, pot holes everywhere, a decent environment to live and a general failing provision of quality public services. It all depends on what type of country you to live in or raise your kids in.

Oh yes, but I have to admit I watched question time a couple of weeks back and this was a subject that came up in the debate and the Labour Party rep was asked directly and she waffled on and then pretty much said if they won the election they wouldn't be upsetting share holders. Thatcher was a clever woman - she knew all along that these companies would be intrinsically linked to institutions such as Pensions.

@@someblokecalleddave1 right now the Labour Party are saying nothing that will possibly offend anyone because they need the votes in their favour. I’m having to hope that they will take some action if they get into government after the general election. If they don’t then I will feel that there is no hope for common decency in this country and if my husband pops his clogs before me then I’m off to France and resigning from my loyalty to my country of birth.

@@someblokecalleddave1 Labour are another Conservative party...no real difference. Just as corrupt.

​@@laurencefox5884 Sadly I agree

and then telling us we have to pay 10bn to clean it up

And lots of these water companies are owned by other nations investment corporations. Why? Because they know it's effectively free money. Yes there are pension funds that invest in them but you have to ask, should they? It's such an easy win for any government to nationalise the water companies as the vast majority support it. However in doing so the conservatives will have to admit that Privatisation has failed.

Don’t need to nationalise them in terms of ownership. As they are all (except for telecoms) natural monopolies they are all regulated. The arms length approach has clearly failed with water companies. So, move the regulation closer to the companies. Put Ofwat, Environment Agency and representatives of customers and local authorities onto their boards as public interest directors. Make sure this public interest directors are larger by one director than the shareholder directors. All issues of investment, did videos and senior pay and bonuses will have to pass the public interest directors scrutiny.

​@@highvoltageswitcher6256 and what happens when the already filthy rich directors start paying the public interest directors truck loads of money to back their ideas instead?

Cant be criminal charges because it was legalised after we left the EU.

Personally I think a big, thin piece of metal in a wooden gantry should be brought down on them

Farmer's, property developers and councils too. Property developers rip up tree's before work begins and spray loads of weedkiller after work ends. Many farmers are using chemicals on land their cattle are grazing.. absolute criminal madness.

​​@@Ghengiskhansmum yes, that happened in the dead of night in our town to allow the builder to put more houses on his site. The fines are a joke and not a deterrent.

Everyone has got it wrong. Levelling up means the top 5% are moving up a level, getting to level up to the top 1%.

Any way to bring up Brexit huh lol. You remoaners just can’t let it go

@@oracle8589 Do you mind me asking what benefits have you personally experienced after we left?

​@@oracle8589 We're not going to let it go. You had better start getting used to it buttercup. Brexit hasn't worked. You wanted it. It's your fault. No-one else. Man up and own it.

@@oracle8589 And you can't even come up with a substantitive retort, just petulant name calling.

The English voted Tory and Scot's voted SNP in Scotland. SNP is basically a Tory spin off and a massive con with an excuse for everything they haven't done, blamed on someone else.

Neither should our sentences. *.

It’s for profit not for benefiting the public country or environment. Some very bad people lied to the public, and sold a national asset for their personal gain.

I highly doubt we will see another Tory government at the next election.

The Tories are on course for a beating next election but I don't put too much faith in Labour either.

Most people that read the Mail want to read news that makes them angry and also constantly talks about immigrants.

And to humans too, of course...

Also clean up after your dog and stop from killing kids

@@theenchiladakid1866 don’t drive cars or travel on planes, people get killed in them, don’t cross the road, may get run over…

@@stephenwalker2924 I would hope a human wouldn’t even contemplate getting into that, and wouldn’t need to be told

Yes we were going the write way but along came the tories and they turned every think to sewage 😊

Tories.

tories taking us back to 1780s

The reason for everything ££££££££ and rich Tories , oh and English voters being brainwashed that rich Tories care for you

Backhanders from the corporations to the Tory nonces

The fishermen should be suing the water companies.

@@jujutrini8412 But the fishermen voted Brexit!

@@blazzz13 I know. They voted for their own demise. 🤷‍♀️

@@blazzz13 dude, just let it go. Smhydc.

@@blazzz13 This started long before brexit numb nuts its been going on for 20 yrs .

surrounded by gold-plated ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!!

Its a start

It's probably most effective to start with an iconic place (Wye Valley is another) to highlight the issue and get people involved in their local area.

You have to start somewhere

By having rich and privileged individuals who don't care and aren't affected in the least by this, who make a pretty penny through brand exposure and PR. The fact you think this can sway utility companies to act responsibly is laughable. You are another useful idiot propping up the circus. I bet you donate to liveaid and savethechildren. Thinking that makes a difference

The government are allowing this to happen. They want it to happen. They made laws to make it happen. They voted for it. And if you put your X next to the little box marked TORY...so did you.

They literally chose this.

@@mikw1809 plus they allowed them to be self regulating, not a surprise that incidences of pollution have plummeted. These people must literally hate us, we the plebs.

Cesspool government . Turning the country into a toxic waste land.

@@mikw1809 Yes but ONLY in an emergency and only for a set amount of hrs per year , whats happening now is the environment agency are turning a blind eye to it where as 4-5 yrs ago they were prosecuting companies they now let them get away with it and this is how bad its become with 85% of rivers now polluted in this country and some are completely dead .

I see what you did there

lol

😂😂😂😂

That's a *B+* 🤓

@@tobyjackman3212 Harsh crowd.

At least there doing something rather than sitting back and doing nothing. Unlike your government.

Not my government. The fact that you have 3 high profile personalities supporting the protest can only be a good thing. Whether it makes a difference only time will tell. Apart from a handful of good MPs, the rest of them are a waste of space.

I moved to the ☀ after Brexit My mates laughed but....😉

why is that?

@@epicmonkeydrunk Its called voting....remember that some people literally voted for this.

TOTALLY agree

By the water companies

@@Luke73195 totally agree with you

They are enabled by Tory MPs and in line with Tory ideology.

Celebrities are, like, normal, everyday people too, you know? Even *shudder* Phillip Schofield...

As a brown person most of us live in cities. Cumbria is very White which has nothing to do with this story.