How water became a dirty word
The News Agents
Global
4.1 • 5.4K Ratings
🗓️ 28 June 2023
⏱️ 38 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
As we record, the government is on standby in case Thames Water collapses. The country's largest water company has £14billion of debt, and is rudderless after the exit of their chief executive.
It's prompting many to ask questions about privitisation more widely. How did bills get so high, as quality got so bad? That's before you even get on to the shit in the sea. We ask what we've learnt about taking essential industries out of public control.
And, we discuss football, national identity, brexit , and what it means to lose - with the cast and director of Dear England - James Graham's latest play at the National Theatre.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Newsagents podcast is brought to you by HSBC UK, opening up a world of opportunity. |
| 0:09.4 | This is a global player original podcast. |
| 0:12.9 | Water is what makes life possible on our planet. |
| 0:16.6 | And it is essential for our health and well-being. |
| 0:20.3 | Oh, hang on, let me just make a note of that. |
| 0:22.0 | Water makes life possible. |
| 0:24.4 | I didn't know that. |
| 0:25.4 | And it's essential for our health and well-being. |
| 0:29.1 | Wow. |
| 0:29.9 | That was the government minister, believe it or not, |
| 0:33.7 | responsible in the House of Commons today, |
| 0:41.8 | talking about the crisis that has befallen Britain's biggest water company, Thames Water. It is looking more and more likely that the government |
| 0:47.1 | might have to bail out Thames Water because the privatisation of the water industry has just |
| 0:53.0 | gone so badly wrong. So on today's episode, |
| 0:56.3 | we're going to ask why and whether it simply adds to the sense that nothing in Britain |
| 1:01.7 | works anymore. And the person who suffers most from that, of course, is Rishi Sunak. |
| 1:06.8 | And this is going to be a podcast that is going to be essential for your health and well-being. |
| 1:12.3 | Welcome to the newsagents. |
| 1:17.0 | The Newsagents. |
| 1:19.1 | It's John. |
| 1:20.2 | It's Emily. |
| 1:20.8 | And it's Lewis. |
... |
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