The Sunday Edition: Thames Water - the business model built on sh*t
The Story
The Times
3.9 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 2 February 2025
⏱️ 33 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Tomorrow Thames Water will be going to the High Court in London for the start of hearings to approve a restructuring plan for its debts. So we thought it might be worth a listen back to an episode we made last spring about how the company which leaks raw sewage into our rivers managed to rack up unsustainable levels of debt while also paying out dividends to shareholders.
Warning: this podcast includes exclusive interviews from those brave enough to take a dip in The Thames.
Episode first broadcast on 28 May 2024.
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Guest: Dominic O’Connell, Business Presenter, Times Radio.
Host: Luke Jones.
Producers: Edward Drummond, Edward Halford.
Clips: 5 News, Sky News.
Photo: Getty Images.
Get in touch: thestory@thetimes.co.uk
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | In business, it pays to live in the real world. |
| 0:03.4 | It's the difference between knowing what people think. |
| 0:06.5 | And what's AI? |
| 0:08.4 | With YouGov brand tracking, you can track perception of your brand with the most accurate data. |
| 0:14.2 | And always from real people. |
| 0:17.5 | Never bots. |
| 0:19.6 | What does it take to understand your brand's reality? It takes |
| 0:23.7 | you gov brand tracking. Find out more at yougov.com slash brand tracking. |
| 0:42.5 | Hi, it's Will, one of the producers on the story podcast. |
| 0:47.8 | On Monday, Thames Water will be going to the High Court in London for the start of hearings to approve a restructuring plan for its debts. |
| 0:51.7 | So we thought it might be worth a listen back to an episode we made last |
| 0:56.7 | summer in which the Times radio business presenter Dominic O'Connell talked with Luke about the |
| 1:03.4 | water company and how it ended up in billions of pounds of debt. |
| 1:17.7 | Thank you. of debt. From The Times and the Sunday Times, this is the story. |
| 1:21.4 | I'm Luke Jones, and this is the Thames. |
| 1:26.2 | We are at Teddington Lock. |
| 1:28.2 | I can see rowing boats, geese, trees full of sunshine, and a big brown river. |
| 1:37.0 | I'm with a group of people about to go for a dip. |
| 1:40.1 | Nice or more? |
| 1:41.4 | It's a nice temperature, isn't it? |
| 1:43.4 | Really good temperature. It's a nice temperature, isn't it? Really good temperature. |
| 1:45.0 | It's lovely. |
... |
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