Emeritus Prof Christopher MaySep 5, 2023

And now another aspect of the #watercrisis emerges: illegal dry spilling by three southern England #water firms...

I think we can safely say that the political context for the water firms is that re-nationalisation is looking more & more like a popular policy.... the only Q. is how much further money the asset stripers can extract when the water companies are brought back into public ownership.

(we may see some interesting investment court cases see next post)

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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-66670132

Water firms illegally spilled sewage on dry days - data suggests

Three major companies released sewage on dry days in breach of their permits - BBC investigation.

BBC News
Show threadPhil Thane ✅Sep 5, 2023
@ChrisMayLA6 As it seems the water companies debts are about equal to their assets they are effectively worth about £0, which is exactly what government should pay to nationalise them.
Show threadNicSep 5, 2023
@pthane @ChrisMayLA6 except the government would have to sell off the assets to pay off the debts - or lose its good reputation with the lenders
Show threadPhil Thane ✅
@nicbest @ChrisMayLA6 They, we, should honour the debts but not pay the water companies themselves. They've asset stripped the water industry, borrowing to pay their bonuses and dividends rather than investing, which is why the hollowed out shells are worth zero.
Sep 5, 2023 at 11:36amWeb
Show threadKees N ✅🔻Sep 5, 2023
@pthane @nicbest @ChrisMayLA6
I am not so sure those debts should be honored. If the lender is a bank, that bank clearly did not do due diligence for the loan.
If the company cannot repay the loan, it is the bank's own fault.
(apologies for language flaws, I am not a native English speaker).
#watercrisis #NationaliseWater
Show threadEmeritus Prof Christopher MaySep 5, 2023

@knu @pthane @nicbest

indeed, we might appeal to the old truism - if you owe the bank £1000 its your problem, if your owe them £10m its their's....