...while the ills of our privatised water industry have many authors – from
Margaret Thatcher, who put it into private hands in 1989, to the
rapacious venture capitalists, who have stripped its assets and loaded
it with debt, to the company chiefs, who have been responsible for the despoilation of our rivers,
and to successive governments, who have been complicit in weakening
regulation – Sir James Bevan, one-time head of the Environment Agency,
is, in many eyes, seen as emblematic of the failures in oversight of
privatised water companies, the personification of a system that has
failed us all.

But it’s best to begin this shocking tale here.

There are 195 countries
in the world. Some are big, some small. Some are highly developed,
others not so much. Some are rich. Some poor.

Now for the extraordinary
fact.

Guess how many of those countries have put its water industry
fully into private hands.

Cadbury was an icon of British industry and philanthropy; the fact it
made damn tasty chocolate was just a bonus. The Cadbury family built
the brand on socialist principles in the 19th century, using the vast
wealth their product generated to build hospitals, establish saving
banks for the working classes, and provide vital resources for the
blind. This was a time when the mega rich used their wealth to build
libraries and public parks, ....

John Cadbury was a Quaker, a teetotaller, and an early
environmentalist. He campaigned for better child labour laws, for animal
rights, and against the slum conditions the poor of Victorian Britain
suffered under. He believed in improving the lives of his workforce and
when his two sons took over the family business in 1861, they set about
achieving their father’s dream of building a model town for their
factory workers: Bournville, now a major suburb of Birmingham.

...

Post Office scandal 'has taken 21 years of my life'

Describing what he witnessed as "sobering," Mr George stated: "The
International Court of Justice has deemed Israel an apartheid state.   I
don’t feel qualified to make such a judgment, but I can confirm I
witnessed extreme segregation and discrimination."

He added: "There are broadly two communities of people, living unequal
lives – one with rights, freedoms, and access to services; the other
with restrictions, no right to vote for the government controlling their
lives, and daily hardship."

...

He stressed that achieving peace requires addressing this inequality:
"Seeking peace after decades of conflict can only work if it benefits
both Israelis and Palestinians.

“Achieving this will require political change and herculean diplomatic effort.   Peace can’t come until this inequality ends."

Mr. George proposed a "Two-Stage Solution" as a necessary foundation for future peace:

1.     Full democratic rights – votes for all 

2.     A truth and reconciliation process.

"I mean to say that the impulse towards good involves choice and is
complicated, and the impulse towards bad is hideously simple and easy"

Maeve Brennan; ‘Talk of the Town’ for New Yorker

“We need to dispel the myth that empathy is ‘walking in someone else’s shoes.’ Rather than walking in your shoes, I need to learn how to listen to the story you tell about what it’s like in your shoes and believe you even when it doesn’t match my experiences..”

― Brené Brown, Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience, 2021

“True is such a twentieth-century concept. The question is, can I get you to believe it, can I get it repeated enough times to make it as good as true.”

—? Salman Rushdie, The Golden House 2017

Since 2001 no ruling party has ever had the votes of more than 1 in 4 registered voters in a British General Election.

Since 1979 no ruling party has ever had the votes of more than 1 in 3 of those registered to vote in a British General Election, (i.e. not including those who didn't register to vote, but including those registered voters who didn't vote)

via http://www.blog.rippedoffbritons.com/2014/07/graphs-at-glance-how-many-p...

Interesting pieces in the Guardian today about some interesting people

Ecuador's Lenín Moreno gives revolutionary turn by quitting while on top

guardian.co.uk, 19 Feb 2013

Jonathan Watts in Quito

World's only paraplegic head of state eschews high office to focus on link between quantum physics and human values

So, in his testimony to the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee Rupert Murdoch says: