The Thames Water affair is a reminder that big bonuses beat public pressure. Also: why lifts rarely fall, but sometimes rocket; and a guide to Thomas Hardy’s Wessex. This week's newsletter is out and is what I believe the kids term "a banger" - ThreadSky

jonnelledge.bsky.social • 4 days ago

The Thames Water affair is a reminder that big bonuses beat public pressure. Also: why lifts rarely fall, but sometimes rocket; and a guide to Thomas Hardy’s Wessex.

This week's newsletter is out and is what I believe the kids term "a banger"

Comments

unixmaisonette.com•4 days ago

Boss's shame and needing consequences other than financial is a really good point. Kill your child, you're going to jail. Kill someone else’s child because you fail to address mould in the home you're renting to them, you might get sacked, but not until after you've paid yourself £170,000 a year.

pellegrina.bsky.social•2 days ago

My recurring nightmare since childhood of being in a lift that goes out of control is actually a thing??? 😧

stephenbc.bsky.social•3 days ago

How did you get on with Hardy? Perhaps not a popular opinion, but Tess of the d'Urbervilles is by far the worst book I've ever read (worse than Emma). Hubert Selby Jr could have taught Hardy how to write properly 😬😬😬

jonnelledge.bsky.social•3 days ago

Never read a word!

stephenbc.bsky.social•3 days ago

Confirms my opinion (that you keep denying) that you are indeed a wise man 😉

martinned.bsky.social•3 days ago

Your idea of the alternative option is wrong. If the amount of money on the table was smaller, they'd have gone to work somewhere else. Recruiters contact me about jobs for Thames Water all the time, and I always politely decline. Being tarred and feathered in public isn't my idea of fun.

jonnelledge.bsky.social•3 days ago

That feels like the exact same argument with slightly different emphasis

martinned.bsky.social•3 days ago

Perhaps, but it's also Thames's defence. Assuming you agree with them that the group of people who have the skills to run Thames at this point of time is quite small, it's difficult to see why any of them would do that job unless the money was really, really good.

martinned.bsky.social•3 days ago

That's Thames's defence with respect to the dividends too: Unless they pay dividends, no shareholder will agree to put any money in, and without new shareholder money they can't serve their customers.

You don't have to agree with every part of that argument (I don't), but it's a coherent story.

jonnelledge.bsky.social•3 days ago

The incoherent bit is "okay then they're not bonuses are they". Pay higher salaries.

I actually think part of the problem as ever is the Treasury being in denial about its own responsibility for the state of our infrastructure.

martinned.bsky.social•3 days ago

For the record, as an ex-water regulator my theory is that there is only one good reason to privatise the water companies:

In a nationalised system Treasury brain leads to chronic underinvestment. With privatisation there's a block of well-funded stakeholders arguing for more investment.

martinned.bsky.social•3 days ago

O, absolutely. The predictable consequence of regulating bonuses is that base salaries will become higher. That's what happened every other time the public got mad about bonuses.

rayalexander73.bsky.social•4 days ago

This is the US firm (KKR) looking to buy Thames Water

https://www.kkr.com/about/fortifying-companies-and-communities

mrwayneellis.bsky.social•3 days ago

@knoxharrington.bsky.social good piece that.

The Panorama special on Thames was interesting watching and living in Wiltshire I’ve watched our Thames water bill rise a fair bit, yet they have never invested in their infrastructure seemingly

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m00284vt

jonnelledge.bsky.social•3 days ago

Btw am gonna close the "5% off annual subs AND A FREE COPY OF THE BOOK" offer shortly. (I actually keep forgetting it's open and then being annoyed I need to do more admin.)

To take me up on it, you have until THIS WEEKEND - £38 for a year, AND a free book? I'm robbing myself here guys

jonnelledge.bsky.social•4 days ago

https://jonn.substack.com/p/the-price-of-shame

cmraman.geek.org•4 days ago

Thanks for the screenshot, saves me clicking on a Substack link.

jonnelledge.bsky.social•4 days ago

I mean... what do you want me to do with this? I'm aware of the issue with the platform. I think about it a lot and am trying to work out what to do and how to do it without ruining myself. But a snarky post from a random isn't going to speed that up, it's just gonna make me think you're an arsehole

jonnelledge.bsky.social•4 days ago

Congrats on getting yourself muted I guess, Marc

cmraman.geek.org•4 days ago

Fair enough.

jvspeculator.bsky.social•4 days ago

Once again, its socialism for the rich and corporations. They pollute and taxpayers have to clean up the mess. . .

alexwilcock.bsky.social•4 days ago

I’m ashamed to say your exciting fantasy map of Hardy’s Wessex made me wish for a map with all the alternate names of similarly oversized ‘county’ Midsomer, which has been established onscreen to stretch from Wales to Brighton.

purserhallard.com•4 days ago

Have you read Christopher Priest's A Dream of Wessex? Partially set in a world where a selfconsciously Hardyesque future Wessex is isolated from the rest of England by a sea channel? It's fab.

jonnelledge.bsky.social•4 days ago

I have not, I haven't actually read that much proper sci fi

purserhallard.com•4 days ago

It's a lot more slipstream, really -- most of Priest's stuff is basically magic realism but with SF imagery.

purserhallard.com•4 days ago

I've been trying to find a map online, but I can't see that anyone's created one, which is a shame. (There isn't one in the book, sadly.)

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