Next time Starmer and Reeves say there's too much regulation, remember this. This is what a deregulated economy looks like, and we all pay for it, with our health, our ecosystems and, eventually - when the massive clean-up / land abandonment bill can no longer be avoided - our wallets. - ThreadSky

georgemonbiot.bsky.social • 73 days ago

Next time Starmer and Reeves say there's too much regulation, remember this.
This is what a deregulated economy looks like, and we all pay for it, with our health, our ecosystems and, eventually - when the massive clean-up / land abandonment bill can no longer be avoided - our wallets.

Reposted from George Monbiot

A gobsmacking story. Water companies let toxic waste disposers, for cash, dump their loads into sewage farms. The sewage sludge is then spread, untested, on farmland, potentially poisoning vast areas, entire ecosystems and the people (you and me) eating the food.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Comments

the0point.bsky.social•73 days ago

whats amazing is so much of our footprint is going to last beyond our lifetimes, and we got this place is almost perfect nick.

terrypasta.bsky.social•73 days ago

Starmer and Reeves simply repeat everything they're told by people with more money and power.

theglassisempty.bsky.social•73 days ago

But they’ll be getting their money later.

wildflower-farm.bsky.social•73 days ago

I am soooo glad I have food independence. Every day, I stop for a moment to be grateful I made it a major priority in my life.

suffolkcanary.bsky.social•73 days ago

Jesus wept! However bad I think things have become there’s still worse out there. 😱😱😱😱😱😱😱

artnich54.bsky.social•73 days ago

This story above all, of water privatisation, is the issue that defines more than anything else, the failure of UK Governance!
That Labour will not go near it and simply stand by will be the end of Labour. They are now no better than the Tories. Same shit, different jerseys is all…….,

northy1.bsky.social•73 days ago

Who exactly are they appealing to when they bang on about deregulation?

johnsteel.bsky.social•73 days ago

If I was to guess; Black Rock, Palantir, United Health etc.

northy1.bsky.social•73 days ago

That seems like a very reasonable guess

sab588.bsky.social•73 days ago

Have you been following @europeanpowell.bsky.social
The Freeport's SEZs that are happening Palantir BlackRock buying or being given parts of UK

northy1.bsky.social•73 days ago

I hadn't been but I will check it out - thanks.

tnbskts.bsky.social•72 days ago

Why are they even pretending not to be Conservatives?

alistairblantyre.bsky.social•73 days ago

🥴

tweetjohnnyboy.bsky.social•73 days ago

Ah the jolly farmers, the ones that don't want to pay their IHT, who voted #Brexit and lost their EU subsidies but got their deregulation. And now spray untreated sh!t!

therecognizer.bsky.social•66 days ago

the UK already had an R-wannabe - his name was Tony Blair. Don't do it again.

animaljere.bsky.social•73 days ago

Taking Society to the days of Upton Sinclair's the jungle,

ochkenny.bsky.social•73 days ago

Do you know how the system works These are waste water treatment plants. They sample and test the outputs to ensure they comply with EA regulations. They should not accept the waste if they can't treat it

georgemonbiot.bsky.social•73 days ago

They shouldn't but they do.

ochkenny.bsky.social•73 days ago

Do you have evidence for that on anything other than exceptional cases. The EA are strict on their outputs.

georgemonbiot.bsky.social•73 days ago

Please read the article and follow the links. And this one: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/nov/18/cocktail-toxins-poisoning-fields-humans-sewage-sludge-fighting-dirty

ochkenny.bsky.social•73 days ago

Your source at the EA is wrong unless they have stopped. I know they used to

georgemonbiot.bsky.social•73 days ago

Right, so my sources working right now at the cutting edge are wrong and you, without citing any evidence are right?

ningelschuh.bsky.social•73 days ago

Looks totally normal to me. In Germany its a good establlished practice. Yes, there are regulations, upper limits, but who cares?

We can not put all of this waste into the seas. We've tried, but baltic sea is a shit hole now. Algae blooms, dead fish, foam are nothing what tourists want to enjoy.

🤡

hils56.bsky.social•73 days ago

Starmer, Reeves and co are as corrupt as Hell. Just in politics for the power and their glory. The pair of them have killed off the Labour Party, that’s what they will eventually be famed for.

edpoole1975.bsky.social•73 days ago

By scrapping NHSE and cutting ICBs in half they are effectively deregulating the NHS next.

sunvsice.bsky.social•73 days ago

There are farms in the US, pretty sure it’s Maine, that the state govt has shut down due to forever chemicals in the sewage sludge. https://www.mainepublic.org/2023-04-10/our-sewage-often-becomes-fertilizer-problem-is-its-tainted-with-pfas

inshado.bsky.social•73 days ago

It's obscene.

purplelarley.bsky.social•73 days ago

I thought this FT newsletter was also good at reminding everyone of the danger of deregulation. I despair that we didn't use the 2008 crash as an opportunity to look for alternatives to GDP. Our current systems aren't working

https://bsky.app/profile/purplelarley.bsky.social/post/3lkuvqby4fs2a

craigsmaw.bsky.social•73 days ago

https://theferret.scot/israeli-enforcement-peat-extraction-scotland/?fbclid=IwY2xjawJKWsRleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHRggxxqRDg2qW1LK2A8pBpjk-wV2Au-b4aEowdUwfPnJn2Pv1KNgJmIqYA_aem_Ppijl1xw-uXUT-wvGJz2OA

mandirainbow.bsky.social•73 days ago

You remind me of an eye-opening book I bought about 25 years ago.

riccardoiacobucci.com•73 days ago

I wish we stopped using "deregulation", which means nothing without context. There are good regulations (environmental regulations) and bad regulations (those that keep incumbent corporations dominant and block competition). Whether "deregulation" is good or bad depends on what you are deregulating

zahirhemini.bsky.social•73 days ago

This is an ancient practice. It is modern civilization which dumps harmful substances into its waste that makes this an unsafe practice to continue. This is very much a case of the people needing to be protected from the consequences of their way of life.

carlslexicon.bsky.social•73 days ago

One word when it comes to this sudden demonising of the word 'regulation'... Grenfell

photodave.bsky.social•73 days ago

The tired rhetoric of "cutting red tape" is so often code for dismantling public protections. It's a short-cut for neoliberal capitalism to do its worst and exacerbate inequality.

nigel-hewlett.bsky.social•73 days ago

The endgame was pull into stark reality by Sir James' speech.
https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/in-praise-of-red-tape-getting-regulation-right

donnachadhmc.bsky.social•72 days ago

Grenfell is also what an unregulated economy looks like!
Eric Pickles getting away with murder for his deregulation of fire safety.
😪😪😪

mickeymoosenhauer.bsky.social•73 days ago

It’s almost like they want to charge ahead to the apocalypse. It’s like they crave ‘the Rapture’ of the end-times…
https://bsky.app/profile/mickeymoosenhauer.bsky.social/post/3lkrhiasq7k25

tibsashton.bsky.social•73 days ago

I am fed up with regulation and governance being used as shorthand for overadministration and unnecessary rules. Important things need to be regulated with the appropriate governance structures and checks and balances in place.

deggocwall.bsky.social•73 days ago

What is your definition of important then?

pushkin99.bsky.social•73 days ago

Not poisoning people and the environment.

tibsashton.bsky.social•73 days ago

I'd say chucking random chemicals on land is pretty important for a start.

mickrab.bsky.social•73 days ago

This is my definition.

nevereverdave.bsky.social•73 days ago

Farmers eat nothing from those fields. They're not stupid!

sylvie-62.bsky.social•73 days ago

“So minister, what risk was this regulation intended to manage?”
“What measurements will you make to ensure that risk does not crystallise?”
“At what frequency will you measure and report?”
“How will you decide if the reg must be restored?”
“What links does your party have with interested parties?”

elan68.bsky.social•73 days ago

thank you for reporting despite rage and sadness. we need to listen and ... get active? into politics?

johndunn.bsky.social•72 days ago

The great regulation game (I sometimes wonder if they all model themselves on bolted horse, stable door closing inspectors) is undoubtedly part of the reason but do not underestimate or ignore the hand that privatisation had in this result

perryfin.bsky.social•73 days ago

Can't believe Starmer giving Reeves her head.
He should have it on a platter.
Bankers should be nowhere near the country's purse strings.

sageofthevale.bsky.social•71 days ago

Far too simplistic, there is good regulation and bad regulation, the aim should be to extend the former and curb the latter

greensdavid.bsky.social•73 days ago

It's good to use the nutrients in our waste but, dumping untested waste into the food chain is irresponsible. As well as the build up of undesirable chemicals, like microplastics, some nasties can have a big effect in very small amounts, like carcinogens. We must test!

fuflunspw.bsky.social•73 days ago

Whatever happened to ‘the polluter pays’?

Those were the idealistic old days.

Now we’ve got Brexit, deregulation, and organised crime.

ala8.bsky.social•73 days ago

EU had clean water regulations as well

smilo998.bsky.social•73 days ago

Looks more like enforcement of regulation?

georgemonbiot.bsky.social•73 days ago

A lack of enforcement IS deregulation.

duncanpoundcake.bsky.social•73 days ago

Deregulation led directly to #Grenfell

arielultra.bsky.social•73 days ago

And the entire world economy collapsing.

banma569.bsky.social•73 days ago

Reeves( anagram =Severe) must be from the Jacob Rees-Mogg school of thought. If it's good enough for India ...

federicom.bsky.social•73 days ago

Not sure the EU will actually want us back at this rate. #healthhazard @mikegalsworthy.bsky.social @bestforbritain.bsky.social @theneweuropean.bsky.social

bradley252.bsky.social•73 days ago

If we called "regulation", "rights, safety standards and protections", then more of the public would resist any attempts to deregulate.

baronsusistrange.bsky.social•73 days ago

It stinks here in Kent at the moment. A nasty sick smell, not like what we used to call 'country smells'

godot47.bsky.social•73 days ago

I could have sworn I voted Labour (and am a party member) to have a government that sought to tackle environmental shit (literal) like this. Sat in my garden over the last few sunny days, not a single bee seen. If Labour don't act now and in a very major way, what is the point of them?

jacquesriverain.bsky.social•73 days ago

Actual Labour were purged when Starmer toook over resurrecting Blairism, but on steroids. I stopped voting Labour in 2003. They're now fully paid-up neoliberals and have fully accepted the same monetarist economic approach as the Tories. They are dead to me.

godot47.bsky.social•72 days ago

Indeed, but with the current voting system a vote for the Greens in the area where I live is a wasted vote and the imperative was end the 14 years of Tory corruption, failure and lies. There have been positives - Ukraine, employee rights - but to date, mainly disappointment.

jacquesriverain.bsky.social•72 days ago

The reason I voted for Blair was to end the 18-year Tory rule, but even then it was clear that the economic turn was pretty much complete. They're monetarists. Corbyn was a glimmer of hope, but that was squashed. I understand your vote, but I never expected Starmer to do anythng different.

petelihou.bsky.social•72 days ago

Let’s change the language, instead of talking about regulation, call it what it is; consumer protection.

kaynells.bsky.social•73 days ago

Is a sci-fi movie of an exploited destopian future too much of a difficult concept for neoliberals or conservatives to understand?

Sewage in rivers, toxic waste in sewage on our land, chemicals in our air, plastic everywhere.

Do we believe these people know what they are doing?

carlamuse.bsky.social•72 days ago

Horrifying.

stevebasnett.bsky.social•73 days ago

Deregulation is the cornerstone of the greedy, and the head-shakingly short-sighted. Slash it all so that they can rake in even more short-term profit now, to the cost of everyone else and ultimately themselves. This story can be mapped to today's Heathrow shutdown, regardless of LHR specific cause.

zahirhemini.bsky.social•73 days ago

Regulation is needed because humans are inherently unethical and self rewarding. They will damn the common good for their own benefit.

peterthesocialist.bsky.social•72 days ago

Some humans are that way, not all and that's why we need laws in society.

stevebasnett.bsky.social•73 days ago

This is certainly true of 'leaders' who seek power and fortune. It's almost an extreme prerequisite in some places.

zahirhemini.bsky.social•72 days ago

Yes.

blockwellart.bsky.social•73 days ago

Pure market not fast or efficient enough for lawlessness.

wnhy.bsky.social•72 days ago

To save the planet from human extinction we need more regulation not less. More control of what corps can do and what the wealthy can do.

lucyksy.bsky.social•73 days ago

purpleelectric.bsky.social•73 days ago

The argument for deregulation amounts to, “Since we closed the stable door, the horse hasn’t bolted, so it is obviously safe to reopen it.”

Comments

Posting Rules

Reply