I am a less than minuscule spec in the cosmos but I have a place, here, on this planet, in England and I care about my country so I feel I have a right to express an opinion or two on how our elected government are managing their responsibilities. My opinion may not always be right and I am always open to another point of view but recently, amongst all the noise of more polarising issues, a couple have seeped into my consciousness where they have taken root. Partly because they directly affect me and partly because the levels of greed and inconsideration for the public and the environment involved are disgraceful. And I am angry and disgruntled because being just one less than minuscule spec in the cosmos, I feel alone and powerless to change things.

At the time of the general election, based on the fact that they didn’t have a coherent manifesto other than immigration, climate change, the NHS and empty promises I chose not to vote for the Labour Party. So far they have performed to my expectation, sliding from “we will make Britain great again” to bringing it to its knees in less than a year with no signs of a let up. In my politically uneducated opinion, the Labour government; like the last one; is a disgrace and not fit for purpose. It started with blaming the Conservatives for the financial “black hole” and is now hiding behind its feeble attempts to appease Donald Trump and Europe rather than looking out for its own people.

In the past my thoughts on immigration were that all immigrants were only here for a cushy life and nefarious purposes, a feeling fuelled by the disinformation flooding the pro-Brexit propaganda at the time. I admit, I was swept along with the prevailing tide of resentment and fear but in the intervening years I have come to see that it is a global problem and no amount of protesting or legislation is going to halt displaced people from arriving on foreign shores looking for a fresh start. And, if you look at it dispassionately, historically the UK is made up from the immigrants of other nations; the Vikings, Romans, and Normans; all invaders who conquered our shores; have all left their mark one way or another along with more recent settlers, whom we welcomed with open arms to fill necessary jobs after the war. The biggest problem, the way I see it, is the way successive governments have dealt with the issue by throwing huge amounts of money at doomed schemes rather than spending that money on speeding up the asylum and right to remain process whilst at the same time bringing in legislation which impedes bona fide immigrants coming here legally to take up jobs in areas with extreme shortages of workers. 

Climate change is also a global problem and although I agree that as a species we should shoulder some responsibility until the largest emitters; China, USA, India and Russia; decide to reduce their carbon footprint what difference is the little speck in the ocean called Britain going to make with it’s rush to reach “Net Zero”? However pointless the exercise Ed Miliband; our MP unfortunately; and the Department of Energy seem hell bent on covering every available inch of our rural countryside in solar panels and wind farms at huge expense. Here’s an idea; we have acres and acres of suitable places for solar farming on the billions of roofs already basking in the sun everyday so why not use the billions of pounds being wasted on these solar farms and give the money to every household in the country to put solar panels on their roofs or to re-roof their houses with photovoltaic tiles? Same with shopping centres and supermarkets, cover their roofs and their vast swathes of car parks with solar panels. This in turn would leave good arable and pasture land to the farmers for growing sustainable crops or rearing livestock thereby providing future food security and making us less reliant on lower standard imports. It would also ensure the safety of our natural biodiversity. And since we are an island how about looking at harnessing the power of the sea?

Aaaand they are still banging on about our “glorious” NHS, a service created for the needs of the people in the post war Britain of 1946 when the average life expectancy was around 66yrs, a great deal lower than the 80+ of today. (ONS) Back then there were no miracle drugs and treatments and many occupations were far more hazardous than they are now. Since it’s inauguration our standards of living and workplace safety have improved as has our outlook on health and fitness which, coupled with advances in medicines and procedures, have resulted in our living longer. The NHS was already broken when I started my nursing career 35 years ago. It is now suffering a fatal cardiac arrest and no amount of CPR or injections of cash are going to save it. Sorry folks but it needs putting out of it’s misery and a new health service fit for today’s needs built from the ground up. But no one dare take that first step for fear of the public backlash whipped up by the fearmongers who bleat about privatisation from the rooftops and thrive on the status quo and horror stories because they are more newsworthy than a successful, fully functioning health service.

And I am certainly not interested in Donald Trump’s demands since, sure as chlorinated chicken is chlorinated chicken, he will renege on any deal made.

What I do get het up about is whilst we are being misdirected by these “big” issues what is happening behind all the noise. 

Because I signed a couple of petitions a while back I receive emails from the likes of 38 Degrees and change.org asking me to sign some petition or other. Whilst many are personal or local to the campaigner; living in Yorkshire I am not affected by speed bumps in Dorset; but some are more nationally targeted and cover topics of huge importance to the majority of  people of this country and are therefore in the wider political sphere. These are the ones I am more likely to sign, share and follow their progress. Many of the petitions I have signed recently have been about our water and energy suppliers since their respective regulators; with no apparent oversight from the government; seem to be more concerned with keeping the CEO’s and stakeholders happy by continuing to allow them to take their exorbitant salaries and rake in their huge bonuses, rather than passing the profits to the consumer by lowering our bills which, to me at least, shows a total disregard for our infrastructure and the opinions of the voting; and non-voting; public.

It all started with a small petition to Save Windermere which highlighted the amount of raw sewage being pumped into the lake by Unitied Utilities; which have resulted in the proliferation of blue algae which is killing off the natural ecosystem of the lake and making it unsafe for the public. Indeed as of 21st May 2025 the Environment Agency has declared the Lakeside YMCA Bathing Site unsafe due to the “pollution from harmful algae”. This will be devastating for an area which relies heavily on tourism. That small petition grew and grew until it couldn’t be ignored. People started looking into other water companies and the findings were damning. Many other water companies were also polluting our rivers, lakes and seas with these illegal sewage spills. My grandchildren, like thousands of others, enjoy swimming, paddling and water sports so obviously this is of great concern. Taking United Utilies as an example; apparently this company is in debt to the tune of £9bn yet it’s chief executive, Louise Beardmore was happy to take her £1m+ pay-packet and a £420,000 bonus last year showing utter disrespect to the customers of her water company and to the environment in the area it serves. Whilst she takes her ridiculously inflated salary and unnecessary bonus from a company which claims to be in serious debt she is happy to allow illegal spills of sewage into Windermere; 140 in 2024 (BBC); to continue whilst increasing the water bills of the consumers to cover the necessary repairs and upgrades to the system. Which, as far as I am aware, have not been carried out yet. The other question to ask is; how come the company is £9bn debt and if that was her salary and bonus, how much on top of that was paid out in salaries and bonuses to other executives and shareholders that year? But I do fear that she is only one of many. With data showing further failings to clean up their act “the companies were collectively set an Environment Agency target of a 40% reduction in pollution incidents, but instead recorded a 30% increase in 2024” (Guardian, 2025) whilst our water bill for this year has increased by £190 or 29%. Obviously we are not happy about having to pay more for a continually failing service so, since there are only two of us in the house, we have requested a water meter. But, according to Yorkshire Water, due to high demand there is now a long waiting list. I bet if I stop paying my water bill they will be round fitting a meter faster than I can turn on my tap! If this increase in requests for water meters is any indicator of how many people are pissed off with paying through the nose to line the pockets of the CEOs and stakeholders of increasingly failing water companies it is about time the powers that be took note. A report by Surfers Against Sewage shows that “despite failings to reduce pollution and new regulations intended to reduce profit for executives who preside over sewage spills, shareholders were paid £1.2bn in 2023-24 despite the record number of hours raw sewage was discharged into England’s waters”. Since then I can only surmise that the figure for this year will increase exponentially to their continuing failure maintain a fit for purpose network or treat and deliver safe water.
Although, in the last week, Thames Water has decided to put their payout scheme on hold after pressure from the government who have said “rewarding themselves for failure is clearly not acceptable”.

And if that wasn’t bad enough we also have the energy companies adding insult to injury. Again, our energy bills have increased dramatically since the pandemic; a time when a lot of companies seized the opportunity to change the way they worked out their tariffs. We paid for our energy by direct debit for many years because back then it was cheaper than paying quarterly when you got your bill. However, over the last few years our supplier, Bulb, slowly increased our monthly payments based on how much gas and electricity they estimated we’d use in that year. It got to the point our energy bills accounted for the largest portion of outgoings which resulted, at one point, in us being about £800 in credit. Rather than pay it back they wanted to use it to “reduce” our bill. So we stopped our direct debit and chose to pay for what we had used instead. Paul would read the meter on the same day each week and send the readings in to our supplier. Over the first few months we found that the supplier had been grossly over estimating our usage and we managed to reduce our bills accordingly. And if you have a smart meter you are completely shafted. I know of several people who have had grossly inflated bills due to the poor performance of the smart meter. In fact, we have recently discovered that my mother’s smart meter had never worked and her bills had been estimated for a number of years. And woe betide you if your smart meter doesn’t recognise your solar panels! Then came the rising cost of energy due the pandemic, the war in Ukraine and now the Trump Circus; which I’m sure has all the CEOs rubbing their hands with glee since they now have plenty of smokescreens behind which to hide their greed; the introduction of the price caps and the Winter Fuel Payment being snatched from pensioners. All I knew was that we were paying more and more for less and less and the not knowing why was quite frustrating. Then a petition popped up in my emails. This chap “The Regulator Guy” had put up a petition about energy prices. This guy explains in simple terms what is happening in the energy industry, with frequent reports on the failings of Ofgem, and highlights their consultations, which they try to slip under the radar. Mainly, I suspect, so the annoying general public miss the deadlines so missing out on their opportunity to have their say leaving it free for stakeholders and lobbyists to direct it in their favour. I now fill in these consultation forms whenever he publicises them. And to increase public awareness and hopefully drive up the number responses I make sure I let as many people know as possible. A prime example is the consultation on the proposal to introduce a zero standing charge and introduce new tariffs to offset the loss. My feeble understanding of this is that Ofgem is allowing energy companies to shunt our money around the system in the name of “simplifying” it but the new tariffs will ensure we are still paying the same amount so the stakeholders still win. Sneaky! Then there is the scandal recently highlighted by Citizen’s Advice where energy companies have pocketed £4bn in excess profits since 2020 due to Ofgem having a “flaw in the current price control” (Citizens Advice) and are refusing to give it back to the consumers. And you can bet your last groat that the CEOs, executives and shareholders; like those of the water companies; are taking their eyewatering salaries and bonuses whilst we all struggle to keep afloat (pardon the pun) on our minimum wages, ever decreasing benefits, paltry pensions and increasing taxes. Just to put it in perspective, these greedy CEOs are pocketing huge salaries of £2m+; who the **** needs a £38,500 a week paycheque? That is the equivalent of a top band 5/lower band 6 nurse’s annual salary! Which, incidentally hasn’t risen by much since my last paycheque in 2013 and certainly not as much as my utility bills. That, to me, is a total insult to all of us who are now having to make hard choices about how and where we spend what little money we have left.