How privatisation polluted our water

The UK’s water system is full of s***—literally

Jul 16, 2025

I recently moved house, which entailed setting up an account with a new water company. The first bill just showed up and... oh boy. Our new apartment is unmetered and the company’s usage estimate is undoubtedly much higher than what we will actually use. Even going by the estimate, the rate is steep.

You’d think we’d at least get something for all that money. Not so; the UK’s water system is plagued by massive underinvestment, leading to leaky pipes, sewage spills and rivers no longer fit to swim in.

How did it get this way? In today’s Lightbulb, Oliver Bullough outlines how the privatisation of Britain’s water companies has failed, leading to sky-high bills, crumbling infrastructure and explosive corporate debt. Bullough’s article is the cover story for our summer double edition—which hit newsstands today.

Elsewhere in the issue, Jane Kinninmont explains that “the systems that for decades have protected us from nuclear war are at risk amid growing insecurity and a trend towards exceptionalism.” Recent escalations between Israel and Iran, and India and Pakistan, show the safeguards are fraying.

Another individual who has, in his way, “gone nuclear” is Matthew Goodwin. The conservative intellectual was once a cerebral foe of the authoritarian right, even serving as an adviser to the Cameron government on tackling anti-Muslim hatred. A decade on, he’s a “fire-breathing pugilist [and] propagandist for the radical right”. James Bloodworth traces Goodwin’s radicalisation, which is symptomatic of the conservative movement’s direction.

On our website, Andrew Adonis charts a more surprising and precarious conversion: Donald Trump’s tentative shift towards Ukraine. Just a few short months after tearing into Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House, the US president “can’t afford to be humiliated by Putin refusing to agree to any compromise”, so he has little choice but to play nicer with Kyiv.

Finally, writer and activist Laura Bates joins the Prospect Podcast to discuss her latest book The New Age of Sexism: How the AI Revolution is Reinventing Misogyny.

Thanks again to those who have emailed your favourite nepo babies and beach reads. Gina suggests “any number of Freuds”, while Kate points to the feuding Beckham children. For your summer book order, Gigi suggests Barbarian Days by William Finnegan, while Justin likes Evelyn Waugh’s Vile Bodies, Graham Greene’s Brighton Rock and P.G. Wodehouse’s Summer Lightning. Email yours to ben.clark@prospectmagazine.co.uk.

P.S. Today is your last day to get up to 50% off a Prospect subscription and a free tote bag. Click here—quick!