Monday, September 07, 2026
The thirsty businesses using billions of litres of public water in drought-hit England
The paper says that businesses across England use 2.6bn litres a day from the public water supply, which includes potable and non-potable water provided by water companies. According to Mosl, the organisation that operates England’s business water market, in total, businesses account for about 30% of public supply use, with two-thirds of their consumption in water-stressed areas:
Tracking industrial water use appears difficult. Regulators say they are frustrated by a lack of data and “commercial secrecy”, and the water sector says it is prevented from planning effectively for growth industries.
The biggest users of the public water supply include oil refineries, chemical plants and paper mills, and some face no requirement to cut their consumption.
Mosl’s map of business water supply points, ranked by volume used, showed the site of ExxonMobil’s Esso refinery at Fawley, Southampton, as the largest user of public water supply. However, the site includes a number of other operators that also use the water, including waste, gas, chemicals and energy companies.
Mosl cited the refinery’s water use in written evidence to a House of Lords committee as an example of “the high volume of water wastage in industry that is not disincentivised by government or the regulatory framework”.
Mosl did not name the refinery but described its location, which was also visible on its map of supply points.
ExxonMobil disputed Mosl’s figures, saying its water use was commercially confidential. Mosl said it planned to ask the committee to redact parts of its evidence. During reporting, Mosl also removed a report and its supply point map from its website.
The refinery said the “vast majority” of the water it used came from the Solent strait for cooling, while “industrial water” was used for processes that could not easily be reduced without shutting down operating units. Potable water accounted for less than 1% of total consumption, it said.
Apart from refineries, other major users of the public water supply include paper mills and companies in the chemicals and soft drinks industries. But the overall picture of business water use is incomplete. One in 10 businesses are not metered, meaning their use is not measured or reported. Of those that are metered, only 11% have smart meters.
Adding data centres, which consume millions of litre of water daily for direct server cooling and indirectly through the massive amounts of electricity required to run and power their facilities, and we could have a major crisis if these heatwaves continue as they are meant to.
Sunday, September 06, 2026
Sleaze, scandal and dodgy funding
The paper says that allegations that the party arranged illegal donations led to the resignation on Friday of Farage’s chief of staff and longtime aide Dan Jukes, as well as policy director James Orr, effectively knocking the party off-course from its planned agenda, and forcing Farage to answer questions on whether he could bounce back from another scandal:
Metropolitan Police confirmed they are considering complaints from Labour and the Lib Dems over video footage obtained by investigative group Verbatim posing as an American financier and his UK-based son, who reportedly suggested they would be prepared to donate up to £500,000 to the party.
The party took funding from a US firm for three polls it commissioned earlier this year costing £32,500, Channel 4 News reported.
It meant that an attempt by Mr Farage to put his party on the front foot over the small board crisis by signing a memorandum with France’s right-wing National Rally party president Jordan Bardella was lost in him answering questions on the allegations.
It also overshadowed the speech in which he outlined how he would declare a state of emergency if he became prime minister and force the Commons to sit seven-day weeks over the summer to push through legislation.
In many ways it is a shame that the contents of Farage's speech have been overshadowed by the scandals. The proposal to declare a state of emergency and force through legislation has all the hallmarks of the early days of the Third Reich, while the manhandling of a protestor in the conference shows once again how little respect Reform UK have for dissent.
Meanwhile, the Guardian reports that a group called Patriot Platform, dressed in black and wearing balaclavas, blocked the road at the port of Dover in Kent, in a protest against small boats, forcing closures in both directions on Saturday morning.
This para-military-like demonstration was not associated with Reform UK, but it was very much promoting their agenda.
The Guardian also published an article outlining what they call a two-year trail of financial controversy dogging Reform and Farage.
The piece touches on six claims the party has faced, ranging from an undisclosed £5m gift to an alleged plot to bypass election laws.
This includes Farage telling us that he had ‘bought a house’ in Clacton which is actually owned by his girlfriend, the undisclosed £5m gift to Farage by a crypto billionaire in 2024, the police investigation of £500,000 in donations from the mother of a fraudster who backed Farage, the Reform UK transactions worth millions which were reported to the National Crime Agency, the crypto billionaire pardoned by Trump who gave Reform another £4m, and the Reform officials who allegedly ‘plotted to break the law on foreign donations’ in an undercover film.
All in all, it isn't looking good for Farage and his party.
All in all, it isn't looking good for Farage and his party.
Saturday, September 05, 2026
Giant's Grave, Gower
As this site tells us Giant’s Grave is a Neolithic (4000-3000bc) tomb belonging to the so-called Severn-Cotswold group:
The burial site was first located in 1869 when it was plundered for stone and re-excavated in 1960-61 by R J C Atkinson. Bone fragments belonging to 40 individuals have been recovered. All were adults except for three, also discovered were two rims of Neolithic pottery. It is thought that the rounded stones on the southern corner of the tomb were washed by a river that once ran alongside the tomb but has since found its way underground into the limestone rocks below.
On the opposite side of the valley there is a beautifully restored lime kiln. A little further up the valley (approx 150 yards) on the right-hand side, a path leads up the valley side to Cat Hole cave:
In 1968 excavations of this cave yielded flint blades suggesting occupation during the last ice age, while human remains indicated use later in Mesolithic times and the bronze age. More recently in 2010 archaeologist Dr George Nash discovered at the rear of the cave rock art which has since been proven to be over 14000 years old making it the oldest cave art in Britain if not in Western Europe.
Despite my experience, it is well worth the walk but beware. The website suggests that you don't stay out after dark:
Now a word of warning, you may wish to start your walk back before the night falls because many of the locals believe that the valley is haunted! My father used to say that when we used to graze our horses in the valley you would not find a single one of them still on the flat valley floor much after dusk – they would all move up into the trees where there is no grazing. He first heard the stories from an old lady whose family had taken up residence in Parc-Le-Breos House while it lay empty and in disrepair in the early fifties. I have personally walked through the Cwm many times after dark and apart from my imagination running away with me once or twice, I disappointingly haven’t witnessed anything supernatural!
There is a lot more about this site on this wikipedia page, including putting the grave into its historical context:
The cromlech at Parc le Breos Cwm is one of 120–30 sites identified as belonging to the category of long barrow tomb known as the Severn-Cotswold or Cotswold-Severn group.Excavations show these tombs to have been built on sites that had already "gained some significance". Archaeologist Julian Thomas theorises that these sites may have been "very long-lived woodland clearances" that had become landmarks and meeting-places.
This is map of how to get there if you're interested. Start at the Gower Inn and be sure to call into Shepherd's for ice cream afterwards
Labels: lochist
Friday, September 04, 2026
In which I agree with Kemi Badenoch
The Independent reports:
Answering questions after a speech on defence in London, the Conservative leader was asked about Reform’s decision to refuse accreditation to a series of journalists for its conference this week.
One of the journalists was Anna Isaac, the Guardian’s City editor, who broke the story that Farage had accepted an undeclared £5m gift from the crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne.
Farage’s attacks on the media were “very personal” at times, Badenoch said, also citing the targeting of journalists by Zia Yusuf, Reform’s home affairs spokesperson.
She continued: “I think you could … [see] what kind of government they would be – authoritarian and using state power actually to pursue opponents is what they’ve effectively been threatening.
“We believe in free speech. We believe in a free press. And yes, of course, that might be painful for us as politicians, but public scrutiny is part of the gig. If Nigel Farage can’t handle difficult questions about his dodgy £5m then he shouldn’t be a politician.”
This is absolutely right. Just like Trump, Reform UK do not like scrutiny and have little or no tolerance for opposition, preferring to brand anybody who disagrees with them as the establishment seeking to shut down their so-called insurgency.
The reality of course is that Reform UK is stuffed full of establishment figures and are pursuing an agenda that aligns with the interests of the powerful and wealthy. They have little or no interest in the needs of ordinary people and their communities.
Answering questions after a speech on defence in London, the Conservative leader was asked about Reform’s decision to refuse accreditation to a series of journalists for its conference this week.
One of the journalists was Anna Isaac, the Guardian’s City editor, who broke the story that Farage had accepted an undeclared £5m gift from the crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne.
Farage’s attacks on the media were “very personal” at times, Badenoch said, also citing the targeting of journalists by Zia Yusuf, Reform’s home affairs spokesperson.
She continued: “I think you could … [see] what kind of government they would be – authoritarian and using state power actually to pursue opponents is what they’ve effectively been threatening.
“We believe in free speech. We believe in a free press. And yes, of course, that might be painful for us as politicians, but public scrutiny is part of the gig. If Nigel Farage can’t handle difficult questions about his dodgy £5m then he shouldn’t be a politician.”
This is absolutely right. Just like Trump, Reform UK do not like scrutiny and have little or no tolerance for opposition, preferring to brand anybody who disagrees with them as the establishment seeking to shut down their so-called insurgency.
The reality of course is that Reform UK is stuffed full of establishment figures and are pursuing an agenda that aligns with the interests of the powerful and wealthy. They have little or no interest in the needs of ordinary people and their communities.
Thursday, September 03, 2026
Same old, same old from Farage
The Independent reports that the Reform UK leader has broken parliamentary rules on his first day back, after he filmed a video of himself on the roof of the Houses of Parliament.
The paper says that permission from parliamentary authorities must be sought before any filming takes place on the estate, while the roof is even more sensitive as a result of its implications for security and personal safety. They understand that Farage did not seek permission to record the social media video.
Another article in the Independent tells us that Farage has launched an extraordinary attack on members of the Commons standards committee, claiming that the inquiry into his non-declaration of a £5 million gift is rigged against him:
In outlandish comments, which have echoes of Boris Johnson’s attack on the Privileges Committee in 2022, Mr Farage has suggested that MPs on the Standards Committee have already prejudged him as guilty without a fair hearing.
He told the BBC: “Well, I mean, that investigation, the outcome. Have you seen who is on the committee? I think we know the outcome already.”
The tactic used by Mr Johnson and his allies to try to distract from the charges of lying to parliament over the Partygate scandal during the Covid pandemic eventually led to a much stiffer punishment and him losing the right to have a former MP’s pass to be allowed to return.
There were very personal attacks aimed at Harriet Harman at the time, who chaired the committee deliberations.
Mr Farage was challenged by the BBC’s political editor Chris Mason over his decision to call a by-election in Clacton in August, a contest where no other major party stood and Mr Farage had to spend most of his time contesting comedian candidate Count Binface.
Explaining that he had gone to his constituents because of the investigation against him, the Reform UK leader was asked about the inquiry.
He lashed out, attacking the integrity of the committee membership chaired by Tory MP Alberto Costa.
Mr Mason asked Mr Farage: “You are clearly suggesting you don't think they can give you a fair hearing?”
Mr Farage responded: “If you look at the composition. If you look at the political composition of the committee, I thought before they gave a judgment, we’d ask the people to give a judgment.”
He really does appear to think that he is above the rules that apply to everybody else.
Wednesday, September 02, 2026
Rising social care costs for families underlines the urgency of reform and investment
The paper says that under the current system, support is means tested, meaning that only those with capital assets under £23,250 are eligible for the taxpayer-funded service, however, the threshold has been frozen since 2010, meaning that it has lagged significantly behind inflation:
Andy Burnham has made social care reform one of his major priorities but previous prime ministers have struggled to fulfil promises to make the system fairer due to difficulty securing cross-party consensus about how it should be funded.
One immediate measure to alleviate the pressure on poorer families was suggested by the King’s Fund.
The think tank calculated that if ministers had uprated the threshold in line with rising prices, then the figure would stand at £35,600 for the current financial year.
The move has effectively cost some users £12,350 in the current financial year alone, by forcing them to self-fund their own care down to the 2010 level, according to the think tank.
Official statistics show that there have been 17,880 self-funders who received social care support from their local authorities, after spending down to the £23,250 threshold, over the past five years.
Figures have only been collected since 2021, so the true number affected since the freeze in 2010-11 is likely to be significantly higher.
Simon Bottery, senior fellow for social care at the King’s Fund, told The Times that the 15-year freeze to thresholds was “just one symptom of an unfair social care system resulting from reform being put off for decades”.
He said: “Governments have talked about change and even legislated for it but have not had the courage to implement it. We welcome the new prime minister’s aim to buck this decades-long trend. His words and actions have shown a renewed drive from the centre to force reform through, something that had been sorely lacking, and has put this issue near the top of the political agenda.
“Wholesale reform is now needed. Currently, the system leads to a loss of dignity and independence for those in need of care. It also creates stress and anxiety for loved ones supporting people in need and worries about catastrophic care costs, whilst piling pressure on an already creaking NHS.”
The capital limit has been frozen for 15 years, but minimum-income thresholds have risen since 2022-23.
There are about 220,000 people in England who pay for adult social care without any state support.
Costs are capable of running into hundreds of thousands of pounds but self-funders have also been hit by higher costs for private providers — used to offset the smaller margins from lower rates paid by councils for state support.
This means that self-funders not only keep less of their savings but also see them disappear more quickly because they are charged significantly more than people receiving state support, according to the King’s Fund.
This failure to uprate the threshold is just one aspect of a failing social care system that is in urgent need of reform. Further delay is just going to exacerbate the situation. Burnham needs to live up to his promises and sort this out as soon as possible.
Tuesday, September 01, 2026
Tories tack right as they seek to compete with Reform
As the Independent reports the Tory leader has ruthlessly sacked her shadow chancellor Sir Mel Stride and replaced him with one of the architects of Liz Truss’s disastrous mini-Budget.
The paper says that the new shadow chancellor Andrew Griffith was financial secretary to the Treasury – number three in the department – when Ms Truss’s mini-Budget caused a run on the gilt market and almost bankrupted the country.
They say that Griffith was a strong advocate of the former prime minister’s plans to slash taxes and his appointment appears to be an indication that Ms Badenoch wants the party to take a more aggressive direction after the cautious approach of Sir Mel:
The Tory leader has consistently refused to apologise for the Truss mini-Budget or throw the former PM out of the party.
Now she has put one of her key lieutenants and supporter of the hardcore tax-cutting approach in charge of economic policy as she tries to take on Nigel Farage and Reform.
In a hint that he still supports the Truss approach to the country’s finances, Mr Griffiths pointedly tweeted: “The Conservatives will always back the risk-takers and wealth creators who deliver growth, investment and jobs.”
He tweeted: “It is a huge honour to become shadow chancellor for the party I joined as a teenager under Margaret Thatcher. Working as a team, we Conservatives will deliver an economic revolution.
“We will deliver lower, simpler taxes, get Britain drilling again to bring down energy costs, slash the red tape holding Britain back, and scrap the job-killing measures in Labour’s (Un)Employment Rights Act.”
As the Liberal Democrats deputy leader and Treasury spokesperson Daisy Cooper say: “Griffith helped deliver the Truss mini-budget that sent mortgages soaring and the economy into turmoil.
It’s clear Conservatives haven't learned a thing. His appointment to shadow chancellor shows they're happy to forfeit any claim to economic credibility in their race to the bottom with Reform UK.”
If Badenoch thinks that tacking right to court Reform voters will win her the next election then she has failed to learn the lessons of the Tories 2024 general election defeat.
Monday, August 31, 2026
The ongoing cost of Brexit
The paper says that the damning findings by Logistics UK, which represents freight companies and is one of the largest trade associations in the UK, show that the loss in revenue compared with 2019 is worth £400 per household in the UK per year.
They add that the organisation has called on the prime minister to push for greater alignment with EU regulations as campaign groups ramp up pressure to find a pathway for Britain back into the bloc:
It comes as a major new business survey by the European Movement UK has revealed that 72.8 per cent of firms say that Brexit has had a negative impact on their businesses, 96.4 per cent say it has had a negative impact on their communities, and 98.2 per cent want the UK to rejoin the EU’s single market.
Logistics UK head of trade James Mills said: “Greater trade matters because it is closely linked to productivity. It gives businesses access to larger markets, encourages investment and allows successful firms to specialise and grow. Yet Britain’s recent performance points in the wrong direction.”
He said there is “a huge prize” in economic growth to be had by fixing the loss in trade and noted that since the UK voted to leave the EU in 2016, UK goods exports by tonnage have fallen 20.7 per cent. Export volumes to the EU have fallen 15.9 per cent, while exports to the rest of the world have fallen 37.2 per cent.
That’s despite promises of a trade boom with the rest of the world made by Nigel Farage, Boris Johnson and other leading Brexiteers at the time of the referendum.
The findings emerged in a week where Mr Burnham disappointed many with his decision to stick to Keir Starmer’s red lines on Brexit and not rejoin the single market or customs union.
That is despite Labour MPs overwhelmingly being in favour of rejoining both and a vote being passed in the Commons supporting the move.
Mr Burnham has previously said he supports rejoining the EU and earlier this week promised to be “bolder” than Sir Keir in his forthcoming Brexit reset talks due to take place next month.
Mr Mills said unnecessary paperwork, border complexity and duplicated processes due to Brexit were making exporting harder and more expensive than it needs to be.
“At a time when finding sustainable ways to grow the economy is more important than ever, reducing those frictions is one of the clearest opportunities available. Fix how we trade, and we can help fix how we grow,” he added.
Research published by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) last summer put the administrative burden of Britain's import and export declarations with the EU, which became necessary after Brexit, at £1.8bn in 2022 alone, across 38.6 million declarations. At HMRC's own timings of 19 to 28 minutes each, that is 15 million hours a year that could have been spent more productively.
Mike Galsworthy, chair of the European Movement UK, said: “The absolute killer on our businesses, large and small, is paperwork. What hurts is the sheer time, cost and risk of it. Brexit is a huge source of that paperwork, creating vast barriers where previously there were none. Rejoining the single market and customs union, or better, the EU outright, would remove it entirely."
Burnham needs to stick to his original idea and open negotiations to get the UK back into the single market.
Sunday, August 30, 2026
Farage channelling Trump again
The Independent reports that Nigel Farage’s party has published its “Election Integrity Bill” and has demanded that the government take its proposals as amendments to existing legislation going through parliament, something that fortunately is not going to happen.
Their proposals include removing the historic right to vote of Commonwealth citizens, ensure that election material is only published in languages native to the British Isles, such as English, Welsh or Gaelic, or accessible communication formats such as Braille or BSL.
The paper adds that there is also a proposal to force staff at polling stations to police whether people would have sufficient English to vote and to introduce limits on postal voting, and enforce new protections against voter coercion and control – so-called “family voting”. They say that the purpose of the bill appears to be aimed at excluding people with low levels of English from taking part in UK elections:
Mr Farage and his allies, from when he was leader of UKIP, the Brexit Party and now Reform UK, have long had concerns with postal voting, where they have consistently lost out to more established parties, particularly Labour, in by-elections.
In 2019, they claimed that Labour beat the Brexit Party in Peterborough because of election fraud and demanded an investigation by the police.
Critics have argued that the failure of parties led by Mr Farage to have properly organised ground campaigns is the real reason they lose out, rather than their allegations that it is harvesting of ethnic minority groups.
But if postal voting was to be restricted, it could exclude millions from taking part in the democratic process. In the 2024 general election, almost 10 million people used postal votes.
Reform also alleges that other forms of cheating are being used by their opponents.
Earlier this year they highlighted allegations of so-called “family voting” in the Gorton and Denton by-election won by the Green Party’s Hannah Spencer.
Reform has also opposed lowering the age of voting to 16 in the current legislation that Labour is taking through parliament.
Mr Kruger pointed to a House of Commons report in 2012 which stated that Britain’s electoral system made it “childishly simple” to commit fraud as a result of Tony Blair’s reforms which liberalised postal voting.
Reform stated: “These concerns have yet to be addressed, with the arrival of the Boriswave accelerating the undermining of British democracy through massive numbers of non-citizens voting, foreign language-based campaigning, and coercive voting.”
A Labour Party spokesperson said: “This is yet another desperate attempt by Reform to deflect attention from the scandals Nigel Farage and his top team are drowning in. It’s time he came clean with the public over his secret £5m ‘gift’ and rid his party of the enormous amount of sleaze and scandals that have come to light.
“The integrity of our democratic system is something Labour will always protect. That’s why we’re taking tough action to safeguard our democracy through the Representation of the People Bill. Meanwhile, Reform wants to stop people voting if they go on holiday, despite Nigel Farage having voted by post himself. As ever, it’s one rule for him and another for everyone else.”
What all this amounts to of course is that, like Trump, Farage and his party are bad losers and are seeking to change the system in their own favour.
Saturday, August 29, 2026
The Church at the heart of Mumbles
As Wikipedia records, the building is estimated to have been built in the mid-12th century, having first been mentioned in writing in 1141. The church was substantially reconstructed in 1915, adding a new nave and chancel and a north aisle.
As previously referred to on this blog, the stained glass in the church includes a memorial window in the north aisle commemorating the Mumbles lifeboat disaster, installed to mark the 30th anniversary of the tragedy in 1977. It remembers the loss of all eight crew members of the lifeboat RNLB Edward, Prince of Wales while attempting to rescue the crew of the steamship Samtampa, which was wrecked during a gale on 23 April 1947.
The window was designed and manufactured by Tim Lewis who undertook three more commissions for windows in the church, all made at Glantawe Studios.
The next to be installed, in 1985, was Lewis's innovative and modern take on the Last Supper. Across two lights it depicts the table from above with only the hands of Jesus and the disciples shown. It can be found in the west end of the north aisle.
Lewis's two-light window depicting the Adoration of the Senses was installed in the south aisle in 1986, using images of people, flora, fauna and water to represent each of the senses. Further along the same wall Lewis's three-light window based on the text of Dylan Thomas's poem Fern Hill was installed in 1993. It shows five figures in an allegorical landscape that alludes to episodes within the poem, the text of which is reproduced at the bottom of the window.
As has also been referred to here, the most notable grave in the churchyard is that of the English doctor and editor Thomas Bowdler, who died in Swansea in 1825. It once housed the famous bells of Santiago.
The church is used for services on Remembrance Sunday and its churchyard contains one of the two war memorials in Mumbles. It also hosts many concerts and even public meetings on controversial local issues.
As has also been referred to here, the most notable grave in the churchyard is that of the English doctor and editor Thomas Bowdler, who died in Swansea in 1825. It once housed the famous bells of Santiago.
The church is used for services on Remembrance Sunday and its churchyard contains one of the two war memorials in Mumbles. It also hosts many concerts and even public meetings on controversial local issues.
Labels: lochist
