THAMES SEWAGE SCANDAL STINKS OF NEGLECT

TWO HUNDRED years ago, the Thames was an “open sewer”, so polluted that it stank in summer and a dip was out of the question – unless you were happy to die a grim death. All the sewage of London was poured into it and down to the North Sea.

Then came Joseph Bazalgette, who built the sewers that captured the lot and ducted it to treatment plants.

Slowly the river purified to such an extent that a few years ago salmon, who insist on clean water, appeared again, moving upstream. But a recent report reveals that, of 90 sewage works in the upper Thames, 46 do not have the capacity to deal with demand.

The culprit? Failure to invest in upgrades over recent decades. So once again, raw sewage pours untreated into the capital’s river.

Same old story.We fritter our money away on bureaucrats and vanity projects like HS2 while vital safeguards theVictorians left us are abandoned to rot.