Yet more chaos in the pipeline
We’ve had burst pipes and people having to go without a water supply. And now, after all this snow, rain and ice, there’s a water shortage. Who’s fault is it? This and previous Tory governments, of course, for privatising the water companies and ensuring the wealthy investors and shareholders get good returns at the expense of the general public.
Any decent government would renationalise the entire country’s water supply and make sure all profits are put back into the system so shortages like this don’t happen.
Water companies are quick enough to put bills through our doors, but value for money?
Not a chance with this Tory Government in charge. Reg Barrett, Southminster, Essex
# It beggars belief that millions of people are now being told they must ration water because of burst pipes following freezing conditions. What do we pay our taxes for? It seems that the private water companies are keen enough to hike up bills to make sure the shareholders continue to receive their dividends but they are not keeping to their part of the bargain to maintain our pipes adequately. Janice Brown, Bristol
# The recent bad weather was worse than we’re used to, but how do they cope in Russia, Canada, Norway and so on every year? All you hear in this country is, we need more funding. Well, the problem is not the lack of money, it is the mismanagement of the money they have. How many times have we seen a pothole filled in the road just to reappear?
It would be more cost effective to dig up the whole road and lay it again properly, instead of throwing a bucket of tarmac in and hoping for the best. Robert Marks, Wavertree, Liverpool
# First we are told that our gas supplies are about to run out, now we hear that people in the South East and London are to have water rationing.
What is it with these private companies, be they rail firms, utility providers and now the water companies that they cannot cope with a short winter crisis such as the one we have just experienced?
Time to renationalise them all because the taxpaying pubic is getting a raw deal. R Maynard Solihull, West Mids
# May and her incompetent colleagues praised the doctors, nurses and emergency service workers for their hard work during last week’s bad weather, yet they continue to resist any decent increases in their pay. Not one of these ministers is qualified to do their job and it shows. Contemptible. R Kimble, Leeds
# I don’t know what all the fuss is about over the recent bad weather. I remember the winter of 1962-63. In early December we had the last bad smog in London, but life went on as normal. The snow started on Boxing Day and went on until early March. I still went to college, my father still went to work and my mother still went food shopping as we didn’t have freezers then. A little snow these days and everything just shuts down. Carol Doust, South East London
# With all the taxes we pay, we should have no problems when winter comes once a year. Ann Lowery-Ferguson via Facebook