GRcade

Lotus wrote:

rinks wrote:

Thames Water is in a race to find extra cash after its investors said they would not give the struggling water giant extra cash unless bills rise.

The UK's largest water firm has been pushing for the regulator Ofwat to agree to a substantial increase in water bills over the next five years.
Sources close to Ofwat say it plans to "stick to its guns" and won't raise bills to address shareholder problems.
Fears emerged last year that Thames could collapse due to its huge debts.
The owners' drew up a turnaround plan last summer which asked for a 40% rise in bills over the next five years. But it is now thought that the shareholders may want to see even higher bill rises as a condition of injecting more money.
Investors were due to pump in almost £4bn into the business over the next two years, but have withheld the first payment - due at the end of March - saying its turnaround plan is "uninvestible".

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-68682198

Greedy banana splits deserve to have the company collapse. Ofwat had better not give in to their threats.

All of our regulators are so utterly toothless and pathetic that the shareholders and company executives will always come first and get paid before anything else happens. It should be just left to collapse then go into goverment ownership, but I'm sure somebody will get a final payday before that happens.

So much of what's wrong with this country currently is down to us being far too soft on pretty much everything. Wish somebody would have some backbone and sort things out.

rinks wrote:I expect the government will take control of Thames, use public money to fix the infrastructure, then hand it back to the shareholders to bleed it dry all over again.

Van Foster wrote:

rinks wrote:I expect the government will take control of Thames, use public money to fix the infrastructure, then hand it back to the shareholders to bleed it dry all over again.

And they'll probably get it handed back with their debts written off, which of course taxpayers, then, will end up having to stump up for.

Lotus wrote:
So much of what's wrong with this country currently is down to us being far too soft on pretty much everything. Wish somebody would have some backbone and sort things out.

DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson quits after sex offence charges

Sir Jeffrey Donaldson has been charged with historical sexual offences and has quit as Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader.

A 57-year-old woman has also been charged with aiding and abetting in connection with the alleged offences.

They were both arrested on Thursday morning by PSNI detectives and were questioned before being charged on Thursday night.

They are now due to appear in court next month.

In a statement the DUP said: "The Party Chairman has received a letter from Sir Jeffrey Donaldson MP confirming that he has been charged with allegations of an historical nature and indicating that he is stepping down as Leader of the Democratic Unionist Party with immediate effect.

"In accordance with the Party Rules, the Party Officers have suspended Mr Donaldson from membership, pending the outcome of a judicial process.

"The Party Officers have this morning unanimously appointed Mr Gavin Robinson MP as the Interim Party Leader."

Police issued a statement on Friday morning, but did not disclose the identity of those charged.

The statement said a 61-year-old man had been charged with "non-recent sexual offences" adding that a 57-year-old woman was also arrested at the same time and charged with "aiding and abetting additional offences".

The statement also confirmed the pair would appear before Newry Magistrates' Court on 24 April.

It is understood DUP officers met on Friday morning after details of the charges emerged.

Sir Jeffrey's social media accounts, including on X, were deleted overnight.

Sir Jeffrey Donaldson was elected leader of the DUP in 2021.

He is also the longest serving MP in Northern Ireland having been first elected to Parliament in 1997.

Sir Jeffrey recently steered his party back in to government in Northern Ireland ending a two year boycott of the Stormont institutions.

The DUP had walked out of government in protest at the Northern Ireland Protocol, claiming the post-Brexit arrangements had undermined their place in the UK.

Sir Jeffrey was first elected to parliament in 1997 as a representative of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP).

In 2003, following long-standing opposition to the Good Friday Agreement and the leadership of David Trimble, he announced he would leave the UUP, later joining the DUP.

He was awarded a knighthood in 2016 for political service.

Monkey Man wrote:

DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson quits after sex offence charges

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-68686691

Police have charged one of the accused with more than 10 alleged offences and the other with three.

Both are facing allegations of serious historical sexual offences against two children. It is understood both deny all allegations made against them.

The male is facing one charge of rape and has been accused of a number of other sexual offences, including historical gross indecency.

His wife is facing a number of charges relating to the alleged offences faced by her husband including aiding and abetting.

rinks wrote:strawberry floating hell. Maybe not relevant, but they have two daughters.

twitter.com/Parody_PM/status/1773769616210219226

Moggy wrote:Compassion (for disgraced Tory MPs), charity (for his wife's family to supply overpriced IT to) and selflessness (starving povvo kids should not be begging from high earners).

twitter.com/Bren4Bassetlaw/status/1774343326918971503