4 The News The RGS Gazette Issue 12 July 2024 District in Windermere have been victim to 10 million litres of ‘accidentally’ poured raw sewage, detrimentally affecting the popular tourist destination’s attraction and therefore its revenue from potential visitors. Water companies are allowed, in exceptional circumstances, to pour sewage into waterways. Be that as it may, the recent interpretation of ‘exceptional’ has become so loose that even rivers utilised for leisure activities cannot be used by the public. Essentially, this is more than just a health issue for the government, as local businesses are expected to suffer. However, large private water companies are continuing to thrive. Epitomising the failures of the privatisation of ‘regulated’ utilities, shareholders have paid £2.5 billion in dividends whilst adding £8.2 billion in debt over the past two years. The 16 water companies have paid extortionate amounts to their shareholders whilst inefficiently investing in infrastructure, not replacing Victorian systems and building over them instead. Debts from this oligopoly are then unfairly passed to the consumer due to tariffs that the regulator, or government, set. This is why there has been an increase in taxes for water; the mismanagement of water companies is paid for by the consumer as these private companies have no incentive to lower the amount of money they pay to shareholders. For instance, Thames Water have recently paid their shareholders a £158 million dividend despite their debt problems. Without restrictions due to the lack of a competitive market and dubious regulations from the government, they can exploit this crisis by charging higher. There is only one source of water, and there is unfortunately one provider per area. What will be done in the future to correct these problems? Only the Liberal Democrats treated this as a salient issue in the July 2024 General Election, with direct promises to tax the £2.2 billion annual profits of water companies and a ban on water company executive bonuses. This helped them to win seats in constituencies along the west of the River Thames such as Henley & Thame, Maidenhead, and South Cotswolds. With Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour already receiving to the donations of other big businesses, it seems unlikely that they will introduce serious regulations on water companies but one can remain cautiously optimistic that their unclear pledges on “special measures” and “immediate action” will prove productive. Nevertheless, it is clear that tighter regulations with meticulously crafted legislation to prevent loopholes must be introduced to prevent the malicious exploitation from the current group of water companies. “Many rivers are now too dirty to swim in” Serious sewage pollution by water company (The Guardian) Trump’s Supreme Court: A Foreboding Future for US Justice Alex Gold (Year 12) examines the key figures on the US Supreme Court Let us consider the major players who have been recently appointed by President Donald Trump at the heart of the Supreme Court – America’s highest court. The politicisation of justice in the US has led to truly dismal congregation, deemed worthy of leading America’s justice system into the future. Chief Justice John Roberts Since the birth of the Roberts Court in 2005, the court’s chief justice has been obsessed with how his court appears to the rest of the nation. The Roberts’ Court arguably dealt with some of the most influential cases in the court’s entire history: Obergefell vs Hodges (2013), Dobbs vs Jackson (2022), and of course the most recent Trump vs Anderson (2024) to name merely a few. However, in an increasingly partisan Supreme Court, the Chief Justice is the only man who holds together the last remaining strands of neutrality his court might have. In the 800 cases Roberts has presided over, only 463 (58%) have resulted in a conservative outcome a considerably low percentage in the face of the level of politicisation his court faces. Having worked in a second circuit court of appeals for 25 years before joining the bench as a justice, there is no doubt that Roberts is deserving of his most prestigious role. Moreover, his
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