Thursday, July 27, 2006

Make a pledge, save a drop

Up until now, I've had a modicum of sympathy for Thames Water. They've spent years getting it in the neck about how much water gets lost through their pipework - 895million litres per day at the last count - when it's not entirely their fault. They have inherited a network of sieve-like water mains that is decades old - much of it is Victorian. Even allowing for their faults as a company, it would be impossible for Thames to fix the lot overnight. Moreover, as discussed previously on spiked, they are making tentative steps towards using new technology in the face of opposition from London mayor Ken Livingstone by proposing Britain's first fully-fledged desalination plant (see Low rainfall, lower horizons by Rob Lyons).

But their latest venture is enough to make me want to flush the toilet - after vomiting into it. 'At Thames Water, we're pledging to beat the drought,' says their new website Don't Be A Drip. 'Calculate how much water you could have saved so far in your life.' After a quick quiz on how you 'waste' water, like leaving the tap running when you brush your teeth, having too many baths, and flushing the loo too often, Thames ask you to make a pledge to stop doing these things.

In the past, to 'take the pledge' meant giving up the evils of drink. Now, Thames are suggesting we give up the evils of normal household activities like washing ourselves in the manner of our choosing or flushing after we've been to the toilet. This preachy, near-religious notion is all part of the steady stream of ideas which suggest that the biggest problem the world faces is people and our apparently selfish habits. The message is that we should rein in our consumption, leave a smaller 'footprint'. It's an endless and insidious drip, drip, drip.

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Why Blair takes flight

Tony Blair spent the princely (or prime ministerial) sum of £2,023,909 on diplomatic travel last year, despite a promise to spend more time at home. The howls of protest have begun from all the usual suspects. Liberal Democrat MP and rent-a-quote Norman Baker said, 'The massive increase in money he has spent suggests there is no cheque he will not sign providing it's a blank one on the taxpayer's bank account.' Meanwhile, Baker's party colleague and environment spokesman Chris Huhne fumed about the greenhouse gas emissions: 'The prime minister and other ministers would get to and from Brussels more quickly and more environmentally soundly if they took the Eurostar rather than the Queen's Flight.'

Political parties crying 'sleaze' is pretty cheap (unlike Blair's travel tab). But, as spiked has noted many times before, it's poetic justice for Blair who won office by portraying himself as whiter than white in contrast to a clapped out Conservative government in the nineties. In truth, it's entirely reasonable for the prime minister to jet around the world.

The really interesting point is that he can't help himself. Blair told last year's Labour conference that he had spent too much time on the international stage. 'I'm back and it feels good,' he told delegates. But in domestic politics, his administration is now every bit as exhausted as the Conservative one it replaced. Having replaced the politics of principle with managerialism, but having failed actually to make anything from the transport network to the Child Support Agency run any more effectively, Blair has to look abroad for a sense of purpose. Looks like he'll be living out of a suitcase for some time to come.

Blair's globe-trotting bill doubles despite pledge to stay home, Independent, 25 July 2006