Morten Morland's Sunday Times cartoon: May 11, 2025
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The Independent
2 hours ago
- The Independent
Minehead school to reopen for first time since fatal bus crash
A Minehead school will reopen on Monday for the first time since a bus crash which left one pupil dead and others injured. Minehead Middle School in Somerset closed on Friday after a school bus with 60 to 70 of its pupils and staff crashed on Thursday afternoon while returning from a trip to Exmoor Zoo. A 10-year-old boy died and six children and three adults remain in hospital after the vehicle left the A396 at Cutcombe Hill near Minehead, overturned and came to rest about 20ft from the road, down a steep slope. The crash happened between Wheddon Cross and Timberscombe, at about 3.15pm. Tens of thousands of pounds have been raised for victims following the incident and members of the community have left tributes at the school. A spokeswoman on behalf of Beacon Education Multi-Academy Trust, which runs the school, said that it would be open on Monday.
Times
2 hours ago
- Times
Guides invent 72 new ‘empowering' badges that reflect their lives
In September 1909 a group of young women from Peckham Rye gatecrashed a Scout rally demanding 'something for the girls' — and thus the Girl Guides was born. In the century since then, however, what that 'something' entails has shifted continually in order to reflect women's changing role in society. No more are girls awarded badges for hosting and cleaning; now they can earn badges for interior design, environmental conservation and thrifting, which are among 72 new activities unveiled as part of the organisation's drive to remain relevant to the lives of girls growing up in the 2020s and help them to feel 'empowered'. The new additions are all 'interest badges', which aim to develop hobbies rather than attain specific skills, and may be completed individually at home.
Times
2 hours ago
- Times
Taxpayers should not foot bill for water company failings
It keeps getting worse. Despite public protests, official hand-wringing, fines and apologies, the UK's waterways are still being befouled at an ever greater rate. According to the latest figures from the Environment Agency (EA), serious pollution incidents by water companies — defined as posing 'serious or persistent harm' to fisheries, drinking water or human health — rose by 60 per cent in England last year, to 75 from 47 in 2023. Meanwhile pollution incidents overall soared to 2,801, the highest on record. The seemingly unstoppable effluvium into rivers, lakes and seas has sickened swimmers, killed off wildlife, contaminated beauty spots and marred events such as the Boat Race and Henley Royal Regatta. When Sir Jon Cunliffe, the former deputy governor of the Bank of England, was commissioned by the government last autumn to produce recommendations for an overhaul of the water industry in England and Wales, his task was a daunting one. Water companies' habit of over-remunerating shareholders and company bosses, while under-investing in infrastructure, has ensured that Britain's crumbling Victorian sewerage system is unfit for the demands of climate change and the 21st-century population. Sewage overflows into waterways, legally permitted only in exceptional circumstances, are now grimly routine. Yet even within this panorama of dysfunction, long highlighted by the Times Clean It Up campaign, some companies stand out: step forward Thames Water, leading the field as the organisation responsible for 33 of the most serious incidents last year. Following it are Southern Water, at 15, and Yorkshire Water, at 13. • Water firms could be forced to pay compensation over leaks The myopic self-interest of water company executives has been exacerbated by a culpable failure of regulation. Three bodies are responsible: Ofwat, the financial regulator; the Environment Agency, which regulates the industry's effect on the environment; and the Drinking Water Inspectorate, which upholds the quality of drinking water. Of these it is Ofwat which has most grossly underperformed, by neglecting to rein in the companies' financial excesses and tolerating under- investment. The EA, with cuts to funding and dwindling manpower, has trailed behind, struggling to police the disastrous environmental fall-out from Ofwat's original failings. Steve Reed, the environment secretary, encouraged the Cunliffe review to consider the future of Ofwat. The abolition of that flawed organisation now seems the most likely option. Sir Jon correctly concluded in his interim review in June that current regulation has 'largely lost public trust' and that a more streamlined, effective approach was required. Any new regulatory system, however, must involve the economic and environmental aspects working in unison, rather than jarring in a disintegrating, ill-conceived framework. The government also has a more immediate task: how to deal with the floundering behemoth of Thames Water. The company, which recently reported an annual pre-tax loss of £1.65 billion, has blamed wetter-than-average weather for its rising pollution. But it is thanks to long-term mismanagement that its performance is now sliding from appalling to catastrophic amid climate challenges. Having also racked up £16.8 billion in debt, Thames Water is attempting to hold a hosepipe to the government's head. Its chief executive Chris Weston has told MPs that the 'stressed' company should be let off an estimated £1.4 billion in looming pollution fines and penalties, or risk a form of emergency nationalisation. Yet the taxpaying public, which has long endured the dispiriting consequences of this private company's greed and ineptitude, must not suffer further. Whatever unfolds, Thames Water should receive no exemptions from the law, and its creditors and shareholders should expect no bailout.
