The water industry is planning the biggest modernisation of sewers since the Victorian era, industry body Water UK has said, as companies admitted that they had been too slow to respond to effluent spills. Investment of £10bn ($14bn) will enable extensive improvements to sewer networks and the installation of overflow treatments with less impact on waterways. Records from the Environment Agency revealed 301,091 sewage spills in 2022, an 824 per day average. Companies will unveil the full details of plans, including improved sewer networks and an independent data hub to monitor overflows, this summer.
The Catholic Church has used psychometric testing since 2005 to assess those applying to become priests, to ensure they are able to survive a life of service and celibacy. Psychometric tests reveal whether applicants have keen senses of perception, strong survivor instincts, an attention to detail, extreme curiosity, a logical mind, and are motivated and driven. However, the tests also help detect whether an applicant has paranoid thinking, depression, social withdrawal and behaviour that is unusual or psychotic. The early Church recognised that a life of celibate solitude and prayer could test even the sturdiest mental constitutions.
Danish architects COBE, in collaboration with Toronto-based architectsAlliance, have designed two exceptional red brick apartment blocks for the Maple House at Canary Landing development in the West Don Lands area of Toronto. Dream, Kilmer Group and Tricon Residential developed the three-tower complex, which includes a pair of towers designed by COBE that offer 770 rental properties, 30% of which will be rented beneath market rates. The COBE buildings' prominent feature is the display of corbelled red brick, which rises up before culminating in an expanse of scalloped white concrete. A third block, designed by architectsAlliance, serves as a parking lot and loading dock entrance. COBE have made a speciality of weaving high-quality architecture with public space and the Toronto towers offer that approach in city neighbourhoods with contemporary urban design.
UK household water bills could rise for up to a century thanks to £10bn investment from the water industry to overhaul the sewage system. Ruth Kelly, the chairman of Water UK, stated there will be "modest upward pressure" on bills to fund the work aimed at reducing sewage flows into rivers and waterways. Pressure groups have criticised the plans as inadequate, as they will only reduce spills by just over 10% compared to 2019 figures. The full details of the proposals, which will include the installation of huge water storage tanks, will be published this summer. The costs will, ultimately, be born by customers, as investment from investors will only be upfront.
Since privatisation of the water industry in the 1990s, billions of pounds have been paid out in dividends and bonuses to water industry shareholders and managers. Building a new regulator, that would combine the roles of the pollution oversight of the Environment Agency with the economic regulation of Ofwat, has been floated by the Labour Party. The UK’s water industry has been faced with calls for renationalisation in the wake of the continued sewage crisis and the fact that only 14% of England’s rivers are categorised as ecologically healthy.
The UK environment spokesman for the Liberal Democrats, Tim Farron, called for bans on bonuses for water company chief executives. He argued, “It is a kick in the teeth that customers are being asked to pay more in bills to clean up the water companies’ own mess, all while CEOs pocket massive bonuses. We need to see a ban on water company bosses being given multi-million pound payouts". Meanwhile, the musician and environmental campaigner, Feargal Sharkey, criticied Water UK for having “messed this up”. He suggested, “What they should be doing is, ‘we messed this up, we’re terribly sorry, we’re going to compensate you all, £10 billion, it is the least we could do for our customers, give you a refund."
Water UK, the industry trade body, has announced an “apology” for sewage spills and a £10bn plan to update Britain’s sewers in what will be the greatest overhaul since the Victorian era. The proposed “environmental hub” for 2019 will offer “near-real-time information on overflows”. The plans require significant investment, potentially leading to increased customer bills.
Melbourne’s median house price stands at approximately $1,023,000, and that would roughly cover the purchase of either the Hamptons-inspired six-bedroom Craigieburn house, a two-bedroom Brunswick Victorian or a three-bedroom house in Glenroy. The type of property on offer to buyers with this budget varies across the city, ranging from freestanding Californian bungalows and 1940s weatherboard homes in areas like Preston or Reservoir, to modern town houses with a small courtyard in Northcote or Clifton Hill.
Australian NBA player Dyson Daniels expects competition from veteran teammate Matthew Dellavedova to make the Boomers' team for the FIBA World Cup. Daniels joins a pool of elite guards, each with a chance of missing out on one of the 12 lucrative spots in the team. Despite the difficulty Daniels faces, the Coach of the side, Brian Goorjian, said the team could be the most talented Australian team ever assembled.
Cross-border assisted reproductive technology (ART) is enabling parents to pay surrogate mothers in foreign countries to gestate babies using their sperm or eggs. This is referred to as a new form of baby farming, distinct from those of the Victorian era. The practice is illegal in China, but wealthy Chinese citizens are reported to frequently use foreign surrogate mothers, for fees of well over $100,000. In California, which requires an ID to adopt a pet, tourists can manufacture a child with no background check, due to lax immigration and nationality laws. Citing risks to women, children, and national citizenship and welfare systems, the writer urges the US government to prohibit such surrogacy.
The New Yorker has published an article on the history of police surveillance, documenting how hi-tech techniques are being used alongside old-fashioned detective work. Ed Caesar, who authored the piece, details activities ranging from the police following suspected hitmen and dressing up as abattoir workers next to illegal gambling dens to dropping stories in the media to gather information from phone-savvy criminals. Caesar notes electronic surveillance is increasingly being used, with the Australian Federal Police and international colleagues downloading 27 million messages from crooks who believed they were using highly secure messaging app An0m. The Australian Federal Police then dropped a series of stories to help fuel the underground chatter and, over time, had a complete view of the dark web underworld. In addition to electronic surveillance, snitches were used, with criminals offered deals to become informers. The ultimate version of covert work is spying, and there are numerous cases whereby undercover officers have infiltrated and helped smash gangs, from undercover cop Nick Cecil, who exposed SP bookmakers in the 1950s, to the two officers who lived among bikies for 13 months.
The National Portrait Gallery in London has undergone a £41.3m ($57.7m) redevelopment. Director Nicholas Cullinan, who took over the role in 2015, oversaw the project, which has included upgrades to facilities and accessibility, four new galleries, eight refurbished rooms, and more than 3,000 objects. The estate comprises about 4,000 paintings, sculptures and miniatures, and 8,500 works on paper, serving as both a repository for artistry and a record of British sitters throughout history. The gallery reopens to the public on 22 June. Attendance before the pandemic was 1.9 million visitors annually, and Cullinan hopes the new additions will attract a wider audience.
The focus at the 2023 Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Chelsea Flower Show is on low-carbon processes and sustainability. The gardening event has emphasised the use of low-polluting materials and is targeting a net-positive environmental impact from its activities by 2030. One garden promoting this message is Sarah Price's designed space, which features a living wall of trees and sandbags containing clay and meadow seed mix. Cleve West’s Centrepoint Garden explores the theme of nature reclaiming a derelict property and includes waste materials such as discarded hop vines and reused set canvas. Another sustainable garden highlights the role of weeds in supporting insect populations.
The proposition of an Indigenous Voice referendum is not just a political issue, but also one of national inclusiveness and respect, according to a letter published in The Age. The letter responds to Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price’s criticism of the AFL’s decision to support the Yes vote in the referendum. The authors argue that the referendum is an invitation for everyone to inform themselves of the relevant issues and express their views, and that the No campaign should have equal representation. The letter warns that the risk to the reputation of Australia if the referendum does not pass is high, and that the fundamental question of recognising the place of Indigenous Australians must be included in the Constitution to prevent this.
Another letter in the same publication calls for the extension of voluntary assisted dying legislation to include dementia sufferers. The author shares their personal experience of caring for a loved one who had dementia and wanted the choice to end their life. The letter argues that, with the increase in dementia cases, individuals with the disease should be allowed to make their wishes clear and recorded, to prevent years of unnecessary suffering.
Finally, a letter criticises Noel Pearson for denigrating individuals who disagree with him regarding the Indigenous Voice referendum. The author argues that Pearson’s recent attacks on respected Indigenous leader Mick Gooda are unacceptable and highlight a growing intransigence within the Yes camp. The letter suggests that Pearson’s behaviour is disappointing, given his previous contributions to the cause of Aboriginal Australians.
Victoria, Australia, could terminate an agreement to supply pulpwood to the Maryvale pulp and paper mill before 2030 without incurring penalties, according to legal advice obtained by environmental groups. Victoria is contractually bound to deliver a minimum of 350,000 cubic metres of pulpwood annually, of which at least 300,000 cubic metres must be taken from the state's mountain ash and alpine ash forests. The state government is currently contractually obliged to supply pulpwood as a by-product of sawlog harvesting to Maryvale, which is owned by Opal Australian Paper, a unit of Japanese company Nippon.
Economist Paul Krugman has responded to the widely held theory of why governments should not continuously run up debt. Krugman points out that individuals face a predictable life cycle in which earnings dwindle and lenders therefore expect individuals to pay off debts whilst their income is still high. Governments, on the other hand, normally see revenues rise. Consequently, whilst governments have to service their debts, there is no need to pay them off. Krugman highlights that discussion of government debt is often misleading and governments can often expect to see their ability to generate tax receipts grow year after year.
Australia should consider creating property trusts or businesses to centralise the rental housing market, according to new research by LongView and PEXA. The Australian property developers argue owning a portfolio of 100 homes rather than just one offers a sound investment strategy, as landlords’ fortunes are currently overly tied to capital gains and exposure to just one tenant's fortunes. However, current tax rules present a difficulty in pooling investors' property assets. The Australian housing and urban research institution also questioned the way low-interest rates had helped fuel a 109% rise in median house prices in Australia and highlighted the role of interest rates in depressing savvy property investment.
A report by the Australian government has revealed a “shadow public service” in which private consultants were paid nearly AUS$21bn ($15.6bn) during the last year of the last government. The equivalent of 54,000 full-time workers were employed in this manner in contrast to the 144,000 in the Australian Public Service. An audit was instigated by the Albanese government who were concerned that Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s cuts to the public service were simply forcing costs onto the hiring of inflated-price external services. Labor had previously promised to cut the number of consultants and contractors by AUS$3bn. However, this audit also revealed concerns about conflicts of interest, with some contracts allowing advisers to win government work whilst also advising corporate clients affected by those decisions. The inquiry will extend beyond one case involving PwC, which buried a million-dollar report, and another scandal over the marketing of confidential government plans to combat tax avoidance.
John Pesutto, the leader of the opposition in the Australian state of Victoria, was met with heckling and boos from members of his Liberal party at its annual state conference on 20 October. The disruption was linked to concerns over the party’s decision to expel fellow party member Rachel Deeming. The parliamentary Liberal party dismissed Deeming following her challenge of a nine-month suspension she received in part over her attendance at an anti-transgender rights rally that was disrupted by neo-Nazis in March. Protesters outside the meeting distributed copies of an interview Deeming had given in which she claimed not to go quietly. Federal MPs Dan Tehan, Jane Hume, and James Paterson were among those in attendance at the party’s annual meeting.
The leader of the opposition in Victoria, Australia, John Pesutto, was jeered by members of his own Liberal party after a decision to expel Upper House representative Moira Deeming. Deeming had previously attended an anti-transgender rally which was disrupted by neo-Nazis. The move to expel her followed a threat to take legal action against her nine-month suspension. During Saturday’s Liberal Party state council meeting, opponents of the move to expel Deeming wore masks of her and chanted “shame, shame”.
Research by consultancy firm JLL has found that London property owners may not necessarily be able to relocate to a family home in provincial cities after selling their city flats, marking a significant trend since the Brexit referendum. London property is still the most expensive in the country on a square foot basis, even after buying costs such as tax are considered. Meanwhile, prices for terraced, semi-detached and detached homes in cities outside London, where Londoners have previously moved, have increased significantly. Semis in Bristol, for instance, have increased by 51% since 2016, with terraces in Birmingham up by 49% and detached homes in Brighton up by 47%. JLL’s Marcus Dixon commented that the study provided “a bit of a reality check for Londoners,” warning those with two-bedroom flats in Zone 3 of potential difficulty when buying family homes in cities such as Winchester or Oxford.
Thousands of people protested to demand an end to sewage pollution by water companies across the UK at a national "paddle-out" on Saturday. The protest was held as water companies face the biggest wave of public criticism since the industry was privatised in 1989, with campaigners saying water companies are discharging much more often than they should, including when there has been no rain. On Thursday, Water UK, which represents water companies, apologised and pledged 10 billion pounds ($12.6 billion) to cut waste outflows, but campaigners say it still has to be signed off by regulator Ofwat.
