Turnstone: Hunstanton writer John Maiden discusses ban on unfair bonuses for water company bosses

In his weekly column, Hunstanton writer John Maiden discusses the recent news that bonuses will not be given to water company bosses….

As I was preparing to write this Turnstone column, I received an email that began with these words: "Dear John, I'm Steve Reed, the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

“I wanted to personally share some important news with you. I'm announcing a ban on unfair bonuses for any water company that fails to meet key standards starting today."

This is a comment column, so I am not going to spend time repeating the rest of Steve's words.

Suffice it to say that the course of action this Labour government is embarking upon is long overdue as far as the record of the privatised water companies is concerned.

I was fortunate enough to spend the academic year 1973/74 living in Ambleside with my family, while I was adding a Bachelor of Education Honours degree to my collection of paper qualifications.

In my spare time, I learned to water ski on Lake Windermere.

When I see televised reports of the amount of raw sewage entering this lake, as well as numerous other lakes, rivers and the sea, I am depressed, to put it mildly.

Noise pollution has been easier to deal with, even if it means water skiers have had to take their motorboats elsewhere.

Closer to home, Hunstanton used to confine motorised craft to the sea south of the pier prior to 1978.

Perhaps a similar policy could be reintroduced now. South of The Green would be welcome, particularly when music is being played to an audience facing the sea...

To change the subject slightly, there is one form of pollution that could turn out to be more dangerous than any other threat to life on earth.

What I have in mind is nuclear waste. Very recently, I was made aware of a group of people who are touring the country looking for places to bury nuclear waste underground.

Even the time spent in the Lake District was overshadowed by the close proximity of Sellafield, so it was quite a relief to find out that underneath Lincolnshire is not thought to be suitable for the long-term storage of nuclear waste.

When I raised the question of the possibility of a wind turbine falling over in The Wash, with the late Green campaigner, Lord Peter Melchett, he quite correctly pointed out that wind turbines pose no threat, when compared with poor old Suffolk which has had Sizewell A, B or C in its back yard since the 1960's.

It was probably at about this time that I saw a television programme pointing out the vast amount of money spent on research into nuclear power, compared with the incredibly small amount devoted to a variety of renewable sources of energy.

My hope now is that Sir Keir Starmer will not spend our taxes on updating this country's nuclear arsenal, because if these weapons ever have to be used, it will mean that they have not been an effective deterrent to our enemies.