You are AMAZING! Thank you for incredible work and making us all aware of the sewage horrors in London! Britain should be ashamed of itself.
Pippawitt, Instagram
It’s OK – the water companies have promised to clean up their act. Sure, the customers have to pay for it and it won’t impact upon the shareholders dividends, but that’s OK isn’t it…
Stuart Michaels, Facebook
I caught my first fish from the Roding, a great big gudgeon! Must have been at least five pounds – well, that’s how big it was in my four-year-old mind. Used to go fishing every day of the six-week school holidays from then on. Wasn’t long before I caught my first chub!! Must have been a record breaker. Never looked back. From that day on I was an angler. I’m turning 80 this year but I’ll never forget that lovely little river.
David Smith, Facebook
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If there was a powerful legal group in the UK strong enough to stand up to the water companies and government then maybe a challenge could be made for a return to public ownership. However they are charging us all so much now for water it’s likely the infrastructure will be updated enough at customer expense before that happens.
Raphael McCarthy, Facebook
It’s mind blowing that in the 21st century companies are allowed to dump sewage into our rivers. How about no dividends or bonuses to shareholders and staff until the situation is fixed?
Steve Godsell, Facebook
A pinch of salt
I was rather astonished that your water issue had no mention of desalinisation. A least I saw none. The article states that 97% of water is saline. There are desal plants around the world at this moment turning this into fresh water.
Definitely agree the need to highlight pollution and sewage spills and fix these. But these are separate issues to be explored to give solutions to a dwindling water supply a deep dive. Pun intended.
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Guy Malkerson, Bristol
Go green
I recently forked out £1,000 to invest in Green Pastures after seeing their advert on the back page of Big Issue. They provide homes for people in need through raising funds from others prepared to invest some of their savings in repayable loan stock.
And they’ll pay you interest for as long as you place your money with them. We need more of these financial instruments to enable social investors to provide more repayable capital.
Paul Kalinauckas, Wellington, Shropshire
Simple maths
The solution is simple. As of late 2025, at least 382,618 people are recorded as homeless in England; in the same year, England had over 542,000 recorded empty homes (not including second homes) and over one million total homes not in permanent use.
When anyone says we can’t solve this due to our population, just remember it’s not a matter of can’t,
it’s a matter of won’t.
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If you have that many empty properties, it’s only logical you have the ability to end homelessness.
David Smith
Send us a photo of Britain you’ve captured today
Send us your image, or photo you’ve captured, with a brief description. On socials or email letters@bigissue.com
Hello from Dunoon, Scotland!
I am a big fan of Big Issue and my partner and I love to support the people selling it each week. I really enjoyed the A WING AND A PRAYER issue as I am a singer and last year released my single A Wing and a Prayer. Available on Spotify, YouTube, etc.
Ferdinand Rennie
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We fight on
We live in one of the most technologically advanced times in history. Medicine. Science. Innovation everywhere – to a point.
And still, we’re fighting for what’s right. Still pushing back against people who oppose it.
The reality that this world still has to fight just to reduce, not even remove, child poverty is depressing as fuck.
Wilms33, Instagram
Read more:
The concerning thing is that for most people going to the pub is much more than just drink… it’s the socialising, it’s chatting to people you wouldn’t normally talk to, it’s about forgetting life’s stresses for a couple of hours and breaking the monotony of the week. You can’t just replace that with some cheap cans at home.
Steve Poultney, Facebook
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People on modest incomes can hardly afford these prices already and the thought of more increases makes the great British boozer exclusive. So sad. Restricts us to Wetherspoons.
Steven Trigg, Facebook
The “living wage” is impossible to ever arrive at. The more we push up National Minimum Wage, the more that pushes prices up. It’s like the donkey trying to get to the carrot on the stick. You can’t ‘fair pay’ absolutely everyone AND maintain affordable prices. If only we could.
William Flaggy Kent, Facebook
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