An image of a table from Take Back Water’s event showing the campaigns various flyers and a QR code to join the pledge to fight.

Audience and panellists at the Take Back Water event last weekend at Pelican House in Hackney.

Audience and panellists at the Take Back Water event last weekend at Pelican House in Hackney.

On the weekend I attended Take Back Water: What if we refuse to pay💧🌊

My notes from the event include:

We must shift our thinking away from the consumer narrative - WE ARE ENTITLED TO WATER - it makes up over 60% of our bodies💙

Continued below🩵

Full event information and registration available here – don't miss out! buytickets.at/takebackwate...

TODAY: What if we refused to pay?

Join us and an incredible line up of experts from think tanks, trade unions and local anti-sewage pollution campaigns to discuss how we take back water from the profiteers and polluters 👇

Abolish private ownership of water next.

Last chance – register now!

Join our event tomorrow: What if we refused to pay? buytickets.at/takebackwate...

Tired of reading about Water Boss’ Bonuses? Reading about Fine’s that do fuck all? Seeing Sewage increasing?

What if we refused to pay our water bills?

Join Take Back Water tomorrow for the first event of many on politics of refusal and common ownership.

What will it take to end the failure of private ownership of water?

This Saturday, join us and an incredible line up of experts from think tanks, trade unions and local anti-sewage pollution campaigns to discuss this question👇 buytickets.at/takebackwate...

Don't miss out, register now 👇 buytickets.at/takebackwate...

📍 Johnbosco Nwogbo – Lead Campaigner at @weownit.org.uk. He previously campaigned for renters' rights as part of ACORN the community union and helped lead winning campaigns on the NHS.

📍 Sophie Flinders – a senior data analyst at @cmmonwealth.bsky.social, a think tank that advocates for democratic forms of ownership. Her research interests include healthcare, forensic accountancy and private equity in social care.

📍 Frances Northrop – a co-founding Director of @abundance-org.bsky.social and Head of Community Economic Power at @neweconomics.bsky.social. From a place of practical experience, Frances advises on generative local economies.

📍 Ash Smith – founder of the @windrushwasp.bsky.social team of professionals, known for its data analysis and evidence-based exposure of water company criminality and regulatory capture.

Speaker line-up | Common ownership

For our first session on Saturday, we're excited to be joined by a series of excellent speakers from the water and common ownership movements.

Check it out 👇

Three days to go!

Join us on Saturday to discuss what it'll take to end the scandal of private ownership of water with experts from think tanks, trade unions and local anti-sewage pollution campaigns.

Register for event now 👇 buytickets.at/takebackwate...

Full info and link to register 👇 www.tickettailor.com/events/takeb...

Joining us for the event is:

👉 Frances Northrop, @abundance-org.bsky.social
👉 Jim Morris-Knight, @unison.org.uk
👉 Sophie Flinders, @cmmonwealth.bsky.social
👉 Johnbosco Nwogbo, @weownit.org.uk
👉 Ash Smith, @windrushwasp.bsky.social p
👉 Seth Wheeler, Agit Press

And more!

What will it take to end the failure of private ownership of water?

On Saturday 19 July, we're inviting you to join us and an incredible line up of experts from think tanks, trade unions and local anti-sewage pollution campaigns to discuss this question👇

🎳 What if we refused to pay?

Join us and an incredible line-up of experts from think tanks, trade unions and local anti-sewage pollution campaigns for our event on Saturday 19 July!

Secure your spot now 👇 www.tickettailor.com/events/takeb...

❓ But what makes for an effective mass non-payment campaign?

🌊 Join us on 19 July to explore these questions through the framework of refusal and the crises currently facing the private water industry in England and Wales.

Secure your spot now 👇 www.tickettailor.com/events/takeb...

🎳 What if we refused to pay? 🎳

✉ From the Poll Tax to Don’t Pay, mass refusal has a powerful history in the UK.

Millions have come together to oppose unjust taxes and soaring bills through the act of refusing to pay.

Should we prioritise ensuring water is used to irrigate fields for crops ...or for cooling data centres?

Thames Water might soon be brought into a Special Administration Regime, but public ownership alone won’t fix a system rigged for private profit.

Without real social control, we risk repeating the same mistakes.

The Government said it’d cost £99bn to publicly own our water.

But this drew on calculations by — drumroll — water company lobbyists. The true cost is closer to zero.

Here’s why. 🧵

It’s always the same - privatise the profits, socialise the losses.

They spend decades siphoning wealth off-shore and then everyone else has to bail them out so they don’t run any risk.

Bidders demand Thames Water granted immunity over environmental crimes Exclusive: ‘Ransom note’ requests would leave Environment Agency unable to prosecute company or management

www.theguardian.com/business/202...

Like only they can do, Labour and Starmer have made an already bad situation a lot worse 👏🏼

What other industry could so brazenly demand immunity from the crimes they commit?

If Keir Starmer won't stand up to this blackmail, it's up to us to act.

Join the pledge to strike and help put the criminal Thames Water out of business for good 👉 takebackwater.uk

Take Back Water Take down the profiteers, end the scam. Turn the tide on 40 years of privatisation and failure.

It couldn't be clearer: the future of Thames Water is either as a publicly-owned utility or a privately-owned criminal organisation.

Yet Starmer will keep doing all he can to keep the firm in private hands.

It's time to put Thames out of business for good 👇 takebackwater.uk

Keir Starmer could've taken Thames Water back into public hands months ago.

Now he's being blackmailed by the only remaining bidder willing to rescue the utility before it runs out of cash at the end of the month.

Their terms: don't prosecute our crimes.

Water firms have already said they'll increase bosses' salaries to get around any ban on bonuses.

The only way to end the profiteering is to take water out of private hands.

it will never not astound me how little you can buy a labour politician for