By Professor John Robertson OBA, former Chair Faculty Research Ethics Committee, UWS
The Herald today is headlining – Anger at ‘obscene’ hike in bonuses at Scottish Water, up to £330 000 in 2023-2024. Who is angry? Labour’s Richard Leonard. Good to hear he’s still around.
I’ve mentioned before that responding to the Herald on numbers is a bit like shooting fish in a barrel.
It took seconds to get the figure for England and Wales. 12 times as much, pro rata, per head of population? £3.96m?
Nope, £9.1m.1 Two to three times as much.
Do the English water bosses deserve bigger bonuses?
From Policy Mogul, AI assisted fact checker, on 3 November 2024:
Scottish taxpayers pay less for their water than their English counterparts, thanks to public ownership, with the average water bill in Scotland around £438 a year – £35 a year cheaper than the average bill of £473 in England.
The SNP also ensures that money raised from water bills is re-invested in the water network – and not the pockets of executives and private shareholders. https://policymogul.com/key-updates/39606/water-is-cleaner-bills-lower-and-pay-fairer-in-scotland-thanks-to-scottish-water-says-snp
Why Scottish water is better
‘Forever chemicals’ found in drinking water sources across England’ https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/nov/28/forever-chemicals-found-in-drinking-water-sources-across-england
Glasgow water explained: Why Glasgow has the best tap water in the world https://www.glasgowworld.com/best-in/why-glasgow-has-the-best-tap-water-in-the-world-scottish-water-best-city-in-britain-for-water-uk-4386266
Tap water in the UK is not all fluoridated. Some areas in England have fluoride added to the water but Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales do not. https://fullfact.org/health/tap-water-spring-water-fluoride-heavy-metals/
Fluoride in Drinking Water May Be Harming Our Children. We Need to Address It. https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/2020/10/16/fluoride-in-drinking-water-may-be-harming-our-children-we-need-to-address-it/
Other Source:
From the FT in 2019:
Support Scots Independent, Scotland’s oldest pro-independence newspaper and host of the OBA (Oliver Brown Award) at: https://scotsindependent.scot/FWShop/shop/
The Oliver Brown Award for advancing the cause of Scotland’s self respect, previously awarded to Dr Philippa Whitford, Alex Salmond and Sean Connery: https://scotsindependent.scot/?page_id=116
About Oliver Brown, the first Scottish National Party candidate to save his deposit in a Parliamentary election: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Brow
Talking-up Scotland 
I thought as much really from the frenzy of unionists reporting on the Scottish Water exec bonuses.
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You missed a trick there with ” Why Glasgow has the best tap water in the world ” by forgetting to add ” expect at the ‘troubled’ QEUH, according to BBC Scotland “…
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Come on we should all know by now that to attract the very best incompetents at the helm of our coy’s they need huge salaries and bonuses. That is how capitalism works so we can all enjoy the benefits of trickle down economics. Afterall who can possibly manage their daily budget on that meagre salary.
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Ah good ol Ricardo Splitknickers trying to breathe fresh life into the dead donkey again, or is he simply responding to Disabled-Semen Martin Williams’ request for comment to his latest ‘EXCLUSIVE’… Yep, thought so, the latter https://archive.ph/1LLKC but more on Reginald Spinnaker’s concerns directly…
I did laugh at the choice of header picture with overlaid images on the van window ” Scottish Water… Trusted to serve Scotland “, on wondering if SW could be convinced to do sponsored advertising on their vans… I think it would go down a storm as a van passed with a TuS sponsored ” Martin Williams and the Herald… Distrusted by 99.99% of Scotland “, the lads would probably get a kick out of that and a round of applause.
If you scroll down through all of Martin’s concocted shite, you will eventually on Leotard’s “These bonuses for bosses should not exist. If there is money for bonuses there is money to put into the pay pot for the benefit of everyone.” – Now where was Lelastic’s oprobrium for his glorious party leader on ‘unsolicited’ bonuses from a rich party benefactor, or his spleen venting opposition to abolishing the two child cap, or dumping the WASPI women or the WFA at the turn of winter – ‘Hypocrisy’ will always be Richard Leonard’s middle name, however else we spell the name of this charlatan who has long forgotten what Labour once stood for….
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Whilst accepting all the data in this article (and not arguing against any of it) I’m still deeply unhappy with the bonuses and benefits given to the Scottish Water Executive and others. They are on HUGE salaries, comparatively speaking ,and shouldn’t need ‘sweeteners’ to do their jobs (like most Scottish workers.) Put the money into a reasonable pay rise for the staff, for goodness sake!
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