Oh dear, here we go again. Last night's Evening Standard, while reporting the great news that a lost Busher has been found wandering in the Alps somewhere, also carried dire warnings that the proposed Thames Tideway Tunnel, or "supersewer" as it's known to its critics, is likely to shut the Hammersmith Bridge and cause travel chaos for millions.
Remind you of anything? Perhaps the equally dire warnings that Furnival Gardens, a beautiful stretch of green next to the Thames, was about to be ripped up by evil Thames Water. Or maybe the one about a "stink hole" being installed in Ravenscourt Park. Or how about the dark prophesies of homelessness stalking the good people of Hammersmith who, we were warned, faced losing their homes to this rapacious utility company.
The thread that linked all of those doom laden scenarios was that they were bullshit. Worse still, the Council knew them to be so but still decided to come out with them as they spent large sums of public money on all manner of PR activity to lambast the idea of the tunnel, and 'stand up for local people'. You'd never have guessed there were local elections on at the time.
Now we hear that, on the basis of a quick look at Thames Water's plans, there *might* be an issue with the bridge and that *maybe* it might have to close. Given the track record of this council on this issue you may wish to postpone your panic just yet.
Meanwhile, the completely inadequate sewers we have at the moment under our feet continue to belch out record levels of raw sewage into the river. They do so every time there is heavy rain. And we haven't had much of that this year, have we? Here's someone who spends most of his life dealing with the consequences of that:
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