Returning from Pakistan on Monday, I sat at my desk and looked out at the pouring rain while the latest news explained that 30,000 homes in our part of Sussex and neighbouring Kent are ‘still without water’. Then I opened the pile of post. A letter from South East Water, the culprit in the case, enclosed a note which began: ‘From 1 April 2025, the amount you’ll pay for drinking water will go up.’ Since we are now in January 2026, I assume they either misprinted the date, or accidentally stuck in last year’s explanatory letter. Anyway, the increase is real enough – £655.23 was due in July 2025; £875.11 is due from this month. Pakistan is a ‘developing country’ and has many associated problems (we experienced frequent power cuts), but at least it moves forward. The United Kingdom, moving firmly backwards, is an undeveloping country.

Also in the bulging envelope from South East Water was an appeal for customers to give money to WaterAid. It cited ‘Olivia’ in Madagascar who ‘had no water to drink at all’ at school until WaterAid installed waterpoints. Without wishing to make life any harder for the children of Madagascar, I would draw WaterAid’s attention to the plight of pupils in Maidstone, East Grinstead and Tunbridge Wells, currently kept at home in the wettest month of the year because of waterless schools.

I had been in Pakistan in pursuit of what are nowadays euphemised as ‘country sports’, and so was out of town. On the........

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