Rivers of Shit: Boris Johnson couldn’t be bothered to think about the details of his Brexit, and now the UK is suffering shortages of materials including those used to clean sewage. So partially-cleaned and harmful crap is going directly into our rivers.

As with so many of his choices, Boris Johnson’s decision not to bother with finicky little details has let him down again.

And now his detractors – including This Site – are likening him to another Conservative Party ‘character’: Enoch Powell.

Back in the 1960s, Powell warned against wide-scale immigration with a speech named after its strongest image: Rivers of Blood.

Now, after Brexit removed the UK from the EU’s ‘free movement’ rule, it seems our borders have been closed to much more than human beings.

A shortage of chemicals that are used to treat effluent means the government has relaxed restrictions and polluters will be allowed to dump potentially harmful sewage directly into the UK’s rivers, making them dirty, dangerous, disease-ridden… Rivers of Shit.

I make no apology for the offensive word. Boris Johnson is an offensive creature and his name deserves to be linked with it.

Here’s The Independent with the story Johnson probably wishes he could flush away:

The government has given polluters the green light to dump risky sewage that has not been properly cleaned into rivers and the sea as Brexit and Covid disrupt normal water treatment.

In recent weeks some businesses have found it more difficult to get hold of water treatment chemicals because of supply chain disruption at ports blamed primarily on Britain’s departure from the EU.

The Environment Agency this week said companies struggling to get hold of the required chemicals would be allowed to “discharge effluent without meeting the conditions” of their permits, which normally require water to be treated by a multi-step process.

Companies should “resume use of chemicals to treat effluent as soon as is practicable”, the agency said. The regulatory relaxation will last until at least the end of the year, with an extension possible.

“This wasn’t on the side of the bus was it?” commented Julie Atkinson on Twitter, referring to Johnson’s controversial campaign bus in the run-up to the EU referendum, which claimed leaving the bloc would provide huge advantages to the UK.

No, it wasn’t – but it could get inside your children, or even you, if you aren’t careful.

“Welcome to Boris Johnson’s “golden age,” tweeted Peter Stefanovic – although I wonder if “golden” is the right description for the stuff being pumped into our waters as I type these words.

Kids have been known to play in rivers – I know they do, here in Mid Wales, even when they’re told not to – and the relaxation of water treatment rules means it is possible that they will ingest potentially disease-carrying waste because of Boris Johnson’s decisions.

You may hope that they won’t, or that it won’t make a difference – after all, water companies broke the rules to discharge raw sewage into UK rivers no fewer than 400,000 times last year alone. That’ll be Tory “light-touch” regulation for you!

This Writer fears it may be a forlorn hope.

If not his epitaph, it should become his nickname. His forerunner became Enoch “Rivers of Blood” Powell, after all.

So it is only right that he should be known as Boris “Rivers of Shit” Johnson.

Have YOU donated to my crowdfunding appeal, raising funds to fight false libel claims by TV celebrities who should know better? These court cases cost a lot of money so every penny will help ensure that wealth doesn’t beat justice.

https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/mike-sivier-libel-fight/

Vox Political needs your help!
If you want to support this site
(but don’t want to give your money to advertisers)
you can make a one-off donation here:

Here are four ways to be sure you’re among the first to know what’s going on.

1) Register with us by clicking on ‘Subscribe’ (in the left margin). You can then receive notifications of every new article that is posted here.

2) Follow VP on Twitter @VoxPolitical

3) Like the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/VoxPolitical/

Join the Vox Political Facebook page.

4) You could even make Vox Political your homepage at http://voxpoliticalonline.com

And do share with your family and friends – so they don’t miss out!

If you have appreciated this article, don’t forget to share it using the buttons at the bottom of this page. Politics is about everybody – so let’s try to get everybody involved!

Buy Vox Political books so we can continue
fighting for the facts.

The Livingstone Presumption is now available
in either print or eBook format here:

Health Warning: Government! is now available
in either print or eBook format here:

The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here: