Oh absolutely, Ofwat are also unbelievably shit. The point is however is that fundamental market failures like natural monopolies cannot be solved by regulatory bodies.

That’s not to give Ofwat an out, they have utterly fucked this and can be argue to have been captured, but even if they were perfect a privatised water system would still fail.

I would have so much more respect for the FT - and The Economist - if they actually acknowledged market failure rather than pretending it’s always regulatory or government.