Disconnector Online

The National Secular Society (NSS) has got a tad hot under the collar over the news that the Church of England has joined forces with a number of other denominations (and charities) to plead poverty and ask Ofwat if it can be exempt from paying water bills in the same way the rest of us do. Charities and churches currently have exemptions and relief from "run-off" charges, but Ofwat has proposed they will be removed from 2010. Some churches are already complaining loudly that as a result, their water charges will rise exponentially, in some cases 700 or 800 per cent. Our friends at the NSS are unmoved. The society has pointed out that the Church commissioners, who manage the assets of the CoE, are looking after assets currently valued at, gulp, £5.67 billion. The NSS has suggested that any organisation with nearly six billion in the bank should stop whingeing, shut up and pay up. Quite.