Signal & State

Signal & State

A failing water system is much more fun when everyone has a car

When basic infrastructure fails, money buys resilience of a kind that global do-gooders find hard to appreciate.

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Phillip de Wet
Aug 21, 2026
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There is outrage – outrage! – in the United Kingdom because its grid operator is making plans to, if the situation gets dire enough, cut the power to homes “at short notice”.

They’re still calling it “rolling blackouts”, because Britain hasn’t moved beyond the technical language yet, because it has never actually happened, but yes, that would be load she…

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