There are those in the U.K. who are not beyond equating Thatcherism and the Mafia. It has had long-ranging effects like this for almost 4 decades. The Thatcher government was not truly a criminal gang, of course.
The water companies were privatized under Thatcher, for those missing the context.
Note that the waste dumping problems are not all caused by water privatization, either. But as with the comparison to criminals, that's often conflated when people talk about it.
By people in this country whenever river pollution comes up. It's very popular to blame the water companies for everything, and a common remark on something that is widely discussed. Count Binface's manifesto in the recent Clacton by-election, for example, had a point where the water company executives should be forced to swim in the rivers that they had polluted.
The reality is that it's not solely the water companies, even though if you put it to them many people would leap on the comparison to the Mafia.
The water companies were privatized under Thatcher, for those missing the context.
Note that the waste dumping problems are not all caused by water privatization, either. But as with the comparison to criminals, that's often conflated when people talk about it.