Britain’s crises have one thing in common: a failure to invest

Low water levels at a UK reservoir. As Britain’s population has risen, not a single new reservoir has been built in the past three decades. Photograph: Dan Kitwood

The government is drawing up contingency plans for power cuts this winter as it finally wakes up to the reality of what the next few months will bring.

Britain has a cost of living crisis. It also has a housing crisis and an energy crisis. Weeks without rain in southern England mean there is a looming drought crisis. The NHS is only one serious Covid-19 outbreak away from crunch point.