Skip to content

What is the war on wee?

November 10, 2026 · 5 min

Show notes

Public urination has long been a nuisance in the United Kingdom, as it is in many other countries. But it’s really gotten worse in the last few years, and that’s down to the Covid-19 crisis in particular. British authorities decided to close public toilets for hygiene reasons.

And that’s actually exacerbated a longer-term trend, which has seen around 50% of public toilets closed in the last decade, according to the managing director of the British Toilet Association, as quoted by The Guardian.  And public toileting is actually a health problem in itself. After all, urine can erode buildings and create pollution. It’s prompted cities around the world to clamp down, in a phenomenon media outlets have playfully labelled the “war on wee”.

What are authorities doing to deter people? What creative solutions have been seen? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!

To listen to the last episodes, you can click here :

⁠⁠Why do players have to wear white at Wimbledon?⁠⁠

⁠⁠What is domotics, the technology behind smart homes?⁠⁠

⁠⁠What is Lima Syndrome?⁠⁠

A podcast written and realised by Joseph Chance.

First Broadcast: 30/6/2023

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

All episodes of Do you really know?

Settings

Display

Language

Decides which stations you see first on the home page.

History

Recently played stations and episodes and your latest searches are only stored in this browser.

Notifications

A short notice when a podcast you follow has a new episode. Turn off single podcasts with the bell on their page.

Account

Save favorites – in the app and on the website.

Keyboard shortcuts

/
Open search
Space
Play or pause
← →
In the player: back 15 s, forward 30 s (episodes) · in a row: next tile
↑ ↓
In a row: target within the tile
Home / End
In a row: first or last tile
Esc
Close window or menu
?
This overview
Now playing

Go to station page

Play next

    Add episodes with “Play next” – they play after the current episode.