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- 8 Dec 2017
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To be fair, according to BBC News this morning she turned down the bonus.have just lost their CEO, who managed to be awarded a massive bonus despite it all.
To be fair, according to BBC News this morning she turned down the bonus.have just lost their CEO, who managed to be awarded a massive bonus despite it all.
Imagine being stupid enough to ever think it was a good idea to sell off the literal building blocks of life, and to not even properly monitor it after doing so until the entire country is literally filling with s**t.See the water companies want to put bills up by 40% to cover the investment they are being asked to make to stop leaks/dumping raw sewage (cumulatively there were 301091 "emergency" raw sewage discharges into rivers and the sea last year - 825 a day). This is despite the cumulative average of £1.8billion/year taken out in dividends to shareholders, and all the while loading the companies with debt (cumulatively £54billion).
Thames Water are apparently on the verge of collapse (the government are making plans for the aftermath). They are £14billion in debt, have record leaks, record sewage discharges, record bad in everything service related - have just lost their CEO, who managed to be awarded a massive bonus despite it all.
Only when everything kicked off.To be fair, according to BBC News this morning she turned down the bonus.
See the water companies want to put bills up by 40% to cover the investment they are being asked to make to stop leaks/dumping raw sewage (cumulatively there were 301091 "emergency" raw sewage discharges into rivers and the sea last year - 825 a day). This is despite the cumulative average of £1.8billion/year taken out in dividends to shareholders, and all the while loading the companies with debt (cumulatively £54billion).
Thames Water are apparently on the verge of collapse (the government are making plans for the aftermath). They are £14billion in debt, have record leaks, record sewage discharges, record bad in everything service related - have just lost their CEO, who managed to be awarded a massive bonus despite it all.
Those of us old enough to remember know that things had to change within "nationalised/state industries". Inherent issues with striking, work ethic etc etc.
Some folk thought privatisation was the way to do it.
They didn`t see how the private businesses would/might get raped for lots of ££££`s.
Water, electric, gas & transport should be nationalised but run with private sector T`s & C`s for the staff so its not a gravy train.
I don't understand anyone who ever thought it was a good idea.At one time I thought privatisation of the utilities was a good idea.
I don’t now. What has happened with water companies is nothing has been invested in the infrastructure. As a result the shareholders and senior executives have lined their pockets. In the meantime we have to put up with blocked drains and water leaks along with hosepipe bans. I can’t see why water hasn’t been stored underground as it is in Spain and much of Europe.
Taken a stage further, the electricity companies and gas companies have been taken over by French and German companies. These should have stayed under the control of the U.K. I’d love to see whoever is in charge nationalise all the utility companies.
Government control of transport might actually do something for the climate as well as Co-ordinating it properly for the benefit of the consumer.
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Or, more likely, they didn't care.
It's a tough one. You'd want the above infrastructure to be nationalised so that 100% of profits could be re-invested in said infrastructure. But it's not just a cliche to say that public ownership often leads to inefficiency...
I don't understand anyone who ever thought it was a good idea.
Bit like Brexit really. One dimensional thinkers.
Hoisted by ones own petard....
Publicly owned "services" were renowned for lack of productivity and a lethargic/militant/obstructive work force that were in a "job for life" with the oft-quoted gold plated pension at the end of it.
Privatisation was seen as the "fix all" , but nobody foresaw the downside of losing core control of the business and the money.
Should have written in clauses that HMG retained overall control and had the power to rein in any excess but nobody fancied that.
Other than they weren't. That was just the lie spread (al la Brexit) to con the electorate. eg British Rail continuously lambasted for inefficiency but actually poorly invested in and in fact a v good outcome v financial imput compared to most other railways at the time. See The Great Railway Disaster on the C4 player from 25 minutes.Hoisted by ones own petard....
Publicly owned "services" were renowned for lack of productivity and a lethargic/militant/obstructive work force that were in a "job for life" with the oft-quoted gold plated pension at the end of it.
Privatisation was seen as the "fix all" , but nobody foresaw the downside of losing core control of the business and the money.
Should have written in clauses that HMG retained overall control and had the power to rein in any excess but nobody fancied that.
And this was 100% pointed out at the time, but we were told the socialist (it was pre woke, pre anti growth alliance, etc simpler times old boy) didn't know what they were talking about.I hate bringing her up as she is gone and her time was ages ago and it’s boring, but Thatcher was short term gain and it’s becoming obvious now long term pain, her policies were designed to keep her in power with not even half an eye on the future,
Well technically, ate the pie, and then borrowed several more pies and ate them too. This sort of loading companies with debt to finance dividend payouts could only happen in UK post 80s.Probably thought that the owners would only take a small slice of the pie whereas they ate the pie and only left the foil dish.
Public ownership did lead to gross inefficiency but it seems private ownership just led to gross profiteering and organisational collapse.
Maybe someone could come up with a public/private arrangement a bit like John Lewis` original model where staff benefit rather than the boardroom?
Don’t know why people still trot out the stuff about the public sector being a gravy train, cushy, inefficient, etc compared to the private. My sister in the NHS has far worse t and cs than I do in the private sector and is much more tightly controlled in her working life. You need to let the 70s recede into the past.Or, more likely, they didn't care.
It's a tough one. You'd want the above infrastructure to be nationalised so that 100% of profits could be re-invested in said infrastructure. But it's not just a cliche to say that public ownership often leads to inefficiency...
Go on then, describe the Brexit you voted for and how it will deliver better economic outcomes than what was in place before.Of course the inducements to buy into BT and BG would have helped changed opinion on privatisation. Demutualisation of building societies and TSB changing its ownership would have also altered views on private v public ownership too.
As far as Brexit is concerned my view remains the same. We are still not fully out and it is work in progress. I’m sure Labour will try and get us back in by joining the single market. The people have voted twice in 1975 and 2015 so it might be another 35 years before a vote might be held again. The idea of working together for the good of us all economically was overtaken by a drive towards a central EU government with the U.K. playing a fundamentally minor role. Any criticism of EU institutions was always rejected as they knew better how to run our country than we did.
What I wanted was proper accountability. I didn't want Britains laws passed by the EU.Go on then, describe the Brexit you voted for and how it will deliver better economic outcomes than what was in place before.
Oh, and don't miss out the bits about cheaper food, no Vat on energy bills, less red tape, the great trade deal with the USA, and Brexiteers favourite reduced immigration.