Tag Archives: Nationalisation

Embrace the Reds under the bed

guardian

Well, there’s a headline – privatise mail, railways, energy firms.
Not sure about the mail thing – unless you can get even more radical and insist nothing is posted unsolicited through a letter box.
Imagine the relief upon rubbish collections.

But to be a little more thoughtful – Energy?  Yes, of course – I was banging on about the unimaginably ridiculous need for a UK citizen to “do a deal” on their energy tariff.  This is truly ‘market forces’ gone mad – and you still don’t get good value, or a deal that works, or really anything other than hassle and time-wasting with no-one to defend your rights.

Bloody ridiculous.

Let me be clear.
(Ha – how many times have you heard that particular little device this year from a politician on the radio or TV?)
The tariff is the cost of supply, staff (watch the salaries), upkeep, modernisation.  Every householder pays the same.

Rail – that’s a bit less easy isn’t it?

In truth –  (you’re lucky I didn’t type ‘to be fair’ just there – but then I would have had to kill myself) – where is the logic in different companies running stuff on the same rails?  I think this idea needs teaming-up with a conscious push to get freight off of the roads, and again the same truths emerge – in Europe (god! what did I say???) – rail ticket prices are reasonable (they probably reflect true costs and needs) – here?  Do profits help to keep ticket prices affordable? 
Don’t make me laugh, profits go to shareholders.

I’ve long held the belief (since I was 15 – so for 45 years) that some sort of modern socialism is the only way the planet can get along, share-out stuff – if you will.

There are certain things in this life we need (our hierarchy of needs, incidentally): shelter, food & water, heat.  Anything more than that is a bonus.
And I don’t think it’s pandering to reds under the bed to suggest that, yes, such utilities should be run for the good of everyone not shareholders.