KK wrote:The Sun and Times columnist Rod Liddle is now suggesting the UK nationalises gas and electric. And the water. And rail...
The Sun wrote:ROD LIDDLE - Energy, rail and water are in a state – so the state must run them instead
ANOTHER water company has said it will be introducing a hosepipe ban. It’s Thames Water this time.
That’s much of southern England under water rationing. In one of the wettest countries in the world.
Sure, it’s been dry recently. But we should still have more than enough water to cope.
The problem is the companies let our water leak all over the place. It’s been happening for decades but right now we lose 660MILLION gallons every day.
So that’s one big problem. Another, of course, is these whopping energy bills we’re all going to be facing very soon. More than £4,000 a year for the average home. An unbelievable amount.
The Government might bung us a couple of hundred quid to help. Or shove an increased windfall tax on the big companies.
But that only makes the companies less attractive for investors. And reduces the amount of money they can spend on improving infrastructure.
So is there an answer to both of these problems?
Yup, sure is. But none of our major parties are in favour.
What we should do is nationalise the utilities — our water and power companies. And our rail companies as well, come to that.
Then the Government would be left to decide how high our energy bills should be this winter. And would be charged with investing in repairs to our ancient and leaky water pipes.
Nationalisation has had a bad reputation for a long time.
And for good reason in many cases. Nationalised industries can be hideously bureaucratic. They tend to be very poor at innovation. And they can end up costing the public too much money. Remember British Leyland?
That’s why, in general, I believe in the open market and private companies. But I also think there are a few areas of the economy which would be much better off in public hands.
Something we all own together because these sectors are vital to the running of our country. Something where the wellbeing of our citizens, such as their right not to freeze to death this winter, and their right to spray a bit of water on their petunias, is more important than making a profit.
The opinion polls suggest the majority of the public agrees with me.
Nationalisation, especially of the energy and railway companies, is very popular. The public thinks, rightly, that such important stuff shouldn’t be left to the whim of international markets.
I find it incredible that Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has effectively ruled out nationalisation. About the only party supporting it right now is my own, the Social Democratic Party.
If our energy companies were nationalised we could immediately lower the bills, drastically, for this coming winter.
And when energy prices fall, which they will, keep the prices at a level to pay for the hard times.
That makes a certain sense, no?
And if the Government doesn’t invest in repairing our water infrastructure, we’ll know who to blame and who to get rid of, won’t we?
I don’t want to go back to a time when car companies, even holiday companies, were owned by the state.
But a swift nationalisation of our utilities, just as we did with the banks in 2008, would ensure an awful lot of people have a more comfortable winter.
All together now, OH, JEREMY CORBYN!!! OH, JEREMEY COR....
KK wrote:The Sun and Times columnist Rod Liddle is now suggesting the UK nationalises gas and electric. And the water. And rail...
The Sun wrote:ROD LIDDLE - Energy, rail and water are in a state – so the state must run them instead
ANOTHER water company has said it will be introducing a hosepipe ban. It’s Thames Water this time.
That’s much of southern England under water rationing. In one of the wettest countries in the world.
Sure, it’s been dry recently. But we should still have more than enough water to cope.
The problem is the companies let our water leak all over the place. It’s been happening for decades but right now we lose 660MILLION gallons every day.
So that’s one big problem. Another, of course, is these whopping energy bills we’re all going to be facing very soon. More than £4,000 a year for the average home. An unbelievable amount.
The Government might bung us a couple of hundred quid to help. Or shove an increased windfall tax on the big companies.
But that only makes the companies less attractive for investors. And reduces the amount of money they can spend on improving infrastructure.
So is there an answer to both of these problems?
Yup, sure is. But none of our major parties are in favour.
What we should do is nationalise the utilities — our water and power companies. And our rail companies as well, come to that.
Then the Government would be left to decide how high our energy bills should be this winter. And would be charged with investing in repairs to our ancient and leaky water pipes.
Nationalisation has had a bad reputation for a long time.
And for good reason in many cases. Nationalised industries can be hideously bureaucratic. They tend to be very poor at innovation. And they can end up costing the public too much money. Remember British Leyland?
That’s why, in general, I believe in the open market and private companies. But I also think there are a few areas of the economy which would be much better off in public hands.
Something we all own together because these sectors are vital to the running of our country. Something where the wellbeing of our citizens, such as their right not to freeze to death this winter, and their right to spray a bit of water on their petunias, is more important than making a profit.
The opinion polls suggest the majority of the public agrees with me.
Nationalisation, especially of the energy and railway companies, is very popular. The public thinks, rightly, that such important stuff shouldn’t be left to the whim of international markets.
I find it incredible that Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has effectively ruled out nationalisation. About the only party supporting it right now is my own, the Social Democratic Party.
If our energy companies were nationalised we could immediately lower the bills, drastically, for this coming winter.
And when energy prices fall, which they will, keep the prices at a level to pay for the hard times.
That makes a certain sense, no?
And if the Government doesn’t invest in repairing our water infrastructure, we’ll know who to blame and who to get rid of, won’t we?
I don’t want to go back to a time when car companies, even holiday companies, were owned by the state.
But a swift nationalisation of our utilities, just as we did with the banks in 2008, would ensure an awful lot of people have a more comfortable winter.
All together now, OH, JEREMY CORBYN!!! OH, JEREMEY COR....
Decent figures, but Labour need to go on the attack now. Sitting back passively while the Tories destroyed themselves has worked well up to now. But the cost of living crisis needs Labour to start hammering the government.
I imagine the ‘Sun’ are only suggesting the above because Gordon Brown (possibly one of the more astute people in politics we’ve had over the past 50 years) put out a similar plan a few days ago
gaminglegend wrote:I imagine the ‘Sun’ are only suggesting the above because Gordon Brown (possibly one of the more astute people in politics we’ve had over the past 50 years) put out a similar plan a few days ago
gaminglegend wrote:I imagine the ‘Sun’ are only suggesting the above because Gordon Brown (possibly one of the more astute people in politics we’ve had over the past 50 years) put out a similar plan a few days ago
The decision to sell gold at the low point in the price cycle has been likened by Quentin Letts[11] to the mistakes in 1992 that led to Black Wednesday,
gaminglegend wrote:I imagine the ‘Sun’ are only suggesting the above because Gordon Brown (possibly one of the more astute people in politics we’ve had over the past 50 years) put out a similar plan a few days ago
The decision to sell gold at the low point in the price cycle has been likened by Quentin Letts[11] to the mistakes in 1992 that led to Black Wednesday,
Christ, imagine agreeing with Quentin Letts.
Some economists have said it was a good move though.
gaminglegend wrote:I imagine the ‘Sun’ are only suggesting the above because Gordon Brown (possibly one of the more astute people in politics we’ve had over the past 50 years) put out a similar plan a few days ago
The decision to sell gold at the low point in the price cycle has been likened by Quentin Letts[11] to the mistakes in 1992 that led to Black Wednesday,
Christ, imagine agreeing with Quentin Letts.
Some economists have said it was a good move though.
I think it shows how competent Brown was. 20 years later and all people have is he might have lost £5billion on selling gold at the wrong time?
The current Tories would spend £5b on a single face mask if their local pub landlord offered it to them.
gaminglegend wrote:I imagine the ‘Sun’ are only suggesting the above because Gordon Brown (possibly one of the more astute people in politics we’ve had over the past 50 years) put out a similar plan a few days ago
The decision to sell gold at the low point in the price cycle has been likened by Quentin Letts[11] to the mistakes in 1992 that led to Black Wednesday,
gaminglegend wrote:I imagine the ‘Sun’ are only suggesting the above because Gordon Brown (possibly one of the more astute people in politics we’ve had over the past 50 years) put out a similar plan a few days ago
The decision to sell gold at the low point in the price cycle has been likened by Quentin Letts[11] to the mistakes in 1992 that led to Black Wednesday,
Well, there it is, nailed to the mast. She favours obscene profiteering while the public face destitution, and intends doing nothing to correct the imbalance.
Liz Truss has defended earnings at energy companies amid soaring price rises, saying profits should not be considered "dirty and evil". The Tory leadership hopeful said windfall taxes on profits - urged by some to fund help for households - were about "bashing business".
Captain Kinopio wrote:Genuine question, what do people on here do to combat the utter despair at how this country has been ground into the dirt? Have tried tuning out of all news (appreciate this is just trying to ignore the problem) but that’s becoming increasingly hard. The anger at the utter malicious incompetence and wilful ignorance of our leaders I can cope with, it’s the struggling to feel any hope that things are going to get better any time even in the medium to long term that I don’t know what to do with other than just try and tune it out and distract myself from it.
This isn’t a depression thing in case people were concerned about that. Just interested how people on this place, who are generally more left leaning and politically motivated than me, deal with it?
I guess I take a "I cant change it so why obsess over it" perspective.
I could get all depressed about it or obsess over it, I do many many things, but what would that achieve? It is better for me to know what is and isn't happening so I can cater for it in my own life but relistically I can't do a damn thing about this gooseberry fool show so there is no point letting it run me down.
rinks wrote:Well, there it is, nailed to the mast. She favours obscene profiteering while the public face destitution, and intends doing nothing to correct the imbalance.
Liz Truss has defended earnings at energy companies amid soaring price rises, saying profits should not be considered "dirty and evil". The Tory leadership hopeful said windfall taxes on profits - urged by some to fund help for households - were about "bashing business".
We can only hope that the Tory membership can see just how crass that attitude is at a time like this, and ditch her.
Things like this is why Truss will fail badly. Johnson didn't give a gooseberry fool about ordinary people, but he was bright enough to know how to do the populist thing.
If Truss thinks, with £5k annual bills, defending energy companies is going to be a general election winner, then she's even more stupid than I ever imagined.
