Current Affairs The Labour Party

[peteblue]

All that needs to be done now is introduce a public owned train supplier, and break current cartel of Rolling Stock companies. This will be logical conclusion now much of responsibility sits back with government and transport department.

Or just nationalise everything, then no profits will be made, public spending can go through the roof, everyone can enjoy train driver salaries and the country will be bankrupt. The country needs a mix of private and public ownership, going hard one way or the other for ideological reasons is a recipe for disaster…..

 

[Rita_Poon]

matt hancocks local publican gaining ppe contracts for instance. I wonder if he has a yacht moored up with the mone's.

shut up pete.

 

[peteblue]

Not that I'm aware of. More that he doesn't believe the government are "good people" just because they're the (Labour) government.

‘Good people’ don’t take money off pensioners to give inflation busting wage increases to already well paid train drivers….

 

[Rita_Poon]

they award contracts to racists that run IT firms instead.

snake.

 

[larrygobfiend]

‘Good people’ don’t take money off pensioners to give inflation busting wage increases to already well paid train drivers….

Pensioners are getting an extra £400 next year.

 

[peteblue]

Pensioners are getting an extra £400 next year.

I expect Starmer and Reeves to put the kibosh on that…..

 

[NilSatisOptimum]

Or just nationalise everything, then no profits will be made, public spending can go through the roof, everyone can enjoy train driver salaries and the country will be bankrupt. The country needs a mix of private and public ownership, going hard one way or the other for ideological reasons is a recipe for disaster…..

If your worried about train drivers wage, you must spitting at the wages and bounes they are paying Rolling Stock executives and such like...

 

[davek]

Thought he did very well with response with Grenfell report, apologised with "sorry" for the role of the state in allowing profit over people's safety, and states its his own responsibility to now to improve building regulation and its on him, certainly not a lefty...

Taking some responsibility at last?

The cackles of the public tired of his "it wiz Chelsea" defence must have broken through via a focus group for that sort of humility to be on display.

 

[catcherintherye]

Or just nationalise everything, then no profits will be made, public spending can go through the roof, everyone can enjoy train driver salaries and the country will be bankrupt. The country needs a mix of private and public ownership, going hard one way or the other for ideological reasons is a recipe for disaster…..

A country that prints it's own currency can't go bankrupt Pete.

Last time I checked, the Chinese economy, with V high nationalisation seems to be doing very well. So to do the Nordic countries who have high state sector involvement.

 

[Rita_Poon]

A country that prints it's own country can't go bankrupt Pete.

Last time I checked, the Chinese economy, with V high nationalisation seems to be doing very well. So to do the Nordic countries who have high state sector involvement.

currency*?

 

[catcherintherye]

‘Good people’ don’t take money off pensioners to give inflation busting wage increases to already well paid train drivers….

Maybe good people want a government to prioritise working people, over those out of work in receipt of benefits?

 

[catcherintherye]

I do wonder how much of that is down to how things are regulated though, and it'll probably be those people in charge of the regulators who will now be in charge of the railway. It's a bit like the water companies. The network needs a huge upgrade in the sewage system in order to prevent waste being pumped into rivers, but is there really any more sign that the government is willing or able to make those long-term investments than the water companies are? I mean we've literally just had HS2 scrapped because it was being managed so badly. The idea that state is automatically good and private automatically bad seems pretty reductionist to me. As you say, the day-to-day is much more about the people running it, but so is the long-term.

At least with the government you have democratic control and you can vote them out.

With water companies you have no choice. You see privitsation 101, terrible (inferior) service, far more costly, no investment or long term thinking. But hey shareholders and senior execs get loads more money, which according to the magic Ayb Rand tooth fairy trickles down to everyone.

Back in the real world, it doesn't work, as any consumer can attest.

 

[catcherintherye]

Is it realistic to expect things to change under public ownership? People keep talking about the need to make a profit etc., ignoring the fact that it's the state regulator that determines what is acceptable as a profit and also the level of subsidy given to the system. In essence, the state already determines the business model. I'm not imagining we're going to magically get £5 tickets and 50p cups of tea, especially when the unions are quite good at extracting very good wages for staff and things like automation are rejected at every step.

Again Bruce, I'm not going to repeat the above, but your argument seems to be statutory bodies can't think long term. I'm not sure this really bears out. Singapore who have a lot of state involvement take long term decisions. So have Saudi. So have the Norwegian Wealth fund. So too does the Chinese state. They all take longer term decisions.

 

[Rita_Poon]

At least with the government you have democratic control and you can vote them out.

With water companies you have no choice. You see privitsation 101, terrible (inferior) service, far more costly, no investment or long term thinking. But hey shareholders and senior execs get loads more money, which according to the magic Ayb Rand tooth fairy trickles down to everyone.

Back in the real world, it doesn't work, as any consumer can attest.

Ayn*

The hypocrite weasel mucus stain.

 

[catcherintherye]

Ayn*

The hypocrite weasel mucus stain.

My auto correct has gone mad. Apologies.