It certainly does have a lot to offer, and in the majority of cases it makes total sense, though in areas like health, energy, and maybe even the railways, the costs outweigh the benefits.
I think public/private partnerships in the health sector might work. Also, I don't see the problem in various hospitals having private clinics/pharmacies in overseas countries where the profits raised from this go back into the providing healthcare here.... Plus, at the end of the day it should be about choice.... If someone want to choose to pay more for healthcare, then they should be able to. As for energy, I'm not sure about that one. Would a public energy sector devote as much time and investment into green energy? I'm not sure there would be as much motivation within the public sector..... Still, I guess there's no way of knowing.
Hey that really does suck. Its funny you guys talk about unions, because our National Hockey League over here, should have started playing in September, but the owners have locked out the players ever since. The Agreement between the Players Union and Owners expired just before the start of the season. There is a big chance, we will loose the whole of this season, plus maybe the next! Saints are my first love, but when my NHL hockey team hasnt started playing yet, it puts things in perspective of how cordial things are in the UK. I know a lot of you we not be bothered by this, just imagine if the PFA and Premier League had a dispute. The potential tube strike will get sorted out, dont know if it will save Boxing day, but I remember it being a real pain getting to games over Xmas. Just thought I would share this with you. Come on you Reds.Steve
Sorry PL all I can say to that is look at the the bankers. They are the capitalists at the top of that greedy tree. They have ****ed up the worlds economy and screwed the public.
Bankers used to be models of rectitude and didn't take risks with the money. Then came demands that they should loosen up to fuel the boom. Look at how money was lent to people to buy houses they couldn't afford which just resulted in further rises in house prices. I don't pretend to understand finance, because even experts get it wrong, but these things seem to go in cycles. The whole world cannot be in a happy place at the same time.
P.s. cannot see matches being cancelled because of strikes. It will go ahead and people will have to get there or not as the case may be. The PL will not want to reschedule these games, especially as some will be cancelled later due to adverse weather. Safety is the only issue. Fans will just have to use Shanks's Pony.
Fulham, say game ON, irrespective of any action. I spent 48 and a bit Years working on the railway, worked most days over all of the Christmas periods, despite there being no trains, security had to be maintained and it was a nice little earner for a single bloke, helped pay for many a Saints ticket, making sure that the others with families had quality time with their kids. Involved in only one serious Industrial dispute in 1994 that caused any real problems, and that was down to Government interference! Took a long time but we sorted it all out without too much grief. Anyway I have retired now and am a free agent, time wise, trouble is, I cannot afford so many away days, and not having enough points I am having problems getting tickets anyway. It was more fun in the Championship, not that I am ready for us drop back into it!
Who provides the rubbish service? The companies put in place by a government that advocates privatisation? The railway already has a regulator, he fines the train operators and then they pay with money that either comes from would be dividend/investment or the taxpayer, the regulator then give the money to the dft who then give the money as subsidy to operate the trains to the companies, a big merry go round of bollocks.
Me too. Undoubtedly a hassle. But away fans can get to London in a car or coach (?); and London-based fans can just get a bus. Of course, leaving extra time to travel. If I remember rightly from Saints Boxing Day games, though, a lot of overland trains don't run on Boxing Day. Always had to drive.
I'm talking about private companies that don't live in cloud cuckooo land. As I implied, the rail companies aren't the best example of privitisation. That doesn't necessarily mean privitisation as a whole never works. What about BA?
I remember someone telling me that in Japan (I think) when the tube/train workers strike they still actually go into work and run the trains but they don't check or sell tickets - anyone and everyone can ride for free. The rail company still suffers because of the lost revenue but the public are able to travel so the union don't get the bad PR. I have no idea whether that's true but if it is then it's a brilliant idea.
BA, did you get any money from that? Did I? Who asked the people if they wanted a state asset sold of on their behalf? BA gets preferential treatment still on slots and turnarounds and its own terminal, on whos money? These are the Nations assets not a shareholders wet dream.
The train companies were private first, then were nationalized, so hardly a national asset being sold off. As it happens, contrary to my normal position on nationalization, there is another issue here...people should be encouraged to use public transport as the roads get snarled up, so there should be an overall plan here, not just a hotch-potch of companies.
People can pay more for private healthcare now, the NHS has no bearing on that, and the NHS should absolutely remain nationalised. Regarding energy, there are clearly issues with price-fixing and collusion between the small number of companies who supply energy to rip off the consumer. I don't think that a service which everyone relies on and which so many people are struggling to afford should be governed by the profit motive. Energy generation could (and probably should) still be done privately, it's the wholesale market which needs to be nationalised in my opinion. I don't think that would have any effect on renewable energy provision. That was Boris's master plan for TfL wasn't it? No sign of it actually happening of course.
If BR had been given a fraction of the money wasted on TOC's in the past few years, we would now have the best Railways in the World, believe it or not the Old British Rail Management knew how to run a railway, safely and efficiently, the fact that they were always starved of investment and running on a shoe string was the reason that it all failed. The real damage was done by the use of cheap contract firms to try and maintain a railway for profit reasons, not safety orientated. Grayrig epitomised everything that went wrong. The best way to run a railway is to employ people on reasonable wages with decent conditions of service, nothing more. These days beancounters and the blame culture creeping in was the reason I didn't stay on for a few more years.
I agree, the railway is something that should not be run for profit, naive people believe a capitalist approach will work on something that can never make a profit, split lines could possibly but whats the point in that? The peoples resources have been sold off and we are now worse off as we dont own it and we are paying more for using something that was ours in the first place.
