Do we need to build more jails?

[MCN]

Another shower of greedy bastirts have refused to pay forbthe upkeep of a utility that they been draining for decades.

Thames Water made £2Bn in profit last year.

They need £500M from investors for vital upgrades to their systems.

The were going to cough up the cash on the provision that they could increase rates to customers.

The customers have been paying their bills for water used.

Remove the board, lock the accounts and appoint a government officer to run Thames Water.

What uproar would that create?

ps When private coal and steel and rail became unprofitable for the greedy owners, the government spent millions of tax payers money to bail out the owners in exchange for nationalisation.

A few years later, Thatcher sold it back to big biz. She used taxpayers industries to fund her political plans.

Western Slow Motion Corruption.
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Disclaimer: The comments above may be predicted text and not necessarily the opinion of MCN.

[Ste]

The board could be held accountable by being made to drink Thames water.

The Thames Tideway Tunnel is a step in the right direction as it will take shit from 34 overflows and apparently it will take 16 million tonnes of sewage annually. Sounds impressive but that's only one part of one river.

I believe the long term solution will involve stopping surface run off water from going into the sewers. Upgrading the Victorian sewer network would be completely impractical therefore we need to be more selective about what goes into the sewers.

Here's a BBC Panorama program about the shitty problem: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001t4g5/panorama-the-water-pollution-coverup

Here's a map of all the poo pipes which pipe poo into the waterways which generally happens every time there's the slightest bit of rain: https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/e834e261b53740eba2fe6736e37bbc7b/

As I type this there are 154 Thames Water poo pipes piping poo into the waterways. One near here which goes into a canal has been overflowing since the 7th of March which is 515 hours. Another one on the same canal has been overflowing for just the last 15 hours.

Thames Water are the only water company who provide real time poo pipe updates so all the other water and sewerage companies don't tell people until the following year but even then, many of the sensors on storm overflows don't work properly.

[CaNsA]

[Howling Terror]

It's a winner winner we're the turkey dinner.

This is my simplistic understanding and daresay wide open to corrections.
Basic services were underfunded when the public owned them. Got sold on the idea that privately owed they'd be improved.

Of course shareholders should expect a return yet it's obviously been the case that investment into repairs and improvements haven't been met despite the new caretakers running up debts and $erving $hareholders.

The winning was done when the new owners knew that they can walk away no matter the state. Those that decided to sell knew this, and maybe at the time it was a lesser of two evils but that devil has us firmly by the nads no matter what OffWat or OffGen or whatever they're called 'demand'.

You don't in my view ever give control of basic services away. Yet that's what that government did and that's what they've been doing in a more surreptitious way since. Labour and most definitely the Conservatives.
Nobody wants to raise taxes but that was required to keep the lights on and taps running.

These people are beyond jail. They can wrangle n wriggle far better than any lily-livered government or judicial system is willing to go through. Less so now we're on our independent self.

Over their tenure Thames has paid out 58bn to shareholders and has run up debts of 60bn over 30 odd years. It was given to them with zero debt and any monies that Thames owed in 1989 was written off by that government i.e we paid to sell it and we'll pay to get it back and pay to wrap some ptfe around the leaking joints.

Aside; I had to laugh when that dangerous idiot Mogg said let's start fracking to make us secure. Yeah cause we can frack and keep the gas? No cos the gas prices aren't set by us you streak of piddle.
They demolished or decommissioned loads of gasometers so when the hits the fan we don't have any reserve capacity.

Blair that smug twonker carried on where thatcher (spits) left off by letting in private companies control sections of the nhs.
Rail networks ....again so clever to turn the masses against people after a pay rise. We're not talking big bucks for them or the posties or doctors. See any gaffers pulling in their belts?
Worked at a small place and that's exactly what the boss did. He pulled in his belt when new contracts were running thin. He didn't carry on going to Gran Canaria. He wanted to hold onto good staff and pay a going rate for the times we were living in.

Those days the trains were on strike the government picked up the tab...not the privately owned companies..win-win all day. Tracks knackered...points fubar'd...no bother we can give it back to them.

Who owns the power stations and who will run away when they get too hot to handle.
Beggars belief that a country so wealthy is now clinging on <<<said for dramatic effect...and is now the money laundering experts but that cash cow will move onto to better pastures.

Yet. It's a country that despite all continues to impress and produce amazing scientists and experts and artists and engineers and carries a certain cashé.

Empires come n go leaving good people to set up again until some eejits come along and infest and create division.


I'm here all week.
Goodnight.
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Diabolical homemade music Bandcamp and Soundcloud
Singer songwriter, Artist and allround good bloke Listen to Andrew Susan Johnston here
The Harry Turner Project

[Easy-X]

What do we want? We want a product (water supply, sewage processing) delivered in the safest and most cost effective manner possible. Maybe add "with the least harm to the environment" while we're at it.

A publicly traded, for profit company with a mandated monopoly is not the correct business model to encourage success. "We made a big profit" should be interchangeable with "we made a better product and/or sold at a cheaper price than our competitors" and if they're not interchangeable you're doing it the wrong way. "Ah, so you're saying nationalise the water?" Not necessarily. I'd be interested to see how Thames Water would perform if run as a CIC...

Community Interest Companies are a business entities usually run as "limited by guarantee" rather than as "limited by share" but even for the latter there are tight restrictions on paying dividends and mostly any profits are invested back. At the core though is "for the benefit of the community" instead of asking "did we make a profit?" and they seem a good fit for geographically fixed endeavours.
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Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter

[Polarbear]

I certainly agree private companies should not have a monopoly on a product that is absolutley nessecary to peoples life like water, sewage, electricity, and similar.

The big problem comes from nationalised companies being held to ransome by unions/workers who expect the government to fork out more and more wages just because it's the government which has an endless supply of money in their eyes. I'm old enough to remember those very very bad old days.

The miners were an obvious example, strike after strike until Thatcher stood up to them and then the sh1t hit the fan. Same with British rail, terrible service with people who worked on the railways paid way in excess of what people in comparible private compnies were.

Obviously the water companies shouldn't be in private ownership but whatever happens either as a private company or a nationalised industry the tax payer is going to be paying somewhere along the line.

We need a nationalised companies run as efficiently as a private company (in general terms) but I just can't see that happening. Look at the NHS for an exmple of a badly run nationalised company. It works on the principle of 'throw money at it but don't you dare incorporated private industry proceedures' because 'Americans are bad' or some such shite from people who really don't have a clue.
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Triumph Trophy Launch Edition

[Howling Terror]

Unions are unfortunately essential as without them what do you think happens.

Unionised workplaces are safer..if that's important.
Having an organisation that can afford to represent you in court.

They're usually but not always the best way to interact with the top brass. Try raising an issue directly with HR on a change in your role/conditions.
Now I guess you could just say to them sling your hook and go elsewhere and possibly find that a non-union company treats you better, but I wouldn't count on it.

Goes without saying that not all companies are bad but if they can squeeze more out and pay you less they always will.
Likewise it goes that some unions during certain points are not gifted when it comes to understanding the balance of wages/conditions and the situation the company is currently in. A good relationship between CEO and staff equals a profitable and (will slap myself later for saying this) an engaged workforce. Loyal and better motivated.

Unions do not destroy businesses...business/financial changes do that far more efficiently. Coal miners strike being a case in point.
Plenty of coal left but it was cheaper to import.
Bit like kicking their own stool away and hanging themselves yet that was the only option left for miners...To strike. To withhold labour.

I don't know...but say those mine workers said...ok we'll work 6 days a week doing 12 hour shifts with no shift rates, a reduction in wage by xx% and 2 weeks holiday a year, maybe even that wouldn't have been enough. Not if miners in the east were doing it for pin money in unsafe conditions and etc.

There's the option of every man woman and child for themselves.
You'll see how that stagnates evolution in a short period of time.

One of the first human bones found was a femur. It had at some point been broken and healed. That could only happen if the rest of hairy buggers decided that old Joe was worth keeping alive. It was obviously important for reasons we can only guess and maybe was the beginnings of empathy(?).

We shouldn't require unions and pay them yet history of poor conditions and crappy pay created them.

Private healthcare companies are profit driven and that's all well n good yet it's important to remember that uk bods already pay their dues for a free at point of entry into this world service. For a laugh I'll say I pay in 10 quid a day for that service. How much of that tenner do I want to give a private company in profits. Absolutely nothing pal. Can't begrudge a decent margin but you seen how much these leeches are extracting.
Much like the argument against benefit scroungers...Aye they're a bunch of no-marks but check this out....they pail into insignificance when it come to governments and how they'll spunk muti-billions...that's yours and mine that is.

Don't fall for their diversions.

I am not in a union.
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Diabolical homemade music Bandcamp and Soundcloud
Singer songwriter, Artist and allround good bloke Listen to Andrew Susan Johnston here
The Harry Turner Project