Stop voting for fucking Tories

[Sandstorm]

Further on Trains.

I live on the south coast of England, it works out right now about the same price for me to drive my 20 year old Ford Galaxy to Edinburgh and back as is does for me to take the train.

That train cost doubles when me and my wife travel, but it stays the same if I drive. We are going up in a month or so and our youngest is coming with us, the choice is a shite drive or take the train at three times the price - three time would be ok if it was three times say a hundred quid return, but it's not, it's three times two hundred pounds return, and you have to make sure you are not ravelling at peak times to London and there are connections to be made which are subject to cancellations.


edit, I must add that train is my favourite form of transport, but they've ruined it.

River cruise instead?

[I like neeps]

Further on Trains.

I live on the south coast of England, it works out right now about the same price for me to drive my 20 year old Ford Galaxy to Edinburgh and back as is does for me to take the train.

That train cost doubles when me and my wife travel, but it stays the same if I drive. We are going up in a month or so and our youngest is coming with us, the choice is a shite drive or take the train at three times the price - three time would be ok if it was three times say a hundred quid return, but it's not, it's three times two hundred pounds return, and you have to make sure you are not ravelling at peak times to London and there are connections to be made which are subject to cancellations.


edit, I must add that train is my favourite form of transport, but they've ruined it.

If you and your wife take the train places together semi often you can get a two together Railcard which I think gives discounts of 1/3.

[Tichtheid]

Further on Trains.

I live on the south coast of England, it works out right now about the same price for me to drive my 20 year old Ford Galaxy to Edinburgh and back as is does for me to take the train.

That train cost doubles when me and my wife travel, but it stays the same if I drive. We are going up in a month or so and our youngest is coming with us, the choice is a shite drive or take the train at three times the price - three time would be ok if it was three times say a hundred quid return, but it's not, it's three times two hundred pounds return, and you have to make sure you are not ravelling at peak times to London and there are connections to be made which are subject to cancellations.


edit, I must add that train is my favourite form of transport, but they've ruined it.

If you and your wife take the train places together semi often you can get a two together Railcard which I think gives discounts of 1/3.

Good tip, cheers.

Even on the one journey it saves more than the price of the railcard, from what I can see.

[Gumboot]

The sprog and I went a long way on the LA Metro for very little with the Tap card.

[Hal Jordan]

And, as if by magic, Thames Water is looking like it's about to fall over.


Dump shit in the water.
Ignore leaks.
View fines as an operating cost as opposed to an incentive to improve.
Dividends!
Socialise the risk, because the public purse will pick up the pieces if it all goes wrong, so why worry?

[sockwithaticket]

And, as if by magic, Thames Water is looking like it's about to fall over.


Dump shit in the water.
Ignore leaks.
View fines as an operating cost as opposed to an incentive to improve.
Dividends!
Socialise the risk, because the public purse will pick up the pieces if it all goes wrong, so why worry?

Absolute fucking scum. They've spent years utilising profit for shareholder dividends and bonuses rather than investment and taken on debt in order to make those payments even more eye-wateringly large.

Uk water industry debt pre-privatisation: fuck all
post-privatisation: about £54 billion.

Debt's fine if you take it on to actually invest in something tangible and worthwhile, but they haven't been doing that.

On top of recent price rises that are apparently necessary to help them fund all the work they should have already done with consumers' payments, water companies are already lobbying the regulator and government for further raises from 2025.

Fuck 'em. Should be renationalised or at the very least turned into non-profits.

[I like neeps]

And, as if by magic, Thames Water is looking like it's about to fall over.


Dump shit in the water.
Ignore leaks.
View fines as an operating cost as opposed to an incentive to improve.
Dividends!
Socialise the risk, because the public purse will pick up the pieces if it all goes wrong, so why worry?

Absolute fucking scum. They've spent years utilising profit for shareholder dividends and bonuses rather than investment and taken on debt in order to make those payments even more eye-wateringly large.

Uk water industry debt pre-privatisation: fuck all
post-privatisation: about £54 billion.

Debt's fine if you take it on to actually invest in something tangible and worthwhile, but they haven't been doing that.

On top of recent price rises that are apparently necessary to help them fund all the work they should have already done with consumers' payments, water companies are already lobbying the regulator and government for further raises from 2025.

Fuck 'em. Should be renationalised or at the very least turned into non-profits.

As the sensibles will tell you there's no money to renationalise them (and even less political will) and no business will decide to run a non profit that is saddling with debt and crumbling infrastructure.

This is just the mess that is privatisation. You have the Tories and New Labour to thank. And it's only going to get worse and more expensive.

[Tichtheid]

Is there an industry where privatisation has been a major success story?

[dpedin]

Intersting article in FT here

[dpedin]

Is there an industry where privatisation has been a major success story?

Major success for who!? for some like McQuarries - see article above - it has been a resounding success!

[Insane_Homer]

Full privatization of water supply and sanitation is an exception today, being limited to England, Chile and some cities in the United States

[sockwithaticket]

And, as if by magic, Thames Water is looking like it's about to fall over.


Dump shit in the water.
Ignore leaks.
View fines as an operating cost as opposed to an incentive to improve.
Dividends!
Socialise the risk, because the public purse will pick up the pieces if it all goes wrong, so why worry?

Absolute fucking scum. They've spent years utilising profit for shareholder dividends and bonuses rather than investment and taken on debt in order to make those payments even more eye-wateringly large.

Uk water industry debt pre-privatisation: fuck all
post-privatisation: about £54 billion.

Debt's fine if you take it on to actually invest in something tangible and worthwhile, but they haven't been doing that.

On top of recent price rises that are apparently necessary to help them fund all the work they should have already done with consumers' payments, water companies are already lobbying the regulator and government for further raises from 2025.

Fuck 'em. Should be renationalised or at the very least turned into non-profits.

As the sensibles will tell you there's no money to renationalise them (and even less political will) and no business will decide to run a non profit that is saddling with debt and crumbling infrastructure.

This is just the mess that is privatisation. You have the Tories and New Labour to thank. And it's only going to get worse and more expensive.

I'm fully aware of the lack of political will, sadly. The money thing, eh.

Why should taxpayer moneyt be spent to get it back? Providers have already had moe than enough money from the public via bills and done fuck all with it. They shouldn't get a penny more.

Thames Water are floating the idea they're about to fail, presumably to try and extort more cash from the public purse, flip the table and seize the company from them. Water is utterly essential for the millions of people in their catchment and they're already delivering a completely sub par service. If they're threatening to not be able to provide it at all, they forfeit their business. This isn't a retailer of lamps, it's an entity peddling a basic right and that supercedes any need to adhere to conventions around buying out in my book. Obviously, I have no idea how legal that is, but if it isn't legal for the government to take over failing privatised public services, we desperately need some bills to passed in parliament enabling it.

[dpedin]

Full privatization of water supply and sanitation is an exception today, being limited to England, Chile and some cities in the United States

This! Water and sanitation is a public health priority and should not be given to private sector to make a profit from in a monopoly. It is dangerous leaving it in the hands of private profit making hands - England will eventually end up with a Flint, Michigan type disaster. Regulate them to the hilt and let them go bust then take over on the cheap. So far the private companies have taken all the profit yet the risks remain with UK Gov plc.

[Raggs]

They'll want to fail before labour get in, just in case labour decide to take the opportunity to nationalise them.

[Sandstorm]

They'll want to fail before labour get in, just in case labour decide to take the opportunity to nationalise them.

Thames Water are only 20% owned by British shareholders. The majority are in Canada. Fuck 'em.

[Hal Jordan]

I think the Tories are in full on scorched earth mode so that when Labour get in everything is fucked to the point where bazillions would need to be spent to fix things, and so they can mock in Opposition about profligate Labour, unable to fix Broken Britain, ably assisted by the media who will absolutely jlhammer Starmer simply because he's a Labour PM.

[I like neeps]

They'll want to fail before labour get in, just in case labour decide to take the opportunity to nationalise them.

Would be surprising considering the current labour policy platform of the hmmm yeah actually no idea.

[fishfoodie]

Full privatization of water supply and sanitation is an exception today, being limited to England, Chile and some cities in the United States

This! Water and sanitation is a public health priority and should not be given to private sector to make a profit from in a monopoly. It is dangerous leaving it in the hands of private profit making hands - England will eventually end up with a Flint, Michigan type disaster. Regulate them to the hilt and let them go bust then take over on the cheap. So far the private companies have taken all the profit yet the risks remain with UK Gov plc.

Tempting; but what are the chances that major pension funds etc are exposed in such a scenario ?

You could end up with a situation like Ireland, where all common sense said we should burn the bond holders when Anglo went bust, but the Germans weren't going take the hit, so force us to socialise the losses.

[Hal Jordan]

Chris Bryant absolutely murdered Sunak at PMQs, for all the good it does.

[Insane_Homer]

Raab's bill of rights bonfire ditched.

[Insane_Homer]

Daniel Korski latest: Tory London mayoral hopeful drops out of race after groping claims
Daniel Korski said he decided ‘with a heavy heart’ to withdraw from the mayoral contest

[Deepsouth]

England. Bonfire of the Vanities......

[sturginho]

Raab's bill of rights bonfire ditched.

Can't remember if that was already mentioned, but it's good for them in that they can continue to blame ECHR for everything

[lemonhead]

Raab's bill of rights bonfire ditched.

Can't remember if that was already mentioned, but it's good for them in that they can continue to blame ECHR for everything

They'd do that either way.

Be it those who either betrayed the vision, didn't have enough faith or talked the country down: there will always be someone else to blame.

[lemonhead]

They'll want to fail before labour get in, just in case labour decide to take the opportunity to nationalise them.

Thames Water are only 20% owned by British shareholders. The majority are in Canada. Fuck 'em.

While the consortium that has owned Thames since 2017 has yet to take a dividend out of it, its predecessor – the Australian bank Macquarie – has been widely criticised for its stewardship of the water company between 2006 and 2017. It has faced accusations of “asset stripping” and “ripping off the taxpayer” by not paying corporation tax. It is estimated that Macquarie left Thames with an extra £2.2bn in loans and £2.7bn was taken out in dividends, while the water company’s debts rose sharply from £3.4bn to £10.8bn under its ownership.

Eyebrows were raised when Macquarie was allowed by regulators to wade back into the English water industry in 2021, with the acquisition of struggling Southern Water

Still fkin mystified how they went and got another water company afterwards. We're asleep at the wheel.

[Raggs]

They'll want to fail before labour get in, just in case labour decide to take the opportunity to nationalise them.

Thames Water are only 20% owned by British shareholders. The majority are in Canada. Fuck 'em.

While the consortium that has owned Thames since 2017 has yet to take a dividend out of it, its predecessor – the Australian bank Macquarie – has been widely criticised for its stewardship of the water company between 2006 and 2017. It has faced accusations of “asset stripping” and “ripping off the taxpayer” by not paying corporation tax. It is estimated that Macquarie left Thames with an extra £2.2bn in loans and £2.7bn was taken out in dividends, while the water company’s debts rose sharply from £3.4bn to £10.8bn under its ownership.

Eyebrows were raised when Macquarie was allowed by regulators to wade back into the English water industry in 2021, with the acquisition of struggling Southern Water

Still fkin mystified how they went and got another water company afterwards. We're asleep at the wheel.

No ones asleep, they're just getting a tasty cut.

[Tichtheid]

Criminalising protest was not enough, now you can be charged with he same "offence" twice and since the second one will be through the civil courts there isn't the same presumption of innocence, and ,unlike Boris Johnson, you will not be entitled to legal aid. In short, they are going to make it impossible to protest for fear of penury


Punishment without trial: Britain’s latest weapon in the war against dissent
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... -activists

[tabascoboy]

Long and detailed thread compiled for tweets, tl;dr is that the business model for privatised water companies can't support all three of: investor dividends, investment in infrastructure and reaching required environmental/quality standards - and of course we know that the last two have been dropped in order to meet the first...

This has supporting images: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1674 ... 46690.html

"Richard Murphy
Economic justice campaigner. Professor of Accounting Practice, Sheffield University. Chartered accountant. Political economist. Opinions all my own."

[I like neeps]

Long and detailed thread compiled for tweets, tl;dr is that the business model for privatised water companies can't support all three of: investor dividends, investment in infrastructure and reaching required environmental/quality standards - and of course we know that the last two have been dropped in order to meet the first...

This has supporting images: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1674 ... 46690.html

"Richard Murphy
Economic justice campaigner. Professor of Accounting Practice, Sheffield University. Chartered accountant. Political economist. Opinions all my own."

The problem is if you're a private monopoly you don't even need to try. And lawyers, banker's, accountants and those involved in capital structuring to increase dividends have no reason to care about the service to customers rather than shareholder value.

[tabascoboy]

Work on legislation to "reform" the Court of Appeal now in progress

Decision reverses High Court's December ruling
The decision of the High Court is reversed - and the removal of asylum seekers to Rwanda is unlawful until changes are made to the asylum system there, the Court of Appeal rules.

[Sandstorm]

the removal of asylum seekers to Rwanda is fucking stupid

fixed

[tabascoboy]

And let's hope this causes Braverman to spontaneously combust

[dpedin]

Long and detailed thread compiled for tweets, tl;dr is that the business model for privatised water companies can't support all three of: investor dividends, investment in infrastructure and reaching required environmental/quality standards - and of course we know that the last two have been dropped in order to meet the first...

This has supporting images: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1674 ... 46690.html

"Richard Murphy
Economic justice campaigner. Professor of Accounting Practice, Sheffield University. Chartered accountant. Political economist. Opinions all my own."

The problem is if you're a private monopoly you don't even need to try. And lawyers, banker's, accountants and those involved in capital structuring to increase dividends have no reason to care about the service to customers rather than shareholder value.

I read this thread and was going to post it here as well. Excellent description of the McQuaries business model I talked about earlier. This same model also applies to electricity and gas, railways, parts of the education sector, PPE, private healthcare, etc. It is hard to believe that this isn't known to Gov and actively encouraged/supported by them - see how many MPs are funded, where they get jobs after leaving HoC, etc. I still cant believe that poor people ie most of us, still vote for the money grabbing crooks in the Tory party.

[dpedin]

It's not like we didnt know the water industry was crooked!

https://www.ft.com/content/2beee56a-961 ... 88e51488a0

[SaintK]

And let's hope this causes Braverman to spontaneously combust

2:1 split decision so will go to Supreme Court

[tabascoboy]

Business as usual in the Tory Party, no action required I'm sure

[tabascoboy]

And let's hope this causes Braverman to spontaneously combust

2:1 split decision so will go to Supreme Court

Apparently so.

[Rhubarb & Custard]

And let's hope this causes Braverman to spontaneously combust

2:1 split decision so will go to Supreme Court

Apparently so.

Still the solutions Sunak needs are to allow claims to be made from outside the UK, or withdraw the UK from any obligation to take asylum seekers. The second would be more popular in the UK, certainly among those inclined to vote Tory, but it'd be a damnable hard thing to get done at international level and could itself simply worsen the problem

[Hal Jordan]

Business as usual in the Tory Party, no action required I'm sure

At least Fabricant's wig was spared.

And Lord Moylan will be cross not to have been named, he's got his tongue so far up Johnson's arse it's tickling his tonsils.

[tabascoboy]

This is a stark contrast to April where there was a large net increase in savings. Not quite sure May saw such a turnaround, high interest rates not being passed on to savers doesn't help I guess

Customers withdraw record amount of savings in May

Billpayers dipped into bank and savings accounts at a record level in May, prompting warnings from charities about the ongoing high cost of living.

There was £4.6bn more withdrawn than paid into bank and building society accounts, the Bank of England said.

That was the highest level seen since comparable records began 26 years ago.

The rising cost of living, including grocery bills, mortgage payments, and rent, is putting household finances under strain.

Richard Lane, director of external affairs at debt charity StepChange, said it was vital that people were supported to build up savings to provide resilience against unexpected bills.

"This is the latest in a long line of warnings that more and more people are struggling to cope with the cost of living," he said.

"Cost pressures are everywhere and eroding people's financial headroom, leaving them more vulnerable to harmful borrowing and problem debt."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-66051711