Tris:
Name one privatisation that’s been a good thing.
British Telecom. When it was a state monopoly you had to wait months to get a telephone installed; you weren’t allowed to used anything other than what they gave you, and if you had a fault on the line, it could be weeks before it got fixed. Bills were sky-high too compared with today.
Of course it wasn’t all a good thing for the over-unionised workforce (see also British Gas, British Coal, and others) who’d been happily doing as little as possible and going on strike at the drop of a hat for decades; I’m also the first to conceded that not all privatisation was a good thing, and indeed some people did make a huge amount of money out of it. The railways are a case in point here, more thought should have gone into that and i suspect even the conservatives would concede that today. Incidentally, I’m at a loss to recall any re-nationalisation during the thirteen years of Labour mis-rule from 1997 to 2010; so perhaps much of it wasn’t such a bad thing after all?
And before you start on the coal industry; it would have happened anyway. It’s a matter of statistical fact that Labour shut more pits than the Conservatives did, the industry was clapped out, demand was at an all-time low, the industry was costing a fortune in subsidies and it’s my firm belief that when most of the pits were shut, there was an inaudible sigh of relief from the more sensible and less hide-bound parts of the Labour party, because they knew ■■■■ well it’s something they could never have done. It was done ruthlessly quickly, with scant regard for the social outcome, and that was wrong; but it would have to happen sooner or later.
Tris:
I’m not voting Labour, you get me wrong. I’m voting UKIP to hopefully shut the door to the Eastern Europeans.
Why waste your vote they will never ever form a government, immigration has a positive effect in the long term these people work hard generally stay within the law and pay many millions in taxes being in Europe (our biggest market by far) means free movement for everyone, last time I looked the worlds biggest economy was built solely on immigration.
Tris:
I’m not voting Labour, you get me wrong. I’m voting UKIP to hopefully shut the door to the Eastern Europeans.
Why waste your vote they will never ever form a government, immigration has a positive effect in the long term these people work hard generally stay within the law and pay many millions in taxes being in Europe (our biggest market by far) means free movement for everyone, last time I looked the worlds biggest economy was built solely on immigration.
Every vote in my constituency is a wasted vote as its one of the safest Tory seats in the country, but I still vote and there’s a good chance UKIP will come 2nd which in a small way will make a point.
Unless you live in a marginal your vote is pointless too.
The whole safe seat thing annoys me too. It just means people are too thick to consider the other candidates.
Re rail privatisation/ a hell of a lot has been written on this, it was a decision that had advantages and disadvantages. The fact remains that when looking at lines that survived Beeching, there is generally a far far better service between major destinations than there has ever been.
I mean look at the service between London and Newcastle now. You wouldn’t have got a service like that at any time before.
bazza123:
Re rail privatisation/ a hell of a lot has been written on this, it was a decision that had advantages and disadvantages. The fact remains that when looking at lines that survived Beeching, there is generally a far far better service between major destinations than there has ever been.
Ah, Dr. Beeching. His report may have been commissioned by the Conservative government of Harold McMillen, but our socialist friends conveniently forget that the vast majority of the actual closures occurred between 1964 and 1970; during which I recall Labour being in power.
Why don’t people look to history. Every time Labour get in they inherit a good economy…then they message it up.
Just 5 yrs ago the personal allowance was just over 5k now it’s £10600.That’s £1120 a yrs everyone’s better off. A lib dem push through that they never got any credit for.
Tris:
Of course more people would get permanent jobs. That’s how it always used to be.
Since when? Fishermen for example have been employed per trip for almost forever. If a company is faced between having to take someone on and pay them £25k a year even though there’s only 6 months of work or spreading the workload amongst the existing employees which do you think they’re likely to do? And given how much they’d have to pay during slack periods is going to total more profit than a lorry makes in a year they’re not likely to bother at all.
The only other option is to employ drivers on national minimum wage.
Agencies only really sprung up in the last 20 years or so as a means for fat cats to get around employment laws and to break Union strength.
They’ve been around since at least the great depression.
Tris:
Name one privatisation that’s been a good thing.
Water. Had it not been and Yorkshire Water hadn’t invested in a Yorkhire wide distribution network that would never have happened under public ownership East Yorkshire would’ve been absolutely shafted during the 24 month drought from 2010-2012. Instead we didn’t even get a hosepipe ban.
Another one is the energy companies. Brownouts are far less common than they used to be in the 70s and 80s. Then there’s the phone network. No longer do people have to wait weeks or months for a new phone line.
Conor:
No longer do people have to wait weeks or months for a new phone line.
Need to disagree with you there. I got quoted 6 weeks to get a phone line installed just last month. My last house move 4 year ago I was told EIGHT weeks. Move before that was 4 if I remember correctly. BT are a company only interested in share holders and share prices. Customer service comes WAY down the list.
Conor:
No longer do people have to wait weeks or months for a new phone line.
Need to disagree with you there. I got quoted 6 weeks to get a phone line installed just last month. My last house move 4 year ago I was told EIGHT weeks. Move before that was 4 if I remember correctly. BT are a company only interested in share holders and share prices. Customer service comes WAY down the list.
Apparently they are snowed under with work, and are struggling to employ enough engineers, funny how our schools dont seem to push this career option, as BT do train their own people...........todays spotty youth ain`t interested
I think there is a push now in schools for science maths etc, and even apprenticeships. Trouble is for the last fifteen years this has been discouraged by schools . Only now has it been realised that not all kids want to go to uni.
As a country we’re short of trained craftsmen, plumbers, electricians etc. These jobs actually pay well.
Kids are learning earlier than they ever where before. I was in a Chinese takeaway the other night when a four year old told his aunty in the queue how he’d been Facetimeing his nanny.
I couldn’t even switch a PC on at ten never mind four
"Of course more people would get permanent jobs. That’s how it always used to be. Agencies only really sprung up in the last 20 years or so as a means for fat cats to get around employment laws and to break Union strength. Divide and rule, divide and conquer. In you they’ve got the perfect Tory voter; a mug who’s working class that’s been taken in by their lies. The bottom line that you should never forget is that the Tories are the party of the upper class, always have been always will be. They don’t give a [zb] about people like you.
I’ve haven’t read so much tripe a this in a long time. As others have alluded to, blokes were using employment agencies back in the thirties when work was scarce. I’m told blokes would walk into town and queue up to see what work was available, even for a day or two at a time. The Tories may be the party of the affluent or well off, but with the exception of Dennis Skinner or Alan Johnston, you’ll find the majority of the Labour high ups are multi millionaires who went to Oxbridge etc. Hardly a working mans party…
If you read what I wrote I was talking about the increase in positions going to agency staff, which I believe is primarily because employers want to circumvent employment rights for workers and to break Union strength. The rights we enjoy today were fought for by our fathers and grandfathers against the will of the Tory party whose sole purpose is to serve the rich, however the increase in agency use, zero hour contracts and an oversupply of immigrants is turning the clock back for the working class.
What union strength would that be then? as a general rule the tory party are on the side of people who have a go at life.
The Tory party are only on your side if you aim to make money from the people below you in society. Try and make it from those above you, and they’ll do everything they can to tax & regulate it out of existance - or leave them alone entirely, to pursue a common conman/scammer career instead.
Next time you go out shopping for multiple kinds of goods & services - count how many business owners you’re buying from… Chances are it’ll be “none”.
We used to be a nation of shopkeepers. Now it’s all about multi-nationals, and subsidery companies swept up with the trash that are only along for the kit and premises they provide the higher order business. “Global” it might be, but “Worker friendly” it ain’t.
When the day comes that a tipping point of agency staff is reached - they’ll form their own Unions if only to protect members from being ripped off by the increasing numbers of “fly by night” agencies that’ll bound to crop up this late in the business cycle. (We’ve yet to have the overdue 1975 style slump after all…)
