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Re: Labour plans publicly owned renewable energy giant

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris (Post 36135221)

The historic problem with nationalised British corporations has been their debt sitting on the Treasury’s balance sheet. It’s a recipe for short termist political interference in operations - a classic example being British Rail’s APT fiasco. The train was rushed into service under pressure from Thatcher’s treasury which wasn’t prepared to put any more money in or wait any longer for necessary troubleshooting. Cue press runs in which the unready train made its passengers sick and headlines it never recovered from.

BR sold its patents to Fiat, which used them to improve its own developing tilting train technology. Today, that technology is cruising up and down the West Coast main line, where the APT briefly operated - it’s used on Virgin (now Avanti) Pendolino trains, which were designed and built in Italy and are used across Europe.

Direct government influence over state owned industry also hands far too much political power to trade unions, as Arthur Scargill and his predecessors ably demonstrated. Mick Lynch of the RMT presents a cautionary tale of where we could all too easily end up - he has been desperately trying to politicise his dispute for months. The government has been wise to resolutely refuse to get involved.

If we’re to re-examine the role of state owned utilities in the UK then the whole political culture around them has got to be radically different than in the past.

I think if it was a monopoly supplier of energy and employed lots of people then it could be vulnerable to the important issues you've highlighted. But if it was like the European power companies, another player in the supply chain, I would think this less likely.

Re: Labour plans publicly owned renewable energy giant

It also depends on a Government not going to war with the workforce for purely ideological reasons that 40 years later we are still paying the price for.

Re: Labour plans publicly owned renewable energy giant

British Leyland power and unicorn energy.

All our energy will be sustainably plucked out of thin air [when we aren't on strike ]

Re: Labour plans publicly owned renewable energy giant

It also depends on a workforce not going to war with the government for purely ideological reasons that 40 years later we are still paying the price for. ;)

Re: Labour plans publicly owned renewable energy giant

Quote:

Originally Posted by Julian (Post 36135242)

It also depends on a workforce not going to war with the government for purely ideological reasons that 40 years later we are still paying the price for. ;)

This will be the last right wing trope to die off once the basic assumption of conservative economic competence is gone and the magic money tree is proven.

Re: Labour plans publicly owned renewable energy giant

If the pricing was competitive and if their customer service was UK-based I'd probably switch to it. Would others think of doing the same?

Re: Labour plans publicly owned renewable energy giant

Quote:

Originally Posted by papa smurf (Post 36135241)

British Leyland power and unicorn energy.

All our energy will be sustainably plucked out of thin air [when we aren't on strike ]

Nothing wrong with British Leyland. Loved my first car, an MG Metro. Never needed an oil change as it constantly leaked. Shame it disappeared into a of rust and blew away.... Very sustainable really.

Re: Labour plans publicly owned renewable energy giant

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr K (Post 36135282)

Nothing wrong with British Leyland. Loved my first car, an MG Metro. Never needed an oil change as it constantly leaked. Shame it disappeared into a of rust and blew away.... Very sustainable really.

Self composting, years ahead of everyone;)