Stop voting for fucking Tories

[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

[SaintK]

Home Office not fit for purpose Part 345

[dpedin]

Well the NHS Workforce Plan has been published and on face of it it is going in right direction. However dig deeper and there are big holes in it that require to be addressed. I apologise if I have missed things or misinterpreted issues from my quick read in advance,

1. According to previous research for 100 new nurses taken into training only 55 wte will actually appear on the NHS books. This level of attrition doesnt seem to feature in their projections?
2. Many Universities are actually struggling to recruit into nursing degrees and attrition is increasing. Similarly whilst most medical undergraduate courses are over subscribed a large % of them are overseas students who pay a fortune on fees and on whom the Unis are dependant on for additional income. Universities will be very very reluctant to reduce overseas student numbers in order to increase capacity for UK students - expect a battle!
3. Similar ratio applies for GPs - for 100 taken into undergraduate programme only 50 wte appear on the NHS books. Many GPs do not want to work full time nor take on load of becoming a partner in a practice. On average a new GP will work part time about 0.7 - 0.8 wte.
4. There is nothing about increasing NHS budgets to employ and train the junior docs after they graduate and fill Core training or Specialty training roles.
5. There is nothing about increasing NHS budgets to employ all these additional staff. It costs about £1m to direct employ 7-8 new consultants pa - double that for additional clinics, theatre time, beds and all the staffing required - do the maths. You dont employ more surgeons without increasing theatre capacity for them to work in!
6. There is nothing about pay which is a key determinant for staff retention particularly doctors.
7. Almost all of the expenditure for the plan will fall outside this current Gov term so in effect all the Head Boy has done has 'spent' future Gov money in order to gain a few brownie points in the polls. Tory Gov should have done this 10 years ago but obviously didnt want to commit to spending, now they are heading out of office they are delighted to create a hostage to fortune for Labour.
8. None of the 'new' roles etc are new ie Physician Associates are already established but poorly regulated at the moment.
9. The modelling work in the appendices is very, very optimistic and is heroic in its assumptions in order to make the numbers balance, Even then they struggle to break even.
10. The plan doesnt really address the problems with training pipelines ie midwifes and junior docs need to do a number of births in a year in order to achieve training requirements. ditto existing staff need to do the same in order to retain their CPD requirements. It looks like we will need to boost the number of births in order for everyone to achieve their training targets! The same applies for many of the medical specialties where there will be insufficient capacity within the current consultant workforce to train and supervise all the additional trainees, it is a rate limiting factor. Also remember that it is too late to increase intakes this year so at best numbers will increase from 2024 onwards - again after the tories have hopefully lost the the next GE.
10. Most importantly there is nothing or very little in the plan that will address the immediate gaps in the workforce, at best it will take 3 years to train a PA, 4 years to get a nurse/AHP up to speed and 10 years to generate more GPs, about 15 years for a cancer specialist. Indeed when you look at the modelling you immediately see just how bad the workforce issues have become under the Tory Gov of the last 13 years.

So it looks like a decent plan but it is one Sunak knows he will not have to deliver not fund. It also doesn't address the immediate NHS issues, it is about 10 years too late and will merely patch up the last 13 years of Tory neglect. It does nothing about pay, in fact it ignores it completely which is astonshing given it is a key determinant of medical workforce supply in an international market and which is the key issue for current retention issues. It makes heroic assumptions in order to make the modelling balance. It ignores the reality of training and the current capacity of the NHS to train and absorb new staff whilst struggling to address waiting times and surging demand. In conclusion it is pretty much a window dressing exercise.

https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/u ... e-plan.pdf

[Insane_Homer]

It's about as meaty as 40 new Hospitals, anyone falling for their bullshit needs to be deported to Rwanda.

[Hal Jordan]

Poor, poor, Nigel. Yeeted by the wokerati at that bastion of lefties, Coutts.

[fishfoodie]

Poor, poor, Nigel. Yeeted by the wokerati at that bastion of lefties, Coutts.

The speculated reasons for them declining his business are, interesting

[Hal Jordan]

Poor, poor, Nigel. Yeeted by the wokerati at that bastion of lefties, Coutts.

The speculated reasons for them declining his business are, interesting

You might very well think that; but I couldn't possibly comment.

Apparently Barclays also declined banking facilities for that nice Mr Banks. I have no idea why that might be, sadly.

[Insane_Homer]

Poor, poor, Nigel. Yeeted by the wokerati at that bastion of lefties, Coutts.

The speculated reasons for them declining his business are, interesting

Might I guess that it has more to do with Rubels, paypal and rhymes with bunny maundering; and less to do with their 'free speech' views.

[tabascoboy]

Poor, poor, Nigel. Yeeted by the wokerati at that bastion of lefties, Coutts.

He can STFU and FTFO

[Hal Jordan]

Don't let the door hit you on the way out, Nigel. I hear the Principality of Sealand is nice.