I think change is possible but over 30 years of privatisation have completely fragmented the system. It'll take a long time to Humpty back together again and probably most the bandwidth of the transport civil servants too. The real risk is we could spend another generation trying to untangle the privatisation web only to find by the time we're finished doing that as a nation we're now the proud owners of a completely obsolete train set.
Any party that promises to bring back trains with proper restaurant carriages with real table cloths and cutlery that serve a full English breakfast will get my vote
If Starmer and Gray don't get a very large wet salmon, stick Steeting in a corner and slap him with it then they should. Just shut up - say nothing that is going to upset potential voters - "we've turned the page on that total failure in our history" Many current Labour voters still favor Corbyns views and ideology. You want their votes, even if you don't like their principles. Stay quiet, say little and stop being a @rse https://x.com/NewhamIndParty/status/1792445625847763313
This is probably the wrong place to post this but here you are anyway... HMRC clawing back the money they overpaid careers and causing these poor buggers untold misery and financial hardship.... the Royal Mail fiasco..... the tragic infected blood scandal and the totally inexcusable failure to compensate the victims .... the rivers are full of sh1t ... What the f**k is going on? I went for a stroll with my faithful hound along the chess valley at the weekend and the beautiful chalk streams have literally got turds and bog paper in them. This is such a lovely place that people have enjoyed for years and the sight of the vandalism that the water company has inflicted on it has brought my p155 well and truly to boiling point. So I've decided to stop paying my water bill. I've cancelled my direct debit to Affinity Water that I have dutifully paid every month since God was in short trousers and written to Affinity to inform them that they will not receive a single penny more from me until they - and the rest of these sh1tbags - get their act together. F***ing *******!!
WTF is going on? Proof positive of how privatising ESSENTIAL services leads to an open ended turkey shoot for (often foreign-owned) ‘investors’ to make massive profits whilst running the infrastructure they own into the ground.
Privatising water never made sense. It's pretty basic stuff but capitalism only benefits the consumer if there is competition among the people with something to sell - and there ain't none in the water industry.
See also energy, trains. You could also argue that with communications. Privatisation has made all these sectors more complicated for the consumer, more expensive, less efficient. You insert a profit motive into anything and there has to be profit on top of the cost of delivering the goods or services. Could never understand how supposedly intelligent people didn't understand this in the 80s when everything was sold off under their noses. Now look forward to water bills rising from 24% to 91%, according to reports. The market will ensure a good deal for the consumer.
In addition, privatisation drove down wages and pensions in those utilities (except at the top of course, where the gravy train appears unending). People were made resentful of those in nationalised industries sitting on ‘cushy’ jobs with ‘cushy’ pensions, which were nothing more than reasonable jobs and reasonable pensions. Now more people claim pension credit and in-work benefits. We have been made mugs of.
Hang on a minute, I... I thought the EU and immigration drove down wages and privatisation was great. But yes, you're right, the politics of envy have been weaponised to enrich the minority at the expense of the majority.
They might need to stick Agent Lammy in the same corner as Streeting. I see he went on an American live stream and described himself as 'a small-c conservative kinda labour politician'. Which is just the sort of thing that should win around those who favor Corbyns ideaolgy.
So Labour restore the whip to Diane Abbott but ban her from standing. Simultaneously giving ammunition to the Mail "Labour let commie anti-Semite back in" and the anti-Starmer left "constituency favourite and Labour icon, first black female MP, barred from standing". I'm no fan of Abbott but this is bonkers.
Yup. Proper self-inflicted wound this one. Muppets. I really don't see why they didn't let her stand again once the whip was restored. Sure, she'd probably make a nuisance of herself at times, but if things work out as Labour hope they'll have a 100+ majority and she'll be a relatively lone voice chirping from the left. ie. Largely where she's always been and was in the 1997-2010 government era.
Not completely sure but have seen a bit of chatter elsewhere suggesting once an election campaign formally starts both Labour and the Tories (and no doubt the other parties too) have special rules which give more power to the centre in placing candidates. I think I saw with Labour it's that HQ get to choose the 3 person shortlist for local members to choose from.
Yep don't understand it. I wouldn't have restored the whip unless she had agreed to retire. I don't think standing would do her any good. Restoring the whip is fair reward for the service she has put in over the years but I'm not sure she represents current labour values.
They seem to be unwilling to give even the smallest bone to the left of the party. As you say, she would be a nuisance to the parliamentary party but the left have been neutered now and, even with her in parliament, they would have very little influence on Starmer's "new new Labour".
The extreme left are really the only threat to Labour at the moment. The Tories seem to be killing themselves off quite nicely on their own. Bringing Dianne back without agreeing she'd step down was a risk. Everyone had forgotton about her and now she's front page news.
