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Iain Dale: Railways as Example of Private Competence
Iain Dale the world-renowned Blog-conomist with a better grapevine than Robert Peston's predicts a £20 Billion stock issue tomorrow, Monday for The Queen's Bank - that's Royal Bank of Scotland. According to the Phat Comptroller of HM Railways (above) Peston says £10 Billion and the Sunday Telegraph have shifted their prediction from £12 Billion to £12 Billion. Dale concludes:Does anyone really believe the government will be any better at running banks than it was running the railways? But what is the alternative? Answers on a postcard to the usual address...
Might more usefully ask what fool believed that the private sector could run the trains (and the track, albeit briefly) better than as a public service? Or the gloriously privatised Utilities for that matter? From Thatcher's under-valued gains to our private-profit boosted pain.
9 comments:
I would not trust Private Copanies to run anything more complex than A Hornby Double O set.
After all how big is the subsidy now ?
GW
And where does that subsidy actually have to go ... to keep these robbing gannets interested?
I noticed Mr Dale referred to sources giving him the information, when the very same information was available on the internet 48 hours earlier.
Similarly, he claimed sources over Sir Ian Blair's intended resignation when it was clear he had got the info from the Spectator blog.
I think it is more than sauce that he will not credit where it is due.
I'll tell you where a good deal of it goes - Labour Party coffers.
Just look at how many construction firms and indiduals that run them that have a financial interest in PFI contracts in the railway industry donate to Labour.
Jarvis Engineering, Amey plus those that are currently out 'regenerating' Iraq.
Jarvis? - Wasn't that run - up until their corporate manslaughter travails and shutting up shop - by Uber Tory Steve Norris? Which makes them or rather made them fair-minded if they are donating to other party or parties as you suggest.
Chris, knowing how you like to get such details right.....
Royal Bank of Scotland is not the Queen's bank, it's Coutts & Co.
RBS owns Coutts & Co, but Coutts has its own banking licence and is more than fully capitalised.
Quite right, Chris. Jarvis is the company that Steve Norris went off to become chairman of. Many people commented at the time that it was strange that they then went on to dontate to Labour.
Considering the size of the PFI budget, I don't find it strange at all. In fact, it seems to underline the fact that the money was being given for business reasons rather than support for general policy.
Very similar to a Mr Ecclestone, who I believe donated huge amounts to the Tories but kept his options open with a tiny donation of £1 million to the Labour Party.
According to the news earlier, it looks like a million was cheap at the price.
Private railway companies competent? Shareholders profits paid for by the taxpayer.
I'm still waiting for all that competition promised by the privatisation of water. But I'm still stuck with United Utilities taking the piss
Uinited Utilities are paid to take the piss - as well as other human waste matter.
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