When I was a kid
electricity, gas and water aka ‘utilities’, were owned by the state, paid for
by ‘rates’ which was tax by another name, either way the people paid. These rates paid not only for the cost of the
utility and its supply but also for the infrastructure that provided it. Then it was all privatised to give us
“choice.”
Now we have a
situation where these utilities are run for profit and one of these PLC’s,
Thames Water, has reached the situation where their practices are so shoddy
they regularly dump sewage into our rivers, this comes after decades of
shareholders taking their premium and putting nothing back into the business. To put this right will need investment which
the owners/shareholders refuse to fund unless prices rise by 40%, so Thames
Water want the public to pay to clean up their shit while the shareholders
maintain their wealth. I think I need
someone to explain this “choice” to me again.
I heard about this
today on BBC radio news and found myself deeply uncomfortable because I
actually agreed with a Michael Gove soundbite in which he attacked Thames
Water. I expect he’ll have forgotten
this opinion once the election is over, whichever way it goes. And on that subject, either way it’ll just be
the same old shit.
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