This recession demands that we employ logic and spend our way out of it

[ChimpMaster]

That would lead to massive fraud with people administering deliberately undervalued assets overseas.

My apologies, I forgot that we live in a corrupt-free and honest financial environment today.

[minestrone]

In Scotland we still have a public water company unlike in England where they are all private, as you will know.

English water may taste like tulip but it has less bacteria in it, the quality of our rivers and beaches is poor because we do less sewage treatment and still we pay much more for it also Scottish Water still gets subsidies from the tax payer.

When it comes to private Vs public there really is no contest, private on the main produces higher quality for less cost.

[Mich the Tester]

My apologies, I forgot that we live in a corrupt-free and honest financial environment today.

You're right, but there's no need to encourage even more fraud.

[Doggy Styles]

Yes but i would rather have a train running 20% less efficiently if it was going to cost 50% less!

Privatisation shifts the goal from providing service to generating profit, and with that comes exploitation of the customer base.

Privatisation shifts from monopoly to competition, which in most cases benefits the customer. I moved my electricity and gas last year and saved quite a bit of money as a result.

Sadly, the envisaged competition on railways hasn't materialised. As you suggest, it was probably a privatisation too far. However, I have no rose-tinted specs about what it was like before - the government were no better at running it and we had more strikes. Except it worked pretty well on Saturday mornings, when I went off to footy.

[Ravello]

Sadly, the envisaged competition on railways hasn't materialised.

Which is exactly the problem, and IMO wholly forseeable.. Competition arises through choice.. As a consumer I don't choose Thames Trains over Southwestern I use which ever company happens to be providing the service on the line/route that I require. I have no choice in this ergo there is no competition.

[Mich the Tester]

Which is exactly the problem, and IMO wholly forseeable.. Competition arises through choice.. As a consumer I don't choose Thames Trains over Southwestern I use which ever company happens to be providing the service on the line/route that I require. I have no choice in this ergo there is no competition.

The Swiss railways run efficiently with no competition on mainlines and wile the main railway company is owned by the federal and regional governments.