Utterly morally indefensible

https://www.theguardian.com/busines...r-paying-bosses-bonuses-out-of-emergency-loan

Things like this are why the country is buggered. Get them renationalised ASAP. A complete disgrace.

 

Chris Weston, Thames’s chief executive, was paid a bonus of £195,000 for three months of work after he joined the company in January 2024, giving him a total package of £2.3m. This country is well and truly ******. How can they justify that payment to a failing company's CEO after just 3 months work.

 

Beggars belief, it really does.

I was not against some nationalisations that took place and some have been a success, particularly telecoms. But you can't privatise an essential service that acts as a monopoly in each location, such as water, and expect better results. The privatisation of the water industry has been an unmitigated disaster.

 

Water? Hardly alone.

Privatising the railways, utilities, Royal Mail, the Post Office - in fact anything that was previously nationalised that was privatised, mostly in the eighties and early nineties - which has proven to be for the better? You mention telecoms - it’s pretty hard to tell as nobody really uses them in the same way anymore.

 

Telecoms was a success. There used to be months-long wait to even get a landline. Anything that has used the franchise model of privatisation has been a total disaster.

 

For me all transport and utlities should be nationalised - this might be a flowery thought though - but if they made a few quid they could use it to fill a few potholes and blackholes aswell

I don't think most folk mind paying for things if they see the benefits for doing so

 

You can see why they want to pay the bonus to retain their management team though, it must take highly skilled individuals to get a company into the level they are at!

 

Oh no.

Same with Yorkshire Water
2024/25 financial year. Ofwat announced a £40m fine for illegally dumping **** in our rivers, ofwat also announced that the could increase their prices to cover increased expenses.

Essentially the public are paying the fine

 

The government have put legislation in place which will stop it. Water, Railways, Gas, Electricity, Telecoms - none of these should have been sold off and we're all suffering for it now.

 

Always have. Scandalous. I got talking to some ex colleagues. Money is no object to a degree. More staff. And in a nutshell, maintenance a priority over risk. Not afore time, if the case, after umpteen yrs of pure neglect.

 

I thought this was going to be a thread about Daniel Levy and Ange Costofbogroll. Imagine my joy.

 

And now the Chief Exec is warning about hosepipe bans, dispite it being one of the wettest winters on record. Bonus and dividend payments far more important than fixing leaks and proper facility management.

 

Privatisation of almost everything has been a disaster - in most cases the new owners are in reality our neighbouring nations and their nationalised utility and transport companies. They’re quite happy to overcharge and cut corners here with the benefits and subsidies taken back home to their domestic markets.

If the whole parliament passes without Labour using their opportunity to renationalise then I have to wonder what they’re actually for.

 

I tend to agree. But let's be honest it wouldn't come cheap. So wouldn't happen overnight.

Renationalizing the energy networks, water companies, rail operating companies, and Royal Mail is estimated to cost the government around £196 billion. This figure represents roughly 9% of the UK's GDP. The initial cost is attributed to acquiring the shares of these companies.

The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) estimates the cost of renationalizing these sectors to be £196 billion, based on market value. This cost could be further increased if shareholders are compensated based on market value rather than book value. The University of Greenwich estimates the cost of compensation under nationalization to be £49.7 billion, based on compensating shareholders the exact money they invested.

 

If you want to renationalise road and rail then you don’t need to buy the provider companies - instead develop publicly owned management/stock capacity and award the contracts at renewal to them.

For utilities, and the Royal Mail there would perhaps be more of an expectation of buying assets and reimbursement, but it’s equally as plausible to use public funds to build generating capacity and to enter the market as a competitor - this might ultimately be the fate of Great British Energy.

Water it’s hard to compete, but they could refuse through the regulator to allow bill increases, then take over provision as a provider of last resort as the companies fold or exit the market due to poor profitability.

It used to be argued EU competition rules prevented state ownership and aid. That no longer applies since Brexit.

 

I think shareholders have been well compensated with the dividends they’ve received

 

I own quite a lot of shares and have done well out of the stock market. I’ve never owned former nationalised industries as I think they’re ultimately doomed as private entities and liable for 100% shareholder losses.

 

More than imaginable.