Nationalising utilities, rail, post office etc

scrumhalf

Yes, let's re-nationalise everything.

BR - may have had "railway people" at the top but it was also a hideous hidebound monolith incapable of farting without union approval (and we all know that if Corbyn gets in then McCluskey will want payback for his support).

BT - yes pease. Let's go back to waiting six months for a new line to be installed and for it to be illegal for any new phones or extentions to be installed by non-BT personnel.

Snap

richardhomer said:

Given that the state is struggling to invest in schools and the NHS, taking on other services which will require on-going investment seems like madness to me....

But actually, it's not about making things 'better' is it? It's about having a bigger public sector, with a captive audience who will vote Labour through thick and thin, because they'll be looked after, regardless of the strength or weakness of the real economy....

and that's about it in a nutshell really.

in the 70s and 80s, our state owned services were absolute crap. Not that they are brilliant now, but they are better. I do think something needs to be done about the cost of utilities and transport, but i am not sure the answer is taking them all into govt. I think it would be a real mess, and sting us on the backside

Nitefly

scrumhalf said:

Yes, let's re-nationalise everything.

BR - may have had "railway people" at the top but it was also a hideous hidebound monolith incapable of farting without union approval (and we all know that if Corbyn gets in then McCluskey will want payback for his support).

BT - yes pease. Let's go back to waiting six months for a new line to be installed and for it to be illegal for any new phones or extentions to be installed by non-BT personnel.

This, absolutely - the rail unions are probably the only ones still strong enough to wreak the havoc I lived through in the 70's and 80's - I really don't want to go through all that again...

Imagine the current Southern fiasco, but nationwide 

BigMonka

There doesn't seem to be a huge amount of support for re-nationalising on tFB then!

darthed1981

Nitefly said:

scrumhalf said:

Yes, let's re-nationalise everything.

BR - may have had "railway people" at the top but it was also a hideous hidebound monolith incapable of farting without union approval (and we all know that if Corbyn gets in then McCluskey will want payback for his support).

BT - yes pease. Let's go back to waiting six months for a new line to be installed and for it to be illegal for any new phones or extentions to be installed by non-BT personnel.

This, absolutely - the rail unions are probably the only ones still strong enough to wreak the havoc I lived through in the 70's and 80's - I really don't want to go through all that again...

Imagine the current Southern fiasco, but nationwide 

That could happen anyway.  The unions dont want one person operation on trains, because it means a load of union people being sacked.  Its not that difficult to understand their point of view.

Myranda

jpfamps said:

Rail could be "nationalised" by simply not renewing the rail franchises when the expire at no cost.

There is rolling stock to consider. No trains being owned by the government could make things awkward... So even letting things expire would involve buying all the trains. 

There would then be rebranding costs, management changes, restructuring costs... Some company mergers have racked up huge costs in these areas... And by doing the work on each franchise when it expires rather than all at once could make this higher... But very difficult to quantify without knowing current structure and desired structures. 

BT acquisition will also be a pain in the bum. Thanks to Offtel rulings BT is now multiple separate companies, all of which would need to be acquired... Then there are the other telecoms companies. I also not sure telephone companies were intentionally implied in the manifesto - as this would cost billions without doubt and it's highly unlikely we'd get a better deal afterwards. 

It's very easy to say "take over x" but it's often very complicated.