12 December 2023
At the beginning of December, Sir Keir Starmer wrote in the Sunday Telegraph: "Every moment of meaningful change in modern British politics begins with the realisation that politics must act in service of the British people, rather than dictating to them." He later went on to credit Margaret Thatcher's "driving sense of purpose" as a leader who "sought to drag Britain out of its stupor by setting loose our natural entrepreneurialism."
However, as We Own It founder and director Cat Hobbs explains in this video, Thatcher's attacks on the public services in the 80s have far-reaching consequences; four decades later we're still paying the price for her disastrous experiments with privatisation.
You've made it crystal clear - public ownership is a vote-winner. Politicians truly acting in the service of the British people would lead with that "driving sense of purpose" and bring our key services - the NHS, energy, water, buses, rail and mail - into public ownership.
Comments
Anonymous replied on Permalink
Totally fed up reading about discusting damiging spills of untreated waste entering our waterways & Lakes.
Al replied on Permalink
Oh, isn't it just the trend to blame everything on Thatcher? How conveniently people forget the state of the country before her reforms. Nationalised industries were the epitome of efficiency, right? Long waiting times, strikes and subpar services - those were the good old days, weren't they? And let's not even start on the economy she inherited. It's almost as if people think she enjoyed making tough decisions just for the fun of it. Privatisation under her was about reviving a stagnant economy, not some nefarious plot against the public. Sure, let's go back to the 70s when everything was just peachy. After all, who needs economic growth and global competitiveness when you can have government-run monopolies? Really, some perspective would be nice.
Kenneth Grade replied on Permalink
Privatisation of public services definitely doesn't work. It also makes a mockery of power supply. There are now numerous "middle men" but still the same number of producers. Those people in the middle have to increase costs without improving the service.
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