Questions for our British friends

[countjimmoriarty]

Originally Posted by haroldeye

The EU insisted on getting involved and told the British Government what to do and how to do it. The result has been not terribly impressive for the railways.

Utter rubbish. Rail privatisation was vindictive Tory dogma, simple as that. Even John Major now regrets the ludicrous way it was done.

[haroldeye]

Rail privatisation was a Tory policy to improve rail services.

The method chosen had to follow EU Directive 91/440 of 1991. Which was a buggers muddle. The Treasury then got involved and as usual made a bigger buggers muddle of the original edict. It was a complete horlicks from start to finish.

Not a tory but as someone who travelled the East Coast route regularily BR were bloody awful. They became much better when privatisation loomed, and GNER were reasonably good. Since GNER lost the Franchise then the service has become bloody awful again.

[sparky10]

Blimy this thread has moved on in 4 days .....

In response to the above post the UK 1990's government must have interpreted the EU Directive 91/440 very differently to Germany for DB still to be their dominant operator.

One issue the UK wanted to stop was a trade union being able to call a nationwide strike in response to single grievance. Another was the Government being able to share in the glory when anything went well but able to distance themselves when it didn't. A third was private funding even though a government ought to be able to get the best finance deal.

The additional costs in the UK must be massive aside from the franchise award process. The headline profit might only be 2-3% but convert that into DMU / EMU vehicles and it must be thousands over 20 years. Then there is additional management and accounting. Just one example is agreeing the sharing of ticket revenue then the distribution.

One of many issues with the London - South Wales electrification fiasco is the loss of documents detailing where cables are laid. They were given to the first contractors given responsibility for infrastructure maintenance but not handed on. Hence now the cables are having to be located and new documents created.

[sparky10]

Originally Posted by palo5

I almost don't want to ask, but do you ever question such policies and the "ideology" behind them?

Individually of course but many individuals or small groups writing to them and sending petitions has no chance of stopping a government steam rollering a policy along provided it gets a majority vote in parliament. Large campaign groups struggle to get even significant concessions let alone a policy cancellation.

Locally things are no better. Right now there are two issues. First the leisure centres which are council owned and run are being revamped and then going to be run by a private company - yes AFTER the council pay for the revamp. There have been many complaints about the revamp with facilities removed but the response always was the budget would not cover the work required to retain them. Already there is a cost overrun and as if plucked off a tree several million pounds has been found to cover this.

Second a local road scheme which will again cost millions yet simply relocate the pinch points. All objections have been ignored.

[palo5]

Originally Posted by sparky10

...the UK 1990's government must have interpreted the EU Directive 91/440 very differently to Germany for DB still to be their dominant operator.

One issue the UK wanted to stop was a trade union being able to call a nationwide strike in response to single grievance...

Many in the UK, and of course the US, are authoritarian and have a real hate of organized labor. They even hate employee representation on corporation boards. This is not true in Germany, where labor and employers understand and respect each other, because they both know capital gets nowhere without employees, and vice versa

Is this because Anglos respect rentier privilege more than people who actually work?

[Wendigo]

Originally Posted by palo5

Is this because Anglos respect rentier privilege more than people who actually work?

Seriously Palo do you even have to ask that?
It is just another cheap baiting session, for one point please stop using Anglos as a term of insult for British people, same as we don't use Russkies. We are British or Britons just as you are Russian.

I'll not even deign to answer the snide question above as it does not really dignify a response.

[scoundrel]

Originally Posted by palo5

Many in the UK, and of course the US, are authoritarian and have a real hate of organized labor. They even hate employee representation on corporation boards. This is not true in Germany, where labor and employers understand and respect each other, because they both know capital gets nowhere without employees, and vice versa

Is this because Anglos respect rentier privilege more than people who actually work?

It might be that we respect the rights of the individual as well as the authority of state, corporations and trade unions. In order to maintain equilibrium in a civilised society it is needed that conflicting rights, duties and priorities must be balanced and that the balance must be fluid and dynamic. If you come to a halt on a bicycle you either put your feet down or you topple over; which is why we do not prefer a written constitution BTW, which is like trying to have you feet on the road when the bicycle is making progress, or keep your feet on the pedals when the bicycle is standing still.

We believe in the property rights and personal freedoms of workers and little people. Against that, we believe in Duty. Our country has a duty to us and we in return have a duty to our country, our fellow Britons, our neighbours and our friends. We in the UK do believe in the rights of what you call rentiers, and what we call investors and capitalists. There is no safety or security in a world where property rights are not upheld. To put it bluntly, you are a Communist and we are not, so you must expect this difference between your views and ours.

[george anson]

I agree with Wendigo Palo. It may surprise you that there are a fair few Russophiles in the UK. There is great admiration certainly for Russian culture in the arts and achievements in science although it is a pity Communism did not end up the way the Kronstadt sailors wanted. Thats human nature for you.

All people should question their leaders and not hold to fixed dogma. Leaders should be held to account. They are our servants not the other way around.

Ideally as Orwell wrote in one of his essays which are well worth reading a leadership made up of technocrats, futurists and people with actual expertise in their field should run a government.

I don't follow any political party blindly. I hold a mix of views right, centre and left wing dependent on the subject and regard my choice as being a logical one given the current situation.

The unfortunate thing is that governments never ever plan more than a few months into the future or so long as their term of power lasts. They don't ever plan either for the common good.

Such disparities as they generate in terms of wealth and privilege always lead in conjunction with environmental and resource issues to the collapse of societies. In general we are all led by self obsessed dunces.

[palo5]

Originally Posted by Wendigo

...for one point please stop using Anglos as a term of insult for British people, same as we don't use Russkies. We are British or Britons...

No, "Anglos" are English-speakers who have a common language & common culture to a large degree. It include Americans. If I'd meant the English, I probably would have said Engländers, just to tease, because you deserve the tease imho. Don't forget your famous English humor, my friend

You can call us "Russkies" as often as you want. We're perfectly used to it

[palo5]

Originally Posted by george anson

Leaders should be held to account. They are our servants not the other way around

I completely agree, but that's what almost none of us do. The last time the English did it was in 1649 and maybe 1688. The last time we did it was 1918. The last time the Americans did it was.... well, they never did it. The most you'll get from them is "we investigated ourselves, and found we're not guilty". Where did they get that from?