Has Labour Learnt Nothing From The Sixties And Seventies?

[ToraToraTora]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-58698589
....They've not a GE for nigh on half a century and yet they persist with their beloved plan to nationalise everything and make it totally inefficient. That's what git your Aprils kicked into touch by TGL! Here's a heads up Labour, jobs do not exist just to give someone a job, they actually do have a function.

[ichkeria]

But when Labour DOES jettison some of those ideas as in New Labour you say it isn’t Labour any more :-)

[davebro]

If they could be run efficiently I would prefer for gas, electric & water to be nationalised rather than profits going to private companies under the illusion that "competition" results in lower prices. There is no real competition.

[ichkeria]

The “competition” of all those private companies is a nonsense.
And the palaver of “shopping around” for commodities that are only rated by price.
If there was a company or pricing system that really was better than the others everyone would be buying it. It’s all a game

[DTCwordfan]

ich, to some extent yes, but is more complicated than that - ultimately, it's all about risk management and reward.

let me underpin this:

Gas or tricty supplier - say 20-50 major UK customers such as steel mills, breweries, paper manufacturers, sugar mills - 20 -50 monthly invoices largely on metred power, management of load important, financial and customer management relatively easyquote[ or] 2 million residential houses or low power users, low loads, 2 million houses with a mix of estimates and direct meters, society minorities to manage and all the rest.

Take your pick and manage accordingly, especially the exposure to load in the gas pipes or down the cables.....not easy.

[DTCwordfan]

and this doesn't even address the question of buying forward or risking surfing the market on the supply side!

[ichkeria]

Not sure I’m following you there DTC: what I’m saying is that from a consumer point of view this “shopping around” that we are advised to do is a waste of time and effort.
Who seriously spends much time searching for the best power deals?
When push comes to shove and wholesale prices go up, it doesn’t matter how many companies there are, everyone pays more