TIME TO RE-CLAIM THE UTILITIES......

Last night I attended a People's Charter meeting in Manchester which amongst other issues discussed the reasons why its frankly modest aims would strike a chord with voters. As John Hendy QC, one of the architects of the Charter, said, what's really astonishing is why the Government doesn't "get it" that obvious steps like stopping the profiteering of the banks and private utilities would not only be morally right, but electorally popular. The Morning Star outlines why below ......


http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/britain/energy_bills_soar_by_42

WHY THE BAIL-OUT WASN'T ENOUGH .....

When the mines were nationalised by the Attlee Government after the war, someone (I can't remember who) famously said, "We are the masters now." Today's Guardioan front page makes it clear that despite Government intervention and part-nationalisation nothing much has changed in terms of command and control. The same people are still in charge and the taxpayers, who are bearing this burden, are not part of the process.

The chief executive of Lloyds TSB, one of the banks participating in the £37bn bank bail-out, has promised staff they will receive bonuses this year despite Gordon Brown's promise of a crackdown on bankers' pay following the investment by taxpayers.
Eric Daniels has told employees that the historic government intervention will not change the behaviour of Lloyds, which is in the throes of the rescue takeover of HBOS brokered by the prime minister.
In a recorded message to employees, Daniels stressed that the bank faced "very, very few restrictions" in its behaviour despite the injection of up to £5.5bn of taxpayers' funds. "If you think about it, the first restriction was not to pay bonuses. Well Lloyds TSB is in fact going to pay bonuses. I think our staff have done a terrific job this year. There is no reason why we shouldn't," said Daniels.

TIME TO ACT ON CRIPPLING COST OF ENERGY

As I write, the central heating is turned off for the summer. And it is likely to stay that way given the predictions that fuel bills are set to go up even more over the next few months. There was a time when Labour campaigned against the privatisation of our utilities. Now it seems the Government allows the fat cats in charge of our water, gas and electricity to run riot profiteering - at our expense.
Which is why campaigners are urging Ministers to force providers to deliver affordable energy following predictions that gas and electricity bills could increase by 40 per cent this winter.
Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks has said he is concerned about the scale of possible rises. That's not good enough. Obviously, our gas water and electricity should never have been allowed to fall out of the hands of the public sector. Renationalisation - without compensation to the fat cats - would be my solution to this problem However that, as we know, is not going to happen in the foreseeable future. So the Government must find some way of holding companies to account.
Energywatch has already warned that a 40 per cent rise in energy bills would leave over six million households living in fuel poverty. Many of these will be old people who will die prematurely as a result.

NATIONALISATION WITHOUT COMPENSATION......

The above used to be the rallying cry of the Left. Read this below from The Times and you may see why............Mr Applegarth's pension BTW is worth an alleged £2million.......

Northern Rock is giving disgraced former chief executive Adam Applegarth a £760,000 pay-off, a £346,000 pension top-up and continuing to honour his cut-price staff mortgage.
The pay-off is much larger than the sum foreshadowed in December, when sources close to the bank insisted Mr Applegarth would get less than six months' pay.
Rock revealed today that it had plunged to a £167.6 million loss last year, compared with a profit of £627 million in 2006, because of the exceptional costs of the strategic review and write-offs on mortgages and unsecured loans.
New chairman Ron Sandler also warned that he expected the bank to continue to make losses for the next three years before breaking even in 2011.

SEE SENSE GORDON......

Good news maybe as the Telegraph reports that chief executives of the utility giants are being asked to subsidise a new nationwide "fuel poverty" scheme aimed at the 4.5 million poorest households.Apparently, the fuel poverty programme will be part of the Budget on March 12.
Gordon brown is also said to be reconsidering the REMPLOY issue in relation to two factories after lobbying at the Spring Conference.

WOOLLY JUMPER TIME

Last year I switched to npower in an attempt to save money ..... bad move. Today it's been announced that the company is going to hike up gas prices by up to 23.8 percent while electricity bills will increase by up to 27.1 per cent. Two possibilities to save money are extra jumpers and the wood-burning stove which I have downstairs. But it's an outrageous increase. Addthe rail fares hike of 15 per cent and rocketing food prices and thefact is thatmillions of people this year are going to be in serious financial difficulties. And the Government expects people to put up with wage" rises" of 2 per cent. I think seriously difficult times are ahead for most of us in 2008. What worries me most is how pensioners will cope with these soaring charges. But npower and their rivals are only concerned about keeping the profits up.....

BRANSON'S BID ACCEPTED BY GOVT

Optimistic as ever , I have just joined a Facebook campaign group to Nationalise Northern Rock. But it looks as though the £900-plus of my money as a taxpayer which has already been ploughed into it will now be appropriated by Richard Branson and eventually make a nice fat proft for both Branson his shareholders. The Government has just confirmed it will back his bid to absorb Northern Rock into "Virgin Money." What a woeful lack of radical imagination on the Govt's part. And a woeful waste of public money....

DARLING DONS OSBORNE'S MANTLE

Oh, well. Suppose it was too much to hope for. The Tories' policy on inheritance tax has been shamelessly nicked - doubling the threshold for the rich. Borrowing is doubling to £8billion pay for the Government's mounting debts due to PFI and privatisation. And public service spending will be straitjacketed. The BBC's Nick Robinson seems to think this is Labour adopting Conservative policy. What's new......resdistribution of wealth....... to the rich. No wonder Gordon has switched to blue ties.