Thames water. 13:20 - Mar 30 with 4777 views | Gwyn737 | Looks like yet another example of shareholders taking billions out of a formally public company which in turn will be bailed out by the taxpayer. Does anyone have an example of privatisation of our utilities being a success? | | | | |
Thames water. on 13:32 - Mar 30 with 2645 views | Whiterockin | British Gas? | | | |
Thames water. on 13:34 - Mar 30 with 2640 views | SullutaCreturned | As far as I can remember, any stories about our privatised utilities have always been about how they are in such a poor shape after billions has gone to shareholders and now that they need massive investment in crumbling infrastructure they expect the government to bail them out or to have the bill payers face extortinate charges. Privatisatin has been a shambles for this country. Surely when the contracts were drawn up it shoud have stipulated than dividends can only be paid if the infrastructure is kept in good conditionand that's where profits should first be spent? As it stands, investors, hedge funds and the like have milked the British bill payer and now expect us to oay again, either through our bills or via the government. Either way the money comes from us in the end. It's a scandal. There have been too many since all these privatisations. | | | |
Thames water. on 13:45 - Mar 30 with 2625 views | Gwyn737 |
Thames water. on 13:32 - Mar 30 by Whiterockin | British Gas? |
Doesn’t feel like to me but not an area I know much about. Fells like bills are through the roof with massive dividends still paid out? | | | |
Thames water. on 14:14 - Mar 30 with 2585 views | onehunglow | Thought this was a Boat Race thread Come on Cambridge | |
| |
Thames water. on 21:39 - Mar 30 with 2504 views | majorraglan |
Thames water. on 13:34 - Mar 30 by SullutaCreturned | As far as I can remember, any stories about our privatised utilities have always been about how they are in such a poor shape after billions has gone to shareholders and now that they need massive investment in crumbling infrastructure they expect the government to bail them out or to have the bill payers face extortinate charges. Privatisatin has been a shambles for this country. Surely when the contracts were drawn up it shoud have stipulated than dividends can only be paid if the infrastructure is kept in good conditionand that's where profits should first be spent? As it stands, investors, hedge funds and the like have milked the British bill payer and now expect us to oay again, either through our bills or via the government. Either way the money comes from us in the end. It's a scandal. There have been too many since all these privatisations. |
And today the below appeared on the BBC. Seven bills going up in April and one going down. It’s not on that prices can go up mid contract and people have to pay exit fees to leave. The deal should be the deal. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-68666795 [Post edited 30 Mar 21:39]
| | | |
Thames water. on 22:17 - Mar 30 with 2470 views | Joesus_Of_Narbereth |
Thames water. on 14:14 - Mar 30 by onehunglow | Thought this was a Boat Race thread Come on Cambridge |
Apparently there’s so much shit in the water the Oxford team were all ill from ecoli. | |
| |
Thames water. on 17:16 - Mar 31 with 2373 views | max936 |
Thames water. on 13:45 - Mar 30 by Gwyn737 | Doesn’t feel like to me but not an area I know much about. Fells like bills are through the roof with massive dividends still paid out? |
British Gas COE just had a nice little bonus of 8.5 million and yet the need to put prices up, conning conniving greedy ..... | |
| | Login to get fewer ads
Thames water. on 17:17 - Mar 31 with 2372 views | max936 |
Thames water. on 13:34 - Mar 30 by SullutaCreturned | As far as I can remember, any stories about our privatised utilities have always been about how they are in such a poor shape after billions has gone to shareholders and now that they need massive investment in crumbling infrastructure they expect the government to bail them out or to have the bill payers face extortinate charges. Privatisatin has been a shambles for this country. Surely when the contracts were drawn up it shoud have stipulated than dividends can only be paid if the infrastructure is kept in good conditionand that's where profits should first be spent? As it stands, investors, hedge funds and the like have milked the British bill payer and now expect us to oay again, either through our bills or via the government. Either way the money comes from us in the end. It's a scandal. There have been too many since all these privatisations. |
Corrupt to the core. | |
| |
Thames water. on 17:48 - Mar 31 with 2356 views | controversial_jack |
Thames water. on 22:17 - Mar 30 by Joesus_Of_Narbereth | Apparently there’s so much shit in the water the Oxford team were all ill from ecoli. |
Did they drink it? | | | |
Thames water. on 18:01 - Mar 31 with 2352 views | Joesus_Of_Narbereth |
Presumably it would splash all over them whilst practising. | |
| |
Thames water. on 18:09 - Mar 31 with 2341 views | controversial_jack |
Thames water. on 18:01 - Mar 31 by Joesus_Of_Narbereth | Presumably it would splash all over them whilst practising. |
Highly unlikely the entire team caught it from being splashed | | | |
Thames water. on 19:32 - Mar 31 with 2325 views | SullutaCreturned |
Thames water. on 18:09 - Mar 31 by controversial_jack | Highly unlikely the entire team caught it from being splashed |
No, obviously they must have dunked a pint glass in and taken a swg. I mean, how else do you explain it | | | |
Thames water. on 00:03 - Apr 2 with 2256 views | controversial_jack |
Thames water. on 19:32 - Mar 31 by SullutaCreturned | No, obviously they must have dunked a pint glass in and taken a swg. I mean, how else do you explain it |
You don't get it from being splashed and i doubt they would have drunk it | | | |
Thames water. on 08:27 - Apr 2 with 2228 views | Boundy |
Thames water. on 17:17 - Mar 31 by max936 | Corrupt to the core. |
The whole UK is | |
| "In a free society, the State is the servant of the people—not the master." |
| |
Thames water. on 08:51 - Apr 2 with 2218 views | onehunglow |
Thames water. on 22:17 - Mar 30 by Joesus_Of_Narbereth | Apparently there’s so much shit in the water the Oxford team were all ill from ecoli. |
Yeah and that’s towards the end of the river We were by the source | |
| |
Thames water. on 09:56 - Apr 2 with 2198 views | johnlangy |
Thames water. on 13:34 - Mar 30 by SullutaCreturned | As far as I can remember, any stories about our privatised utilities have always been about how they are in such a poor shape after billions has gone to shareholders and now that they need massive investment in crumbling infrastructure they expect the government to bail them out or to have the bill payers face extortinate charges. Privatisatin has been a shambles for this country. Surely when the contracts were drawn up it shoud have stipulated than dividends can only be paid if the infrastructure is kept in good conditionand that's where profits should first be spent? As it stands, investors, hedge funds and the like have milked the British bill payer and now expect us to oay again, either through our bills or via the government. Either way the money comes from us in the end. It's a scandal. There have been too many since all these privatisations. |
Re Water companies. The utilities were sold off in 1989 free of debt. Now the debts are £60 billion. During this time they have paid out £72 billion in dividends. I don't understand the ramifications of allowing them to go bust. But if that does happen and the Government takes them back into public ownership then those same shareholders will receive something silly like 1p in the pound. And even that's too much | | | |
Thames water. on 10:48 - Apr 2 with 2182 views | controversial_jack |
Thames water. on 08:27 - Apr 2 by Boundy | The whole UK is |
The people voted for it | | | |
Thames water. on 11:44 - Apr 2 with 2174 views | Boundy |
No one voted for corruption | |
| "In a free society, the State is the servant of the people—not the master." |
| |
Thames water. on 13:37 - Apr 2 with 2142 views | controversial_jack |
Thames water. on 11:44 - Apr 2 by Boundy | No one voted for corruption |
Well they certainly got it from those they voted for. They should have known better | | | |
Thames water. on 20:32 - Apr 2 with 2109 views | SullutaCreturned |
Thames water. on 00:03 - Apr 2 by controversial_jack | You don't get it from being splashed and i doubt they would have drunk it |
You can contract E Coli from swimming in or drinking contaminated water or contact with a person who has poor hygiene and doesn’t wash their hands regularly. So it seems that getting splashed could lead to being infected. They get splashed a lot in the boat race. It's quite possible that the infected managed to ingest some if it splashed on their face. You carry on being obtuse though, it's funny. | | | |
Thames water. on 21:26 - Apr 2 with 2088 views | majorraglan |
Thames water. on 20:32 - Apr 2 by SullutaCreturned | You can contract E Coli from swimming in or drinking contaminated water or contact with a person who has poor hygiene and doesn’t wash their hands regularly. So it seems that getting splashed could lead to being infected. They get splashed a lot in the boat race. It's quite possible that the infected managed to ingest some if it splashed on their face. You carry on being obtuse though, it's funny. |
You can also get ecoli from eating undercooked meat, touching something contaminated, door handle, shoe that’s been in contact with something etc. One of my kids caught it, we believe it came from contaminated food, possibly a burger or a sausage and nearly died. Spent 12 days in hospital, underwent life saving surgery and had a number of plasma transfusions, fortunately we were lucky and my child made a complete recovery. Watching your kid suffering in a hospital bed not knowing whether they were going to pull through was horrific. I suspect most of us still remember this case. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_South_Wales_E._coli_O157_outbreak | | | |
Thames water. on 10:32 - Apr 3 with 2047 views | Joesus_Of_Narbereth |
Thames water. on 11:44 - Apr 2 by Boundy | No one voted for corruption |
I did. | |
| |
Thames water. on 19:30 - Apr 3 with 1943 views | ReslovenSwan1 | BRITISH GAS was a thumping success. It owned the gas resources off the UK coast all the storage infrastructure and the local gas boards at the retail end. Unless I am mistaken they did not own the delivery service the pipe as this was given to NATIONAL GRID.. I bought British Gas and National Grid. BG then split into CENTRICA and BRITISH GAS EXPLORATION the suppliers of gas from rigs. etc. Releasing British Gas exploration allowed them to borrow and they did extremely well with finds in South America and India think. Those that held on to their shares bought at £1m saw the price rise to £12 at their peak. They were eventually absorbed by Shell PLC. My attitude is self preservation. I bought shares in the companies 'overcharging' me for gas. Millions of other citizens did too. ("The shareholding democracy" ) . I sadly sold my BG shares too soon and made £1000 profit instead of £10,000 profit. Buyers back in the 1980s have reinvested their gains back into the economy. Pension funds also hold these shares. Centrica is an energy supplier and has not done so well. (The boiler people). They were valued between £1 and £3 over a long period and bombed to about 30p due to undercutting from competition and price capping. A massive buying opportunity after Covid. It recovered after all the cost cutting start ups crashed. They ended up taking their old customers back. Centrica own some aging nuclear power stations which put off buyers I would think. I do not know if they are liable for clean up costs after they shut down. Centrica as the old company is probably lumbered with a oversized administration and old practices inherited from the past along with large pension liabilities like BT. The profits these companies make. go to pay the pensioners of the old staff and surviving spouses. This is why no one wants to buy them (like Shell for example) National Grid looks after the pipe and transmission systems and hardware. They are dull and boring but churn out 5% dividends every year without fail and the share price increases year on year. It is the ideal share for a beginner. One for a youngster for example. They too free from state ownership have been able to go international and run systems in USA and Europe. They give me £300 in dividends every year contributing to my utility bills. I did not buy Water company shares. Dwr Cymru was in trouble as 'Hyder' and was converted into a non for profit firm Hyder also went international and branched out a bit but ended up in trouble. They had a consulting branch which was sold off. Activists point out that these firms have paid out more and more on dividends ad less and less on investment. This is not acceptable. Banks did this in the 2009 crisis. They paid themselves bonuses they could not afford then almost went broke with the taxpayer bailing them out. To get the bonuses they did whatever it took and took crazy risks. The Gov should have not allowed this with a rules demanding that investment should alway be in excess of dividends. They should do their day job duties (investment) and only then pay dividends. A bit like Swansea city . Beat Cardiff get the 'stay up bonuses' then relax with no real effort to get promoted. Players are happy fans are not. (dodgy analogy perhaps?) BT is a boring hold. They pay a decent dividend. They went into the mobiles sector too lates with O2. They sold it to someone maybe Deutch Telecom? and seem to have bought at least the UK division as EE. They have high debts and massive pension liabilities. As their old workers pass away these will drop. Not sure what happened with BT television. I am no expert but their cables in the ground were a money spinners. They are alsos handicapped by the regulator. The Cables are now less useful and they are replacing them with fibers cables. o2 was BT being freed from state control and internationalising but they too pulled back and sold up after finding the competition too tough from DT and fellow UK firm Vodafone. This is from what I know and remember and some statement might b incorrect. I get £300 from NR £200 from BT and £50 from Centrica in dividends."Tell Syd". [Post edited 3 Apr 19:40]
| |
| |
Thames water. on 20:04 - Apr 3 with 1913 views | Boundy |
Thames water. on 13:37 - Apr 2 by controversial_jack | Well they certainly got it from those they voted for. They should have known better |
What about those who didn't vote for them | |
| "In a free society, the State is the servant of the people—not the master." |
| |
| |