Hulver's site || Comments || I love Irony

Non-dividendisation FTW by Rogerborg (4.00 / 1) #2 Thu Feb 28, 2008 at 12:24:06 PM EST

Remind me: ORR is the very same outfit that tells Notwork Rail to spend more on track improvements, yes?

I genuinely can't figure out how many £billions they are subsided any more, the numbers are so well obfuscated.

What I can see is that they claimed a headline figure of £1,500 million pre tax profit last year when the "actual" figure from their accounts was £1,478 million. Since the rounding error is greater than this "fine", and the "company" is £18-£20 billion in the pokey anyway (depending on which lies you believe), I don't see Sir Topham Hatt losing much sleep over it.

It sounds like we need a new lot of clowns to oversee the clowns at ORR's oversight of the clowns at Notwork Rail. ORRR? Should be good for bunging a few more CBEs to the Old Boys.

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Metus amatores matrum compescit, non clementia.

Bring back British Rail by jump the ladder (4.00 / 3) #4 Thu Feb 28, 2008 at 12:39:30 PM EST

They were able to deliver a better service with half the level of subsidy of this current private/public monstrosity of system we've got now.

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CHALLENGE by Rogerborg (4.00 / 1) #5 Thu Feb 28, 2008 at 12:58:43 PM EST

Find a way to shoehorn even more of the worst parts of public and private ownership into the mix in order to shaft the users more, or make the management less accountable. I'm really struggling to find any.

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Metus amatores matrum compescit, non clementia.
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: It really is bureaucratic perfection! by dmg (4.00 / 1) #10 Thu Feb 28, 2008 at 08:16:13 PM EST

It is truly the worst of all worlds.
This is clearly unsustainable, but the question is, are the Tories smart enough to deliberately lose the next election to make Nu Labour suffer the mess they have created? I hope so, but knowing politicians, I have my doubts...
I am planning my escape route. Ironically enough the Socialist paradise of France is looking good, as is the Teutonic efficiency of Switzerland. I never thought I'd leave the country, but it's starting to look like an increasingly stupid option to stay if you don't have to!
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Hard work is morally wrong.
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Though I agree by nebbish (2.00 / 0) #11 Mon Mar 03, 2008 at 08:27:40 AM EST

I read something recently that said this had to do with BR presiding over a decline in passenger numbers, while at present it is the reverse.

The article also said this was because of BR's bad service, which I disagree with - rail commuting has increased because of changing work patterns, we're certainly not leaping on rush hour trains for the fun of it.

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It's political correctness gone mad!
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