Final nail in the coffin

seadog wrote:

Bitch.

Yet more sexism from seadog.   

Gareth Nicholson wrote:

Richard Blight wrote:

I sat on the Tinside Citizens Jury in 1999 and one of the many things we found out about running swimming pools was all council owned swimming pools right across the country were heavily subsidised by the taxpayer. The running costs were astronomical. Particularly for things like the amount of chemicals they need and the heating costs. I'd be surprised if that wasn't still the case.

It probably is, but that loss would be offset by tangible and intangible benefits to other outcomes which cost more money. The statutory duty now placed on local authorities for public health means that other funding streams are available to cross-subsidise things like pools and the investment in swimming pools (coupled with incentives for people to use them) reduced burdens on health and social care budgets which are far more expensive and far more pressurised.

You could make a highly effective case that a publically owned swimming pool is investing to save in the long run.

All very true Gareth but most politicians can't think past how to con the public into voting for them again.

pepsipete wrote:

Most of the other countries in the world subsidise the railways.

we just subsidence ours, especially round dawlish

I believe Network Rail are publicly owned and they maintain the rail network, whereas the private companies just run the separate networks creaming the profit (although I think they may maintain the rollingstock). But then again that is the direction this country is heading, where the public pay for the maintenance and the private sector milks the profits.
I'm pretty sure this is how the swimming pools are run as well as other sport related properties within the city.
Also I wouldn't be surprised if the plans for Bretonside are just an attempt to gain votes ahead of the elections and ideally I don't think Mayflower West carpark would be the best site for a bus station.

mcfry wrote:

I believe Network Rail are publicly owned and they maintain the rail network, whereas the private companies just run the separate networks creaming the profit (although I think they may maintain the rollingstock). But then again that is the direction this country is heading, where the public pay for the maintenance and the private sector milks the profits.
I'm pretty sure this is how the swimming pools are run as well as other sport related properties within the city.
Also I wouldn't be surprised if the plans for Bretonside are just an attempt to gain votes ahead of the elections and ideally I don't think Mayflower West carpark would be the best site for a bus station.

Network rail isn't public owned it's a ltd 'not for dividend' company. The networks are are private owned except the east coast main line, which makes money and has high customer satisfaction and is obviously going to be sold off!,, train companies bid for the franchises, then get given money by network rail

Obviously it's great that the line is repaired, forget all the Cameron inspired hype from yesterdays reopening.
FACT IS : as a regular train user myself with considerable numbers of Devon residents will be subjected to a third world service from (not fit for purpose First Great Western) e.g trains REGULARLY LATE, the worst rolling stock in the country (try travelling on the Paignton to Exmouth line) and crumbling stations (have a look at Teignmouth! Dawlish was even worse before it's lick of paint).
Have caught two trains recently from Plymouth to Newton and would advise to avoid the 2115 train because often the staff don't turn up to man it!
HST2 is an obscenity given the cost, enviromental destruction required and the total Northerncentric focus of the whole project. Devon and Cornwall continue to be served by overcrowded 1970's and 80's trains into the forseeable future -absolute disgrace!
  

Go Greengull, go Greengull! I've just clocked up 1500 miles takin my son to Uni. interviews, every journey we have looked at taking the train. The prices seem to be based on how much fuel it costs to drive a VW van on said journey. Therefore if you have two people in a vehicle it is half the price to drive yourself. That is if you travel at times that you don't want to travel on. If you wish to travel at a sensible time then the cost pretty well triples on the train. The train is becoming a vehicle that is only used by the suits for business. Two tier system if ever I saw one. To make the trains work it needs to be affordable for your average traveller. Now we are being asked as taxpayers to subsidise a line that will only benefit the suits that work between Birmingham and London? Whilst we have a crumbling over priced Victorian network that we can't afford to use. Go figure.

And another thing, now that the smoke is actually smoky (recent pollution in London) watch how quickly the government will pour some money into getting traffic off the roads in their own manor whilst using our money to subsidise travel in the southeast train network.

And just one more thing, my boy and his Mates have gone inter railing in Europe for ten days, cost of ticket £130, the cost of getting to Dover was quoted at £143 one way! They ended up getting to France via Brittany ferries which cost £43 each with a cabin. this is the real broken Britain that we should be shouting about.

Hugh Watt wrote:

mcfry wrote:

I believe Network Rail are publicly owned and they maintain the rail network, whereas the private companies just run the separate networks creaming the profit (although I think they may maintain the rollingstock). But then again that is the direction this country is heading, where the public pay for the maintenance and the private sector milks the profits.
I'm pretty sure this is how the swimming pools are run as well as other sport related properties within the city.
Also I wouldn't be surprised if the plans for Bretonside are just an attempt to gain votes ahead of the elections and ideally I don't think Mayflower West carpark would be the best site for a bus station.

Network rail isn't public owned it's a ltd 'not for dividend' company. The networks are are private owned except the east coast main line, which makes money and has high customer satisfaction and is obviously going to be sold off!,, train companies bid for the franchises, then get given money by network rail

OK thanks for clearing that up. The government (the public) still provide significant amounts of funding which is why I thought it was nationalised. Apparently it is a contentious area.

It's the modern form of highly competitive efficient private industry.
The train services are privatised, earn the appropriate return their shareholders demand. Rail maintenance just couldn't make an unsubsidised profit so a "halfway house" private/public ruse had to be found. The annual shortfall of a billion or three is picked up by the taxpayer every year. Something similar on a much larger scale is being introduced into the NHS as we type.
These people have all this capital hanging around, poor loves, due to having nicked it all during the biggest redistribution of wealth in history, and sadly there aren't now enough profit return opportunities out there to satisfy all their capital. So, can't have all that capital unemployed like we can people, so in step their government lackeys, and rig the market for them. Everyone's happy, apart form Joe Public.