Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaking during the weekly session in the House of Commons, in central London, on 1 May 2024. (Photo by UK Parliament / AFP)
On social media recently, outspoken UK marketer Lewis Kemp posted something which is food for thought for anyone who believes privatisation – at least the British Conservative Party style of privatisation – is the panacea for all economic ills.
Kemp is based in Manchester, which is roughly 320km from London.
Pondering nipping down for a meeting in London, he was horrified to see that the return journey (of 640km, mind) by train would cost £340 (that’s just under R8 000).
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Put another way, the journey would cost almost R12 per km in our money.
Kemp wrote: “Actually, Dave, it’s cheaper if we do a 7-night all-inclusive beach holiday at a 4-star hotel in Europe. Get your trunks on…”
He continued: “Seriously, though, I want to speak to the manager. Because this country is well and truly on its arse.”
On Thursday, though, the UK’s voters get the opportunity to possible get the country back off its bum – or make things even worse.
And much as we may complain about our politics, about the only thing the Brits have going for them is that there will only be about half a dozen options on their ballot paper.
It is widely expected that the Conservative Party will be ousted from government – and one can just imagine Margaret Thatcher spinning in her grave at the prospect.
Not because her party will lose but, I believe, because her successors have take her conservative (with a small c) economic policies and have damaged the country as much – or possibly even more – than the out-of-control socialist trade unions did in the ’70s and ’80s.
The Iron Lady beat the drum of privatisation as an antidote to the “out brothers, out!” strike mania of that era, which virtually destroyed British industry.
She wanted to save the country and would be horrified, I think, that privatisation has become a way to make the Tories and their backers disgustingly rich, while at the same time failing to deliver in a worse way than the nationalised industries they took over.
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Privatised water services means Britain’s beaches look a bit like those off our KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) coast, where e.coli is not the Zulu name of a pet dog.
The Tories also engineered – with the help of the almost-fascist Nigel Farage – the worst post war action… Brexit.
Leaving the European Union has backfired spectacularly, in making trade immensely more difficult, threatening UK “home products” and increasing prices, to say nothing of making it far more difficult to travel on the continent if you have a British passport.
Farage’s Reform Party promises more of the same: a return to the never-were glory days of Empire when the other-hued didn’t set foot in palest Blighty.
Whether Labour, under Sir Keir Starmer, would be any better, is sparking huge debate at the moment.
At least they plan to revive the National Health Service (impoverished over the years, mainly by the Tories) and to re-nationalise rail.
Those ideas, alone, are enough to see Labour shooting up in the polls.
Yet, British politics these days is really little different from that practised by their cousins across the pond, where two senile gits are going to be the only option on the November ballot paper.
In the ’60s and ’70s, the Monster Raving Loony Party represented by “Screaming Lord Sutch” fought more than 40 elections in Britain.
Pity he died more than 20 years ago, because he would at least inject some humour into this current grim little contest.
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