You’re confusing socialism and communism mate.
Now everything we love today comes from capitalism. Case in point the NHS, a socialised healthcare. In America where healthcare is privatised, most people can’t afford coverage of serious medical emergencies. This means they go bankrupt. My ex went bankrupt twice due to healthcare costs.
America actually spend as much per capita as we do on healthcare costs through the government, yet they can’t cover the majority of the population
I can’t see how any of us have benefited from the privatisation of so many of our industries. Our national transport systems are shit and overpriced, our gas and electricity is expensive, our telecoms being privatised is another example of a shit deal.
Also @BizzySignal we used to have socialised water, rail and gas and guess what because there wasn’t profiteering it was much cheaper for all of those services. So you’d benefit from having those services being government controlled
I hope you don’t think I’m picking on you mate lol
How on earth have you measured this then mate? Haha
I’d say that event of the past 12 months make it abundantly clear that our government is no way near one of the best in the world.
And thats not just me hating on Tories, cos I wouldnt say that of any/every Tory government, but this particular cabinet is truly appalling. No expertise, no accountability and utterly bent doesn’t make for one of the world’s best governments. They fuck up almost everything they touch.
That’s a good way to look at it 
Not a hyperbole but I rather bunch of smart competent asshole have the power rather than a bunch of incompetent jackasses.
I’m not emotional. Just bored. I try not to argue with people who talk in circles and immediately discount any opinion or fact that doesn’t support their ideas. It’s more energy than I’m willing to expend. So, I conceded. You won. Congrats.
I mean in general. Where else would you like to live that’s better than the UK?
@SRCJJ Public transport is a complicated one, I’ve read that it’s not a properly privatised industry and some aspects are government run and the way the hand the contracts out aren’t actually based on competitiveness, I could be wrong though.
But again still not sure what the case against capitalism is. Most of us here are living better than 90% of the world (can’t remember that exact figure). Granted it’s not perfect but I’m not convinced that we should ever give our government more powers than we need to have.
Again Pot calling Kettle black
People make it complicated, people demand more frequent services, well paid drivers, robust unions and plenty of support staff but when confronted with the cost for those features directly in the form of higher fare they complain about the cost.
The performance of trains in the UK is not perfect but it’s no different to continental counterparts when it comes to performance or customer satisfaction. The major difference is that continental taxpayers subsidise fare whereas in the UK the cost is borne by rail users directly.
Is it fair that someone who doesn’t use the rail frequently subsidise peak time rail users primarily from London and the South East?
I’m not ideologically opposed to nationalisation but it’s an old idea that’s become fashionable again. The past performance of nationalised industries in this country isn’t great, they tend to be bureaucrat sinkholes that waste taxpayer money and prevent outside capital investment.
Mate.
Yes. We all fund plenty of shit that we don’t personally use or benefit from through the taxes we pay.
This is exactly what I was going to say 
This isn’t true though. UK rail tickets have profiteering built into their price via a semi privatisation in a monopoly. So even if rail was renationalised without subsidising it, rail tickets would be cheaper for the public.
It should not be the case that business people drive across the country instead of booking rail tickets because driving is much cheaper. That’s not good for the environment and it’s clearly the failure of a privatised monopoly with no pricing restrictions.
I’ve never used a nuclear weapon, but I’ve funded them.
I agree with your post but yes it is fair that we pay for things we don’t necessarily use.
That’s how the society is built and that’s how capitalism can function as well.
Without the infrastructure in place, capitalism can’t even function. You have to pay taxes to bring the country/city’s infra to a level where individuals can achieve what they want without having to worry about elements missing in the society.
Jess Bezos would never use the railway but he would need the rail network to be available for his employees to use it and come to work.
Look at the stock market today. Textbook case of the “free market” fallacy.
Elaborate please
Fair enough, to me it’s not smart policy. There’s already huge wealth inequality and public/private investment in the UK which is skewed towards London and SE.
I don’t see the benefit for people in other places around the UK paying more personally to subsidise that rail travel for people who already have the means to afford it with access to higher levels of economic activity ie white collar workers. I consider this regressive tax that doesn’t leave money in the hands of people who can put it to better use.
we already provide discounts for elderly, differently-abled and children to me that should be the extent of government liability.
The concept of fairness is subjective so your point is valid
@arsenescoatmaker - “profiteering” aspect accounts for very little in the average fare, most revenue is reinvested into improving services and dividends for franchises are infrequently paid out.
The issue with renationalisation is that you haven’t accounted for the cost of the inevitable bureaucracy, inefficiency or industrial actions affecting the fares. There’s plenty of samples old and new indicating government at all levels, regardless of party, are terrible at operating services at cost for taxpayers.
Pricing restrictions/caps aren’t not effective either. Cost is cost, somebody has to pay. You shift the burden on to the government who in turn shifts it on to people in form of tax. We’ve gone full circle again, I don’t consider it unreasonable for those who use the service most to bear the cost. (This is not a broadly applied point)
@NeedCoffee - Defence spending isn’t comparable to rail usage.
Thats also fair enough, but whether it is smart and whether it is fair are two separate questions.