Chapter 13: Selling off social housing and schools.

The most painful thing about the privatisation of state services for the sake of cutting costs is that when such services are privatised they become cash cows. Council homes that are turned into Housing Association homes are still required, the Council will still be paying the housing benefit costs and now a private body has spent cold hard cash on buying up such assets those companies will be determined to see a quick return on their investment. 

Take for example the council houses that were sold off. There is an MP that earns 600k a year from housing benefit payouts. Or the Royal Mail sell-off that was incredibly undervalued...one individual donated £500k to the Tory party later on as that particular individual made a killing selling off the shares shortly after purchasing them. I was interested in buying some shares but the minimum amount to purchase was approximately £750's worth of share. That is a bit of a tall order as I know very little about how shares work other than that the Royal Mail ones were cheaper than dirt.

This is why I baulk in horror at notions of introducing "competition" to the NHS because competition should mean that the patients have more choices however the truth is simply that a hospital's services would be put out to tender and either handled by the lowest bidder or the most connected bidder. The same problem will be replicated with schools as we push for them to become academies or as citizens push for more free schools. Privatisation rarely helps the individual. Privatisation is at best a business plan that allows the financially astute to generate a higher personal income and in the worst possible scenarios privatisation represents giving rich people the right to own a cash cow. (I.E British Gas). In  my own personal case, I live in a privatised house and every time I have a shower/bath an awe inspiring water feature appears in the downstairs kitchen.

Our house has a unique feature where water cascades down a lightbulb every time we decide run a bath. The fusion of electricity with water is a sight to behold and could definitely be one of the highlights of visiting Kings Sutton. We are fortunate to have such daredevil building inspectors in our area as they fail turn up yet have the balls of send out confirmation of inspection documents. This tacit acceptance that water & electricity are now free to be one is brilliant.  I feel that everyone in the nation should possess a waterfall / light bulb combo in their own home, it would be a terrific conversation piece.  Everyone must see the benefit of selling off our assets on the cheap and having shoddy workmanship take centre place in all of our homes. Join me and enjoy the breathtaking experience of attempting to open a drawer and find yourself stuck as it was placed right next to a wall and there is only 2 inches of clearance between said wall and the drawer! I do not feel despair though as I can gaze in awe at the waterfall that has become one with the electrical circuit. We live in incredible times.

If you think that my ideas and views are simplistic scare mongering then please have a look at what is happening to academies/"Free Schools". We have sold off our houses on the cheap, the workmanship in most of them has been abysmal and now we are allowing the Government into our schools? In the words of one of my best friends "What could possibly go wrong?"

A memo was leaked that revealed Gove's intentions behind the push for academies and he didn't have the balls to inform the Lib Dems about it...because the Liberal Democrats would probably shut that crap idea down faster than the current Health Secretary could shut down an NHS Trust. (I tried to find new up to date info about Clause 119 but at the moment I am stumped).

This was The Common Sense Eccentric

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