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  Chris, nationalised industries do indeed have a very different ethic to private ones and that is the achilles heel that dooms them to inefficiency. If they worked you would have seen one of the many nationalised industries we had in the 1970's being regarded as an example of good managment, none were. We moaned, rightly, about the railways when run by the old BR which, yes were heavily subsidised and inefficient then. Remember the old phone system run by the Post Office, waiting times and what a wonderful choice of phones were available (not)... Remember the Austin Maestro? not to mention many other dreadful and inefficient cars produced by nationalised car producers. I could go on.
  
  I note that neither you or Marek have actually addressed fully the issues that I raised of the impact of nationalising these companies on ordinary people.
  
  Before you can advocate such a move you must be able to fully answer the points I made or you cannot justify the problems and pain you would be causing.
  
  To be honest if anything I have considerably underestimated the problems of such a move. The economic consequences and the impact on the broader economy would be a disaster. Foreign investors would run a mile from this country, the market would collapse and many vulnerable people would suffer. It would make our present economic difficulties look trivial.
  
  The world has moved on from Atlee's crazy nationalisation programme and the suicide economics of the Wilson/Callaghan days.
  
  Brown has said himself that we have a global economy, though it seems from his comments that he has only just realised it!!!

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