Indeed - the Tory line is that anyone who isn't well off is feckless and lazy; which of course completely ignores those people who are struggling due to illness, disability or indeed the fact that they do work their ar5es off, in a job which doesn't pay them enough to live a decent life. It's a cruel and mean way to run an economy, and I'd be quite happy to sacrifice some of my income to rebalance that - the important thing of course is that the super-rich and huge corporations do the same, and aren't allowed to dodge their way out of it, or make sweetheart deals with HMRC because of their close ties to the establishment elite.

"The undeserving poor" a convenient scapegoat and philosophy for the selfish since the 19th century.

What tosh.

Using trains as an example - the Tories object to state ownership it seems, but only when that state is the UK; our railways are owned by Dutch, German, Italian & Chinese state owned companies, and pay hundreds of millions in dividends to their owners every year - dividends generated by £billions of UK government subsidies, at cost to the UK taxpayer - and of course commuters, who suffer the most expensive and least efficient train service in Europe.

This stuff can be fixed.

The reason why these industries were privatised is nothing to do with efficiency, cost or service. It was purely to make national strikes in the industries less likely. That's also why they are messing about with schools and the NHS. All these industries would be more efficient, cheaper to taxpayers / consumers and provide better service if renationalised.

So Corbyn is going to cap rail fares to start is that going to make the state owned railways more or less profitable?

Trenitalia makes about 3% net profit 190m on £5bn worldwide hardly hundreds of millions, same goes for Abellio, Go ahead made 57m of which 35% goes to the French etc

These are marginal businesses not cash cows that will swell the government coffers - it wouldn't take a lot for these to be loss making.

Delusional in word.

You are hoping that they would be more efficient, it's doubtful that they would be more efficient. Unfortunately I am old enough to remember the company which is now British telecom.
To have a land line telephone you had to wait at least three months and more in some cases. The main reason was lack of competition.
The government poured millions into state owned industries, most of it wasted. Don't think for one moment I am ignoring the private sector as they can be just as incompetent. Step forward British airways and take a bow. But the big difference is by the nature of competition ,companies have to perform or they go bust .
If you look at the fierce competition between the low cost airlines, Ryan air , jet 2 , etc etc if you time your booking correctly you can fly across Europe cheaply.
I am in the process of contacting sky as I think I am paying too much. Last time rang them up I pointed out to them how much I was paying for Netflix and amazon compared with sky. I received a substantial reduction in costs for a year. If I don't get the same response with sky I will close the account.
Yet with the bbc which is deteriorating year on year, I have to pay my license fee whether I like it or not.

£200 billion was quoted today to nationalise Railways, water etc etc

Where the hell is that coming from!

Jeremy's magic money tree, all socialists have one. It's my dream that one day I may become the owner of one these wonderful items. Unfortunately I believe only socialists have access to the money tree.

See how easy it is for Lynton Crosby to hypnotise some people; he coined this phrase 72 hours ago, politicians are ordered to repeat it as many times as possible in the media - and hey presto, it becomes an actual thing.

It's depressing.

See your arguments sound all very good and everything, but doesnt stack up to cursory research.

[urlhttp://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/nationalised-east-coast-rail-line-returns-209m-to-taxpayers-8866157.html[/url

[urlhttps://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/oct/12/rail-privatisation-dutch-and-german-companies-took-uk-for-ride[/url

As per usual the tories have sold off our assets for the benefit of themselves and their wealthy shareholder pals. While we are left with high prices, poor services and no control.

There is absolutely no reason that, managed properly, nationalised rail couldnt be a decent earner and we can then use that to operate franchises abroad. DB makes a fortune for the German Economy.

Actually it's from several years ago , so he must have borrowed or stolen it from somebody . However it's still relevant and true.
Just remember all socialist governments eventually run out of other people's money to spend.
Its highly likely due to the inept Tory campaign we will get to see a labour government again. Can't wait to see those intellectual giants Diane Abbott and Emily Thornberry in action

As someone who has worked in telecoms for over 20 years. It can still take many months to install lines.

There is also now a vast web of bureaucracy involved in installing or repairing kit due to the various interconnects between all the different telecoms companies. Each have their own demarcation points with their own engineers.

At the time of privatisation the UK had the worlds most advanced telecoms infrastructure, we were installing the worlds first digital telephone exchanges and were world leaders in technology, thanks to British tech companies like GEC, Ferranti, Plessey etc. The kit was built to last or what is now marketed as Military grade standard. We had the fore runner to the internet called PRESTEL. Only France had anything better MINITEL.

Move forward to today and the UK has a middle of the road telecoms infrastructure wholly reliant on foreign sourced kit, which is built to commercial standards rather than military grade. BT despite making vast profits beg the government for hand outs to upgrade their network so that it is fit for the 21st century. Whole areas of the UK have substandard internet connectivity and telecoms infrastructure, for example its only in the last few months that BT has upgraded to IPV6, other companies like Virgin still dont support it.

Neither of those articles support your argument that hundreds of millions of pounds are being made by foreign train operators - both the overseas franchises mentioned in the article made <£100m combined

You may be right.
However, what isn't in doubt is that, the monies made by the foreign owned investors is moving out of the UK and IF these utilities were owned by the state and IF they continued to be as profitable, those monies would be reinvested, either in rail or, elsewhere.

THe Thatcher model of sell everything off to the highest bidder was great at generating short term cash and it may even have made some of the organisations more efficient but, WE have nothing left and more importantly, less control of the country's primary utilities.

Once again, the short term nature of UK politics has caused long term damage, which is a major problem when politicians rarely look further than the next general election.

"Strong and stable" ? nah, just short term popularity.

Anyone dealing with telecoms, electric, water, gas on a domestic scale will have reservations about the quality on offer. Dealing with these people on large capital project scale is an absolute nightmare. They are pathetic. There is little or no choice & the delivery is take it or leave it. No wonder the most stable, successful countries have these essentials state owned.

TM went very well last night, very prime ministerial performance.

Jezza as ever softened the tone, laughed serious issues off and demonstrated how he just isn't statesman like. (does he just have the one red tie! a guy on his money should have a wardrobe full)

To be fair as we come to the last furlong he's had a good race given his starting position but we will see Friday how little the electorate thinks labour or the others have to offer. 60-80 majority Cons.

Come on, you cant have a go at Corbyn's fashion sense, Mrs May looks like a Giraffe dressed by Oxfam.
Although she is ok, behind a lectern on stage, laying out a pre prepared speech, she's one of the most awkward looking politicians that we have and physically sneers and looks down on people and that's during her charm offensives.

If by prime ministerial you mean she wriggled like an eel and presents failing austerity as the solution to our woes - it's pathetic.

I really hope we can get rid of her and her kind and get some more straight talking politicians in the business. Tired of her talking of Corbyns magic money tree when she manages to shake her own when she wants vanity projects or tax cuts for the rich.

Don't care for any of the labour team ,the hard core of them are not only socialist but extreme socialists. All worshipping at the altar of Marx. Credit must be given to them, they are fighting a superb campaign. Regarding corybyns stance on nuclear weapons he makes an interesting and valid point. That is if we are in a situation whereby nuclear weapons are being launched we are all screwed anyway.
Just to show some balance in my posting the biggest pain in the backside of all parties is Boris Johnson. A posh silver in the spoon mouth chancer. He couldn't give a toss about the conservatives, it's all about him and his career.

You could say that about any politician, to be fair. Boris just has the travelling sideshow shtick that keeps him relevant. He's basically a aristocratic version of Donald Trump, both politically, and aesthetically.

Has this only just occurred to you?!

You need to seek help. You have no empathy with others less fortunate than yourself.

No.

again.... all the parties need to be amending their manifestos after another attack...

at least theresa may this morning has said enough is enough and things have to change, we will see.

enough of this praying and carrying on as normal talk