Lost

[Lewis McColl]

So are you all saying that anyone who has socialist leanings is not allowed become wealthy, even though he spreads some of that wealth around ???
Well I must have got it wrong then all these years now. Best stop my monthly subscriptions to the various charities I have been donating to over the years. Sorry Claire House, Missions to Seamen will have to take a hit as well, Royal British Legion and I suppose Cancer research as well then, after all I would appear to be just another greedy Capitalist then how very disappointing, not sure if I can ever look at my self in the mirror again (not a pretty sight I will add before someone else gets in first)

[Ivan Cloherty]

[QUOTE=Lewis McColl;295201]So are you all saying that anyone who has socialist leanings is not allowed become wealthy, /QUOTE]

Nay Lewis lad, nabadies saying yon, only thee, there are probably as many wealthy people in the socialist parties as there are others, the difference is, it appears to be the socialist parties who decry capitalism whilst enjoying the trappings of such a system

[Captain Kong]

Many Labour MPs are Multi Millionaires. and live multi millionaire life styles, whilst criticizing others who also do.

[John F Collier]

Now that Des would have been a classic example of A Sheep in Wolves clothing, you may even of ended up with the
Brown Owl instead of a Brown Ale, but surely this is another case of Fake News is it not Cheers JFC

Sorry Des that was a big senior moment there, "A sheep in wolves clothing" was obviously meant to be
A wolf in sheeps clothing, Watta mistake to make Cheers John F

[thomas michael]

Hope you played fair and square Des and didn't stand on the oppositions toes. That's the place when in my teens walked past an untouchable very young girl giving birth to a baby in the gutter, everyone just walked past her and I did as well, still have a bad conscience over it. cheers jS

hi j sabourn
don't let your conscious upset you, its a good chance that child is now a grandfather of about fifteen kids and living off benefits in the uk
tom

[robpage]

When you see all this talk of capitalism and realise it's socialism and it's Big Brother communism were the Invention both of Karl Marx , it makes you wonder the difference is capitalism believes in private capital and socialism and communism believe in state ownership and that's the fundamental difference I work for a state owned company British Rail and I have never seen a more disorganised company with a system of management they could bring you to tears it was so inefficient . To me it doesn't matter what man's got I'm a lot less charitable because I took a great dive in the bank crash which happened the month after I retired and gave me a good hammering . In an ideal system good capitalism is probably the best way forward as probably is good socialism but neither are ever found and ideal World and a biggest problem is man's greed . When you look at the Socialist leaders of the world and the Communist leaders of the world they all seem to have made themselves quite a tidy amount of money and it makes you wonder where it all came from . The so-called socialists I very good at preaching how socially concerned we should be when they live the lifestyle of the super rich . I don't care how many houses anyone's got or what they rent them out for . The private capital the generated by the small businesses is I think one of the greatest strengths of this island
. The years I spent as the engineering manager of a co-operative company I so many individuals in small businesses working 80 hour weeks keeping hundreds of men employed , expanding their businesses buying machinery and building up Britain , I saw many attempt to state ownership and to be perfectly honest I can't remember any of them that ever worked . British Steel British Leyland as well as all the little co-operative groups there were government backed along with the Giants of British rail and British road services when they were run as a state concern the level of investment was never there because it was more important to put the money that the government had surplus into the NHS or buying weapons or whatever that is why the railways are so bad they were never invested in until the private sector came along . So choose whatever you want capitalism socialism communism they're all as bloody bad as each other
I think you could almost say with your hand on your heart. Show me a politician and I'll show you a thief

[Keith Tindell]

Hi Rob, don't know if you saw the news yesterday where the Government is thinking , or muting, taking back ownership of one of the rail companies, forget which one now, kt

[Marian Gra]

Keith, 'tis ''Stagecoach''

Excerpt from BBC Business News today:

''Stagecoach East Coast rail franchise to end early.
Stagecoach's contract to run the East Coast Mainline rail franchise will end earlier than expected after the government said the operator had "got its numbers wrong".

Transport Secretary Chris Grayling said Stagecoach would continue running the London to Edinburgh line only for "a small number of months and no more".

He said the government may step in to run the service.

He added that the day-to-day operation of the line would be unaffected.

The East Coast Mainline franchise was taken into public ownership in 2009 after being run by National Express.

It was reprivatised when Stagecoach and Virgin signed a deal to run the East Coast line from 2015 to 2023, promising to pay the government £3.3bn to run the service.

Stagecoach owns 90% of the joint venture and Virgin owns the remaining 10%.

In November, the Department for Transport said Stagecoach and Virgin would withdraw from running the service three years early, in 2020, after running into difficulties.

But on Monday Mr Grayling told the House of Commons the situation was now "much more urgent" and that new arrangements were needed "in the very near future".

Mr Grayling said he was considering two approaches.

One option was to allow Stagecoach to continue operating the franchise on a short-term and not-for-profit basis until a new contract is awarded in 2020.

Alternatively, East Coast Mainline could be brought back under government control and be run by the Department for Transport through an operator of last resort.

Mr Grayling said: "The problem is that Stagecoach got its numbers wrong. It overbid and is now paying a price."

East Coast decision investigated by watchdog

'Indefensible' deal over East Coast rail

Plan to fix 'creaking' railways unveiled by government

Labour former transport secretary Lord Adonis accused Mr Grayling of "undertaking another unjustified bailout of Virgin and Stagecoach at the expense of taxpayers".

He said: "The reason for these disgraceful bailouts we've been seeing from Mr Grayling is because he simply is not prepared to contemplate putting his duty above ideology and substituting for failing private companies a state company."

However Mr Grayling insisted that there was "no question of a bailout" for the company, adding: "Stagecoach will be held to all of its contractual obligations in full."

He said Stagecoach was set to lose about £200m, equating to more than 20% of its total market value.

Mr Grayling said: "It should also act as a stark warning to any company tempted to over-bid in future."

Contract extension
At the same time, Mr Grayling also announced that another joint venture between Stagecoach and Virgin had won an extension to operate the West Coast Mainline rail service between London and Glasgow.

He said that this joint venture will operate the West Coast Mainline from 1 April 2018 until potentially 31 March 2020.

A Stagecoach subsidiary is also on the shortlist of bidders hoping to operate the East Midlands franchise, scheduled to begin in August 2019.

Shadow transport secretary Andy McDonald said: "That Chris Grayling awarded a profitable contract to Virgin and Stagecoach on the West Coast while simultaneously confirming the same companies have collapsed on the East Coast shows Government policy is in chaos.

"This is yet another Tory handout to private shareholders at the public's expense. Failing train companies should not be awarded future contracts, but this government is rewarding them for failure by extending their lucrative deal."

Mick Whelan, leader of the train drivers' union Aslef, said: "It is outrageous that Virgin Trains has been handed a lucrative new contract to run services on the West Coast Mainline despite serious criticism of its owners' handling of the East Coast franchise."

'We delivered'
Stagecoach Group Chief Executive Martin Griffiths said: "A lot has been said and written in the past few months about Virgin Trains East Coast - a lot of it has been misinformed and much of it has been politically motivated."

He said Stagecoach and Virgin had delivered for passengers, employees and the economy including generating payments to the taxpayer of more than £800m.

"The reality is that we've neither walked away from the East Coast franchise nor have we received or asked for any special treatment," he said.

There are no legal grounds to prevent Stagecoach from bidding for current or future franchises, Mr Grayling told the Commons.''

[happy daze john in oz]

So are you all saying that anyone who has socialist leanings is not allowed become wealthy, even though he spreads some of that wealth around ???
Well I must have got it wrong then all these years now. Best stop my monthly subscriptions to the various charities I have been donating to over the years. Sorry Claire House, Missions to Seamen will have to take a hit as well, Royal British Legion and I suppose Cancer research as well then, after all I would appear to be just another greedy Capitalist then how very disappointing, not sure if I can ever look at my self in the mirror again (not a pretty sight I will add before someone else gets in first)

Lewis, you miss the point.
There is nothing wrong in any man do better for himself and passing some to the less fortunate of society.
But there are many within Socialistic organisations though creating wealth for themselves decry others who do saying they are just capitalists.

[robpage]

Stagecoach went in too high to get the contract , Carillon went in too low to get the contract , maybe they should merge and get it right