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The darker side of more power cuts
ONCE, as a nation, we were the world’s biggest colonial power.
Now, as more and more foreign companies take over our large utilities, football clubs as well as private conglomerates, you could say we have moved from coloniser to colonised.
Recently, severe power cuts have occurred in the borough – homes have been without power for hours at a time, shopkeepers have struggled in half-lit premises, supermarkets such as Waitrose in Swiss Cottage had to close down their ‘cold’ shelves on a busy Sunday.
Who now runs power in London? Once it was run by a public utility, then a private British conglomerate, and now a French company, EDF.
This is not the only utility owned by a foreign company.
Thames Water is in the hands of an Australian consortium.
Power cuts rarely occurred in the past. They became more common from the 90s onwards.
Various power companies usually blame poor investment in the past as the culprit.
But for how long can the past be raised as the spectre?
An analysis may show that by keeping bonus-weighted repairs and costly new cabling at night and weekend to a minimum, it slows down repairs and the cycle of new investment work. However, shareholders probably remain indifferent as long as profit margins remain healthy and high. The losers are the public. And who, in any case, do they complain to? Executives in Paris or Sydney?
Size zero tax woe
THEY’VE done it! The Lib-Dem-Tory coalition at the Town Hall has kept its promise: come April, council tax will not go up at all.
Vital public services can only be maintained through taxes which, from time to time, cannot escape an upward trend.
Sound cost-pruning can keep expenditure down and allow money to flow elsewhere. But something will have to pay for the imposition of a zero-tax system.
Usually, the victims are in the “soft” underbelly of council responsibilities – libraries, arts and some services for the elderly, such as Careline, which currently faces a wave of economies. Meanwhile, fees for meals-on-wheels go up.
Several years ago, Wandsworth triumphantly boasted of its zero-tax policy. In recent weeks it has threatened the famous Battersea Arts Centre.
Last night (Wednesday) deputations implored the council to suspend cuts to legal services and various community organisations, but all in vain. Zero tax must prevail, argue the new rulers at the Town Hall. To them, there is no alternative. |
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