Keir Starmer at it again..

[AndyWolves]

Only Thames. None of them voluntarily go beyond the gearing targets as it means no dividends.

Ofwat can allow dividends to be paid if over 60%, and intercompany dividends have been paid regardless

And on Ofwats own website a bit chunk of water companies are north of 60%

Let's hope Ofwat start to show some teeth

 

[Kenny]

Let's hope Ofwat start to show some teeth

Starmer is knocking those teeth out

 

[Del Woppio]

Pensions review (i.e. putting the state pension age up) underway.

Government revives landmark Pensions Commission to confront retirement crisis that risks tomorrow’s pensioners being poorer than today’s

Millions of people could benefit from a more secure retirement as the Government today [Monday 21 July 2025] revives the landmark Pensions Commission to examine why tomorrow’s pensioners are on track to be poorer than today’s and make recommendations for change.

www.gov.uk

 

[AndyWolves]

Teach people about investing too, getting them to make decisions about where their retirement money is invested. The default funds are nowhere near risky enough for 20-30 year olds to be in and they'll be leaving money on the table.

 

[visage]

Re the water companies, the idea that any government should arbitrarily adjust accountancy rules to render a company insolvent so that they can nationalise it without cost would be a staggering abuse of power, and represent the kind of behaviour that would make your average banana republic look like an exemplar of good government.

 

[AndyWolves]

We need PSR for water companies, but they'd probably end up selling their pipes to each other for vastly inflated sums

 

[lemonjelly]

Pensions review (i.e. putting the state pension age up) underway.

Government revives landmark Pensions Commission to confront retirement crisis that risks tomorrow’s pensioners being poorer than today’s

Millions of people could benefit from a more secure retirement as the Government today [Monday 21 July 2025] revives the landmark Pensions Commission to examine why tomorrow’s pensioners are on track to be poorer than today’s and make recommendations for change.

www.gov.uk

might be more a removal of the triple lock etc? They seem to be briefing that future pensions will not be to a similar level as todays support?

 

[Sniffer]

Triple lock not included in the scope of the commission.

 

[Del Woppio]

The obvious answer is means testing the state pension, but we all know how that would go down.

 

[BillyDee]

All benefits should be means tested.

 

[lemonjelly]

sometimes the cost of means testing them is disproportionate.

 

[Del Woppio]

Easy enough to link with tax codes though, that'd catch 90% of the waste

 

[Tredman]

They manage to take away all sorts of benefits for working age people without people complaining about cost/benefit

 

[Templeton Peck]

Re the water companies, the idea that any government should arbitrarily adjust accountancy rules to render a company insolvent so that they can nationalise it without cost would be a staggering abuse of power, and represent the kind of behaviour that would make your average banana republic look like an exemplar of good government.

'Typically, a banana republic has a society of extremely stratified social classes, usually a large impoverished working class and a ruling class plutocracy, composed of the business, political, and military elites.[1] The ruling class controls the primary sector of the economy by exploiting labor.[2] Such exploitation is enabled by collusion between the state and favored economic monopolies, in which the profit, derived from the private exploitation of public lands, is private property. At the same time, the debts incurred thereby are the financial responsibility of the public treasury.'

I mean...

 

[Tredman]

Its also a shit term used by condescending people on both side of the political divide.

 

[Templeton Peck]

Re the water companies, the idea that any government should arbitrarily adjust accountancy rules to render a company insolvent so that they can nationalise it without cost would be a staggering abuse of power, and represent the kind of behaviour that would make your average banana republic look like an exemplar of good government.

We're arresting 83 year olds for holding placards so all bets are off tbh.

 

[visage]

Are they being arrested for holding placards, or for supporting a proscribed organisation?

 

[AndyWolves]

'Typically, a banana republic has a society of extremely stratified social classes, usually a large impoverished working class and a ruling class plutocracy, composed of the business, political, and military elites.[1] The ruling class controls the primary sector of the economy by exploiting labor.[2] Such exploitation is enabled by collusion between the state and favored economic monopolies, in which the profit, derived from the private exploitation of public lands, is private property. At the same time, the debts incurred thereby are the financial responsibility of the public treasury.'

I mean...

That hits pretty close to the mark tbh

 

[Templeton Peck]

That hits pretty close to the mark tbh

Indeed.