massive state sell off of assets including the canals, announced, 10.09.09

[yardbird]

The canals sell-off strikes me as insane. They can't be profit-making so whoever runs the canals would surely have to get a subsidy - cue railways-style milking of the government cash cow...

£5 coin (a new one by the new Royal Mint) in the slot to open each lock gate?

 

[Brainaddict]

£5 coin (a new one by the new Royal Mint) in the slot to open each lock gate?

Well that's the other thing of course - no doubt charges for canal use will go up. But they'll probably also want a subsidy on top of that. There can't really be enough users to support such a massive infrastructure on fees alone. Or are my estimates of canal economics completely wrong?

 

[yardbird]

Well that's the other thing of course - no doubt charges for canal use will go up. But they'll probably also want a subsidy on top of that. There can't really be enough users to support such a massive infrastructure on fees alone. Or are my estimates of canal economics completely wrong?

I was being flippant... but.
I think there is no way the system could be run without some subsidy.
I believe there are many parts of the canals that interact with rivers

 

[lewislewis]

If they do sell the Royal Mint off the WAG should definately take it off HMG's hands, as well as buy their stake in Uranco whilst they are at it.

Would be a great idea, the cost is probably beyond the WAGs reach though and I can't see the Treasury agreeing to effectively sell the crown jewels to the people of Wales!

 

[DexterTCN]

I don't see why we don't lease these properties to the banks, they make the turn-over on them and pay us a yearly fee....and in a few decades or whatever, we take them back.

 

[FreddyB]

It doesn't seem likely that British Waterways will be sold. It's in trouble right enough with essential maintenance not being carried out due to cuts in it's DEFRA grant. What might well happen, although in April BW was told it wouldn't is that BW is stripped of a lot of assets, it has a lot of property. This would be mental and only make the problems BW has worse. Might happen though.

 

[ska invita]

It doesn't seem likely that British Waterways will be sold. It's in trouble right enough with essential maintenance not being carried out due to cuts in it's DEFRA grant. What might well happen, although in April BW was told it wouldn't is that BW is stripped of a lot of assets, it has a lot of property. This would be mental and only make the problems BW has worse. Might happen though.

Feature on the politics show suggested a sell-off wont be straight ahead and the mood amongst politicos is moving from 'sell' to 'keep'. Hope so.

a lot of this debt is tied up in shares in nationalised banks, so no real need to sell off assets, at the moment, when the economy picks up, as it appears to be slowly doing, share prices go back up, then it's a matter of timing, and we can assume that any government will sell at the wrong time and could have made more money if they'd held on

Just wanted to add that from what I can see estate agents and market traders are willing life back into their markets based on the same bubble-blowing jedi mind tricks that took place over the last decade. Id bet on another bubble burst before too soon.

 

[Giles]

Why don't they sell off 10 Downing Street (and number 11 as well)?

They must be worth loads, and I'm sure people would pay more for the kudos of living at such a famous address.

The government could then purchase a cheaper property, in, say, Basildon, to be the new "Prime Minister's house".

It would be more in keeping with the state of Britain's likely economic future

Maybe actually a pair of "trailer park homes" one for the PM and the other for the chancellor?

Giles..