socialmedian: Have we reached the end of the line for Thatcher's privatisation dream?

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Have we reached the end of the line for Thatcher's privatisation dream?

Source: The Guardian

Jul 04, 2009

Summary

First it was the banks, now the government is taking over a key rail service. But it may not be enough to reverse the process begun by Thatcher. By Richard Wachman and Tim Webb

Nationalisation used to be a dirty word, but now it's back in vogue. The government's move last week to nationalise the east coast rail franchise comes in the wake of the state's takeover of parts of the UK banking system, all of which has raised fundamental questions about the success of market-driven capitalism.

That may seem strange given that over the past quarter of a century, it has been a one-way street with the transfer of assets from the public to private sector, a process that was the centrepiece of Margaret Thatcher's governments in the 1980s.

For years, no one questioned the prevailing orthodoxy that the running of companies was best left to the market and that managers would perform better if they were answerable to shareholders rather than civil servants.

"The British people have given up on socialism," Thatcher proclaimed on the eve of her first general election victory in

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