[philw]

Surely, with privatisation of the roads on the cards, re-nationalisation of the railways would be a terrible retrograde step. Remember, the concept was based on Marx's (that's Karl - not Groucho) idea of the proletariat gaining control of the means of production: a pure communist theory, designed to equalise wealth. Efficiency and profitability was not part of the equation.

Marxism and Communism has been an abject failure resulting in terrible injustice and inefficiency and has totally failed to deliver on any of it's promises. This has been true in the UK where little remains of the of the nationalised industries of the past - BT, British Coal, British Steel and Ports, to name but a few..

Surely, people must remember the restrictive practices, collective bargaining, overmanning, terrible waste, strikes organised by communist shop stewards and the utter failure of the industries concerned to compete in a modern world.

There is nowhere in the world today where a return to nationalisation is being contemplated: with the last bastions like Cuba, N Korea and Belorus struggling to even feed their own people.

I for one, shudder at the prospect of a return of the nationalisation of the rail industry and can only think that those proposing it just fear the uncertainty of the future and prefer the safety of the past without giving due consideration to the consequencies..