NO WATER WORLD

There is still no water to speak of in my house. My powers of British stoicism are running out and I have had to rely on the largesse of friends to have a bath. It has ruined my Christmas.
Yorkshire Water, to whom I pay over £30.00 a month in water rates, say there is nothing they can do and with temperatures set to plummet over New Year, it looks as though the situation will continue. I am at the mercy of the elements.
But what I didn't expect this morning was a dismissive phone call from the Yorkshire Water "helpline" to say it was an entirely private matter, there was nothing they could do, and basically to sod off.
I know that in the great scheme of things this is a trivial matter. But, as every woman knows, the simple joy of taking a bath is one of life's great pleasures. So forgive me while I contemplate crawling under the duvet and howling until the Big Freeze is over. It is nice to know the vast profits made by the privatised utilities are paid back in customer satisfaction

TIME TO STOP THIS PROFITEERING

I was astonished at an event organised by the Co-op Party in Manchester on Saturday to hear the vacillations of a Northern MP on the subject of the privatised utilities and public transport.
Having first asserted that railway re-nationalisation was undo-able he later conceded it was in fact a Good Thing - but could somehow be achieved by the back door as long as it was not officially in Labour's manifesto. The question being WHY on earth would you would not promote a policy bound to be a vote-winner in difficult times .
On privatised utilities, he was similarly wavering, conceding too they should never have been privatised and that people might support their return to public ownership.So why not do it?
It seems to me there are probably dozens of Labour MPs who, given the chance, would put their weight behind the radical policies we need to win back the voters. But are seemingly afraid of being dubbed, as he put it " red-blooded socialists" Or, more likely, given a sound ticking-off from those who would prefer hell to freeze over before they return to democratic socialism. Today's revelations in the Indy over the "big six" energy suppliers show exactly why we have to stop their rank profiteering - which means millions will be living in fuel poverty this winter. And bring the whole lot back into public ownership




http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/mps-demand-inquiry-into-great-energy-swindle-1809415.html

WOOLLY JUMPER TIME

Last year I switched to npower in an attempt to save money ..... bad move. Today it's been announced that the company is going to hike up gas prices by up to 23.8 percent while electricity bills will increase by up to 27.1 per cent. Two possibilities to save money are extra jumpers and the wood-burning stove which I have downstairs. But it's an outrageous increase. Addthe rail fares hike of 15 per cent and rocketing food prices and thefact is thatmillions of people this year are going to be in serious financial difficulties. And the Government expects people to put up with wage" rises" of 2 per cent. I think seriously difficult times are ahead for most of us in 2008. What worries me most is how pensioners will cope with these soaring charges. But npower and their rivals are only concerned about keeping the profits up.....