Author Archives: Oscar Renton

Oscar Renton

A democratic case for public ownership of utilities

By Oscar Renton | Tue 3rd March 2026 - 5:50 pm

Britain has spent the last few decades running a national experiment. We have taken essential infrastructure that behaves like a monopoly, we put it in private hands, and we hope competition somehow emerges. I can’t blame the utilities executives. They got lucky and landed the utilities in the 80s, like some awful game of Monopoly we still pay for. No risk and all reward, what a deal!

The results are familiar to anyone who has navigated unreliable rail services or warned their children of the dangers of swimming in the sea that was safe in their childhood. When a market is a natural monopoly, public ownership is not a nostalgic slogan, it is the prudent way to align economic incentives with the public interest.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 28 Comments
Advert

Recent Comments

  • Peter Hirst
    We could and perhaps should find people whose human rights are being abused and stand up for them. Whether it's an asylum seeker seaking refuge from persecution...
  • Peter Davies
    As anounced, the basic pension will remain taxable. In the past, this did not affect those whose only income was the state pension because they were below the t...
  • John C
    I've always felt we should have a None Of The Above option on ballot papers. If it gets the most votes, it forces a fresh election where none of the original ca...
  • Daniel Walker
    @Peter Davis "Presumably, if your bank pays you 6p interest on your current account, it will cost you 20% of the difference between the pension and tax thres...
  • Catherine Royce
    Congratulations Tim, I'm sure you deserve it, (to be one rather than to be abolished) but its an interesting point. Can you lead a revolt from the inside? -do w...