The UK Has Learned Nothing from History and Has Gone Madder Than the Mad Hatter

My friend Steve Heins posted this news earlier today, which comes from an article originally published at City A.M. out of London. It is absolutely remarkable that a nation saved from extinction once by Winston Churchill and later by the Margaret Thatcher could once again drift into the insanity of socialism. Thatcher famously privatized infrastructure and services that the UK had previously nationalized to great disaster. Now, a new Labor government is doing nationalization once again, hoping for different results.

Margaret Thatcher meeting with Ronald Reagan

Here are the relevant pieces of distressing news from the article:

National Grid has struck a deal to sell its Electricity System Operator (ESO) to the government for £630m, paving the way for the division to transition into public ownership.

The FTSE 100 utility said on Friday that it expected the transaction to be completed on 1 October, when the government and regulator Ofgem aim to establish the National Energy System Operator (NESO).

National Grid’s ESO operates the control room that balances power supply and demand in real time. Its sale comes after the passage of the Energy Act in October 2023, which will enable the ESO to become a public corporation that will act as the UK’s independent system operator and planner.

The government has said the NESO will “play a vital role in supporting the UK’s energy security, transition to net zero and minimising customers’ bills”…

The company operates energy networks on both sides of the Atlantic and earns the majority of its revenue from regulated settlements levied on energy bills.

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said on Friday: “Today marks a milestone for Britain’s energy system as we bring the system operator into public ownership to provide impartial, whole-system expertise on building a network that is fit for the future.

“The new National Energy System Operator has a huge role to play in delivering our mission to make Britain a clean energy superpower…

John Pettigrew, National Grid’s CEO, commented: “We look forward to working together with NESO to continue to drive the UK’s energy transition forward at pace; accelerating the decarbonisation of the energy system for the digital, electrified economies of the future.”

Many readers will recall that National Grid caved to then New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to halt the further development of its natural gas infrastructure, despite having the upper hand politically at the time. It was a cowardly, but politically correct, maneuver totally against the interests of the areas of New York it served. That's the kind of company National Grid is; one that plays the game and passes the costs along to its customers. It should have fought but surrendered, which tells us why the company is not doing as well as it could for either its customers or its investors.

Now, it's decided, again under pressure, to sell off its electricity business to a UK government, which, no doubt, will destroy it in record time. Why? Because the focus is now off service and value and on climate and ‘impartiality’ (a/k/a fairness). Demands for fairness are what doom every public venture, because there is no such thing in government and it opens the door to manipulation by special interest pleaders. Those include the not only the climateers, but also those desiring special favors due to their identity. We all know it works and it leads to a totally corrupted and incompetent bureaucracy running at full speed over the cliff.

So, once again, the UK seems doomed. Can it be saved again? It seems doubtful, but so did London in 1940 during the Blitz. It was all but destroyed again by the insane socialist nationalization policies of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s but then along came the Iron Lady. So, there‘s always hope, but there seem to be fewer and fewer Churchills and Thatchers these days. What we see, instead, in the UK today, are a bunch of mad hatters.

#UK #NationalGrid #Electricity #Grid #Thatcher