Ah yes that’s a tricky one. May I suggest a compromise: the shareholders immediately forfeit their stake and the company is nationalised without compensation. Capital must not be allowed to hold essential infrastructure hostage against the public interest.

if there was even a slim chance of that happening they would act differently out of precaution. Thanks to new new labour for categorically ruling out privatisation

Water is the rare instance where we can compare public and private ownership directly. Water bills are lower and pollution incidents fewer in Scotland, where Scottish Water remains in public ownership. Privatising monopoly providers was always a recipe for rent taking rather than customer focus.

As a Yank, I'm sure I don't understand how British water is handled. In the US, water provision is private also. However, the profits are limited and universal service within its area is a requirement. This makes utilities (water+power) a reliable investment if not great.

Agreed but it won't happen as politicians on both sides are bought and paid for

And this, boys and girls, is why privatising the water companies was an obviously bloody stupid idea all those years ago when it happened, even without the benefit of hindsight.

I've been thinking this way since the trains started pulling shit 20 years ago. Oh, you can't preform the service you claimed you could do better than the gov? Well then, we'll seize your assets and do it ourselves as you are a threat to the nation's well being. No compensation.

Yep, let it fail. Shares become worthless. Discharge debts through bankruptcy. A public sector org takes over operations buys the shares at whatever price they are post bankruptcy. Privatisation has clearly been a failure, there is no reason that those who speculated on it should be bailed out

Good idea! Water companies should NEVER have been privatised. Profits should have been ploughed back into the business to enable the building, or rebuilding, of essential infrastructure.

I read the skeet before seeing the image and thought "Hell yes! Nationalize Boeing."

I reckon it's time to inject the shareholders with Thames Water.