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Buying back for $112 million a $1 lease of the west Auckland line hardly constitutes renationalisation, quite the contary it is gouging, yet that is what local body politicians in the greater Auckland area want. Do the greater Aucklanders? Doubtful, and the situation in the UK is a salutary lesson for New Zealand politicians contemplating business as usual in respect of what were and should be again public assets like rail, post, broadcasting, ports, medical services, roads, fisheries. A survey for BBC2's Newsnight programme has found that British people support re-nationalisation of the railways by an overwhelming majority of three-to-one. A massive 86% of people quizzed described the service currently offered by the railways as unsatisfactory. The poll also suggests that the widespread anger over the state of the railways will not undermine the Government's re-election bid, as almost three times as many voters blame the Tories as Labour for the problems. Asked by ICM whether they thought that the railways, privatised in the mid-1990s by John Major, should be brought back into public ownership, 69% said they should - three times as many as the 23% who said they should not. Just 9% of those questioned said that Britain's railway services were currently satisfactory, against 86% who said they were not and 5% who did not know. The rail companies themselves were most blamed by passengers for the poor services, with 41% naming the industry as responsible, compared to 34% who blamed Mr Major's administration and 12% who blamed the current Government. ICM questioned 1,000 people between December 15 and 17. Would a million dollars be better spent on assessing public opinion than private opinion? Rhetorical question.
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