Dear friends
There is good news coming from BW on the issue of the potential sell off. They have put out a press release.
The headline is:
The UK Government has today (7 December 2009) ended recent speculation about the sale of British Waterways’ property endowment in England and Wales by announcing its preferred approach to “consider alternative models for the business as a whole, such as mutual or third sector structures”.
So the immediate danger is past. The petition from the last weeks stands tonight at 18800. Thank you for your support for this.
There is a new word "mutual" in all this, which is not in the 2020 vision document. I cannot remember it as an option from the many presentations that I have sat through.
So just this is a bit of a gap for me at the moment. The definition of mutual company from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutual_company is given below. I am told that the timetable might be sooner than 2020 too. I will keep you informed.
What BW don’t mention is that the Government has said that BW will ring fence the the property and joint venture assets. This is not a new idea, but nothing has happened up to now. I think this is a good move, so that we can all see what is going on with the money. And for some reason they did not mention Gordon Brown’s tirade on Monday about public sector salaries.
A couple of quotes from a newspaper:
"Gordon Brown pledged to curb a "culture of excess" in senior public sector pay and bonuses today as he detailed plans to cut another £3 billion from the cost of running Government.
The Prime Minister said many salaries above £150,000 and £50,000-plus bonuses would in future require ministerial approval as part of an efficiency drive. "
"And where senior managerial appointments are not directly under Government control we will expect the organisations in question to justify to the relevant secretaries of state and to the public any salaries above this level."
Good, I look forward to that.
All the best for Christmas and the New Year.
David
A mutual, mutual organization, or mutual society is an organization (which is often, but not always, a company or business) based on the principle of mutuality. Unlike a true cooperative, members usually do not contribute to the capital of the company by direct investment, but derive their right to profits and votes through their customer relationship.[dubious – discuss] A mutual organization or society is often simply referred to as a mutual.
A mutual exists with the purpose of raising funds (or money), from its membership or customers (collectively called its members), which can then be used to provide common services to all members of the organization or society. A mutual is therefore owned by, and run for the benefit of, its members – it has no external shareholders to pay in the form of dividends, and as such does not usually seek to maximize and make large profits or capital gains. Mutuals exist for the members to benefit from the services they provide.
Profits made will usually be re-invested in the mutual for the benefit of the members, although some profit may also be necessary in the case of mutuals to sustain or grow the organization, and to make sure it remains safe and secure.
