IndoMike
Very well known Exeweb poster
I agree 2000% per cent.In a word, no, but that was how the decision to privatise them was peddled by the Tory government of the 80s and 90s.
The nationalised industries were an anathema to the ideological 'small-government' mantra of the monetarists - they were far from perfect and, like pretty much any other industry, had plenty of room to improve efficiencies, but their wholesale dismantling and privatisation was done to slash government expenditure and so present the government as being more efficient, irrespective of how disastrous privatisation would be, and how much more individuals would have to pay to private companies to travel/communcate/heat their homes - just as long as the government could be seen to be cutting taxes.
British Rail for example was certainly far from perfect, but it was a damn sight better than the utter turd we are expected to travel with today.