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General Strike Anniversary
After nearly 40 years of privatisation, we need public ownership for the 21st century
A new report outlines how we can take back our services and utilities for the public good. CHRIS JARVIS explains

FOR nearly 40 years, the ideology of privatisation has been central to British politics. When Margaret Thatcher came to power, she set about flogging off publicly owned assets and hollowing out the state.

She sold off British Gas in 1986. Then it was water’s turn in 1989. Her successor, John Major, took an axe to the railways and sold them off too.

Thatcher’s legacy outlived the Tory government though. She once described Tony Blair as her greatest achievement. And it’s not hard to see why.

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