FionaK |
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| I always used to worry that the UK was about to become part of America. But now I can relax. We are to become part of Qatar, instead. I have from time to time noted that Qatar has a big ownership stake in such things as care homes and in big british companies such as Sainsbury's. But although that has been sort of nagging at the back of my mind my attention was not really on the implications of that because I was thinking about the whole financial shenanigans which surround all of this privatisation. The actual nationality of the companies involved was of less importance to me. Not so sure about that now http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/0f6c15ca-8c07-11...l#axzz2NV8CoEoLThe link is to an article in the Financial Times and it reports that the UK government is in talks with the Qatar government and the aim is to set up a dedicated fund for the Qataris to invest in infrastructure in the UK. Qatar already owns a lot of things including Heathrow Airport and Harrods, but this proposal would take things much further. It is suggested that Qatar would get "first refusal" on major projects, particularly energy and transport investment. I had already commented on the fact that the government proposes to encourage the Chinese to invest in nuclear power in this country: and now they appear to wish Qatar to take over gas plants and wind power: so all our energy will be foreign owned, if this goes through, so far as I can see. Without wishing to sound xenophobic, is this a good idea? |
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