Who Gives a Toss About Choice?

I don't know about anyone else but I get fed up when people constantly talk about choice. Whatever happened to just being able to get good stuff, instead of introducing all this "choice" which ends up meaning big corporations taking away products and services cos the "market" doesn't want them, and that the products themselves become of far lower quality as they try to maximise profits and minimise costs.

I heard someone on the radio talking about the royal mail, saying how great deregulation will be cos people will have choice. Surely I'm not the only one who just appreciates being able to pay 28p and send a letter to the other end of the country that will probably arrive the next day just by putting it in a little red letter box. As Jack Dee says, if you think it's too expensive, you go and take your letter and buy a 28p train ticket and see how far you get!

Or even more so, trying to introduce market forces into the NHS. Since when can (or should) the survival and well-being of humans be dependant on capitalism. Surely it is something that should be provided to everyone on an equal basis. Well, people say, it gives you choice within the health market. How many people fall over, break their leg and are then willing to sit and read brochures of the various hospitals before deciding which one to be taken to. No, most people would just like an Ambulance that takes them to their nearest hospital (if it hasn't already been closed down because it doesn't return a profit!)

Private enterprise and the market is only ever interested in making it's owners and it's shareholders, and cares very little about customers or workers, as they can always get cheaper workers from elsewhere, and they can spend all the money that should be going on improving it's service on advertising to get more customers.

Grrr!