The power plays
AS for Sid's earlier flutters — water, gas and telephones — their managements are happily engaged in bids and deals, leaving more scope for bonuses but less for compe- tition. Lancashire now gets its electricity and water from the unified sockets and taps of United Utilities, a name as dispiriting as the idea behind it. British Telecom is pur- suing a ponderous courtship of Cable & Wireless, whose best business is in Hong Kong and will therefore soon be in China. You and I might hesitate before we bet the farm on this, but it comes with the pre- dictable guff from BT about creating a world giant in communications. Here at home Cable has Mercury, which tries to be BT's competitor — so after any merger Mercury would have to be sold off. I am sure that BT would want to see it in safe hands, such as those of an experienced undertaker. Then there are the companies which generate electricity and want to buy up the distributors. Stirring uneasily in his revolving chair at the Department of Trade and Industry, Ian Lang sent these proposals to the Monopolies Commission. Its findings have leaked, so I take it that there was a row, but the majority report waves all these mergers through. It shows a touching faith that Professor Stephen Littlechild, who reg- ulates these companies, has learned to keep his class in order. I would rather believe in competition, given half a chance.
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