Today, the energy price cap set by Ofgem goes up yet again. ¼ of your bill was taken as profit by energy companies in 2024 — an average of £416 per household. Families are squeezed to pad the pockets of shareholders. 🧵 Here’s how the public has been turned into a cash machine.

Welcome to Rip-Off Britain, where you play by the rules to pay bills to those who break them. www.theguardian.com/business/202...

🚨 2 WEEKS! We'll be launching the Transition Security Project, investigating US & UK military industrial complexes. Join our online panel on war, climate crisis & the economy. 🎙️ @stephensemler.bsky.social @iliasalami.bsky.social @triofrancos.bsky.social @lalehkhalili.bsky.social shorturl.at/njU0q

🚨 In just 2 weeks, we'll be hosting a free online panel with @cplusc.bsky.social to launch a new collaboration: @transitionsec.bsky.social 🎙️ @stephensemler.bsky.social @iliasalami.bsky.social @triofrancos.bsky.social  🪑 @lalehkhalili.bsky.social Reserve your spot now! 🔗👇

🔥"What is more British than wanting to own instead of renting for everyone in this country?" We Own It Director Cat Hobbs speaking at Commonwealth's panel event 'Who Owns Britain?' at Labour Conference. @cmmonwealth.bsky.social

🚨 300 tickets sold! Join us for a free panel on the war economy, the climate impacts of war & the geopolitics of the climate transition. Speakers: @stephensemler.bsky.social, @triofrancos.bsky.social & @iliasalami.bsky.social 🪑 @lalehkhalili.bsky.social 📅 16 Oct 6PM BST 🔗 shorturl.at/NwJCL

Today, the energy price cap set by Ofgem goes up yet again. ¼ of your bill was taken as profit by energy companies in 2024 — an average of £416 per household. Families are squeezed to pad the pockets of shareholders. 🧵 Here’s how the public has been turned into a cash machine.

Cross-reference this @globalenergymon.bsky.social with data from @cmmonwealth.bsky.social's Who Owns Britain to understand why this matters www.common-wealth.org/interactive/...

Keir Starmer’s speech today argued defence spending is “undeniably good for growth”. But military spend as prosperity is a false promise. The MoD supports about 9.4 jobs per £1m. By contrast, Transport for London supports 13.7 jobs per £1m. shorturl.at/mpM75

“There’s no doubt that without decent bus services you get loneliness & social exclusion, so the impact is quite severe.” We estimate that since the pandemic, buses in Shropshire alone have been cut by 60%. Findings from our new project — Who Owns Britain? — on BBC Radio 4 🔈👇

📣Tonight!📣 Want to find out who really owns Britain? 🧐 Join @cathobbs and other great guests at this @commonwealth event at #Labour conference on 30th September.

This is happening today. If you happen to be at Labour Conference, you should get along to to it! Who Owns Britain - including the End the Rip Off campaign - launched 2 weeks ago and I was really proud to have a role in helping to frame and message the campaign. Nearly a million views so far!

🚨 TODAY! ⏰ Last chance to RSVP for our panel event and drinks reception at the Labour Party Conference this evening! 📍RIBA North, 21 Mann Island, Liverpool, L3 1BP 🕐 7.00PM — 9.00PM 🔗 www.eventbrite.com/e/who-owns-b...

Just under two weeks until the launch of @transitionsec.bsky.social — tickets still available, sign up for free at the link below!

🚨 TOMORROW! ✉️ Remember to RSVP for our panel event and drinks reception at the Labour Party Conference! ⏰ 7PM — 8PM, followed by drinks 📍 RIBA North, 21 Mann Island, Liverpool, L3 1BP 🔗 www.eventbrite.com/e/who-owns-b...

Welcome to Rip-Off Britain. A country remade by a radical experiment: the unprecedented privatisation of our essential services and infrastructure. Read more about our new project — Who Owns Britain? — on our Substack. 🔗 cmmonwealth.substack.com/p/who-owns-b...

“Research by Common Wealth has found that water companies’ operating profit margins are significantly higher than other FTSE 350 companies, including Shell and Sainsbury’s.” Our new project — Who Owns Britain? — featured in @theipaper.com 👇🔗 inews.co.uk/news/where-w...

🚨 TOMORROW! ✉️ Remember to RSVP for our panel event and drinks reception at the Labour Party Conference! ⏰ 7PM — 8PM, followed by drinks 📍 RIBA North, 21 Mann Island, Liverpool, L3 1BP 🔗 www.eventbrite.com/e/who-owns-b...

🚨 300 tickets sold! Join us for a free panel on the war economy, the climate impacts of war & the geopolitics of the climate transition. Speakers: @stephensemler.bsky.social, @triofrancos.bsky.social & @iliasalami.bsky.social 🪑 @lalehkhalili.bsky.social 📅 16 Oct 6PM BST 🔗 shorturl.at/NwJCL

🚨 4 days to go! ✉️ Remember to RSVP for our panel event and drinks reception at the Labour Party Conference! 🗓️ 30 Oct ⏰ 7PM — 8PM, followed by drinks 📍 RIBA North, 21 Mann Island, Liverpool, L3 1BP 🔗 www.eventbrite.com/e/who-owns-b...

🏙️ How can progressives win back support beyond cities? In an essential read pre-Labour Party Conference, @sachahilhorst.bsky.social answers this very question with a big policy idea in our new Perspectives piece. 🔗👇 www.common-wealth.org/perspectives...

“The real owners can be seen in the ‘Who Owns Britain?’ report by think tank Common Wealth ... asset managers and private equity own Britain.” Our new project — Who Owns Britain? — in @leninology.bsky.social’s new piece for @jacobinmag.bsky.social 🔗👇 jacobin.com/2025/09/brit...

🚨 Join us at the Labour Party Conference! We’ll be hosting a panel & drinks reception, exploring insights from our new project — Who Owns Britain? — where we investigate who owns our essential services & how we can rebuild the country. RSVP 🔗 www.eventbrite.com/e/who-owns-b...

🚨 Join us at the Labour Party Conference! We’ll be hosting a panel & drinks reception, exploring insights from our new project — Who Owns Britain? — where we investigate who owns our essential services & how we can rebuild the country. RSVP 🔗 www.eventbrite.com/e/who-owns-b...

ISSUE #2 OUT NOW! Featuring: @triofrancos.bsky.social, @sabrinafernandes.bsky.social, @brosef-stalin.bsky.social, @jacobbolton.bsky.social + more! Read now and subscribe at www.break-down.org

New from @the-breakdown.bsky.social ISSUE 2 Photojournalist Garry Lotulung documents the exlosion of nickel mining, largely for batteries, in Halmahera, Indonesia—speaking with workers, locals & members of the island's Indigenous community Photographed: Daniel Totabo

🚨 Sign up for the @transitionsec.bsky.social free launch event with an online panel discussion. Speakers: @stephensemler.bsky.social, @triofrancos.bsky.social & @iliasalami.bsky.social, chaired by @lalehkhalili.bsky.social @cmmonwealth.bsky.social x @cplusc.bsky.social 🔗 shorturl.at/NwJCL

Every time you board a bus, or catch a train, you’re caught in a web of private ownership. “Public” transport is not public. Why does transport cost more while our services get worse? 🧵 Let’s look at the facts. (1/11)

📚 BOOK TALK: England’s Military Heartland 🎙️ Khem Rogaly, Saskia Papadakis, Antonia Dawes & Rachael Milliner ⏰ 7.00PM — 8.30PM 🗓️ Weds 24 Sept 📍 @housmansbookshop.bsky.social, 5 Caledonian Rd, London N1 9DX 🔗 Sign up for a ticket now! housmans.com/event/book-t...

£416 — nearly a quarter — of your average energy bill was taken as pre-tax profits in 2024. Our new project — Who Owns Britain? — featured in @theguardian.com.

“Public transport should be genuinely public ... vital services should be provided based on need, not profit.” — @mathewlawrence.bsky.social Our new project — Who Owns Britain? — in @theguardian.com 🔗👇

“[Common Wealth’s] report shows that privatisation has been one of the key drivers of the cost-of-living crisis & growing inequality.” — @zackpolanski.bsky.social 🔗👇

“[Common Wealth’s] report shows that privatisation has been one of the key drivers of the cost-of-living crisis & growing inequality.” — @zackpolanski.bsky.social 🔗👇 www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

“Decades of failed privatisation. From soaring water bills to crumbling rail services ... ordinary people pay the price” @paulnowaktuc.bsky.social in @theguardian.com

“Decades of failed privatisation. From soaring water bills to crumbling rail services ... ordinary people pay the price” @paulnowaktuc.bsky.social in @theguardian.com www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

In Britain, every time you... — turn on a tap — flip a light switch — board a train or bus — post a letter — drop your child at nursery ... you take part in a system designed to extract wealth & concentrate power. 🧵 From cradle to grave, this is how a failed experiment has shaped your life.

Who owns Britain? @cmmonwealth.bsky.social have dared to ask. You won't like the answer. In the private water industry, 28% of your bills go to paying dividends and financing debt. And you don't even have a new reservoir to show for it.

In Britain, every time you... — turn on a tap — flip a light switch — board a train or bus — post a letter — drop your child at nursery ... you take part in a system designed to extract wealth & concentrate power. 🧵 From cradle to grave, this is how a failed experiment has shaped your life.

“[Reform is] left with a workerist aesthetic propped up by funds from those for whom labour standards, labour conditions, and indeed labour itself are not particularly meaningful categories.” 🖊️ @sachahilhorst.bsky.social for @renewaljournal.bsky.social renewal.org.uk/articles/ref...

Remember to sign up for our online panel launching @transitionsec.bsky.social on 16 October! In collaboration with @cplusc.bsky.social. 🔗👇

“The ‘true cost in law’ of nationalising the UK water sector is far lower than the government’s figure and is in fact ‘closer to zero’, according to a report from the think tank Common Wealth.” Our briefing with @ewanmg.bsky.social featured in @social.newcivilengineer.com 🔗👇

“[Privatisation] was sold as the dream of a shareholder democracy but instead created the nightmare of Rip-Off Britain: families paying more for essential services, while shareholders pocket hundreds of billions in dividends from what were once publicly owned services”

193 BILLION POUNDS. That's how much has been paid in dividends by essential utility companies in the past 35 years. Including nearly £90bn by water companies. That money doesn't come from thin air. It comes from the bill payer. New @cmmonwealth.bsky.social analysis out now.

Who owns Britain? How does privatisation of essentials services like energy & water shape your life? How does it impact the cost-of-living crisis? We’ve been digging into the data — what we’ve found will shock you. 🧵 

“Citizens have been paying a ‘privatisation premium’ of £250 per household per year since 2010 alone.” Our new project — Who Owns Britain? — covered in the Guardian. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Who owns Britain? How does privatisation of essentials services like energy & water shape your life? How does it impact the cost-of-living crisis? We’ve been digging into the data — what we’ve found will shock you. 🧵 

Welcome to Rip-Off Britain. A country remade by privatisation. Our latest project — Who Owns Britain? — explores how a radical experiment transformed our society and shapes your life. 🧵

We hear a lot about privatisation, but rarely are the numbers laid out so starkly: £193bn paid to shareholders and private equity firms, a £250 premium for every citizen. Only Russia, Hungary and the Czech Republic have shed public wealth faster than Britain www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Since privatisation in the 1980s, we the public have paid *almost £200bn* to shareholders Your household has paid £250 extra a year since 2010 for this ideology Excellent new study from @cmmonwealth.bsky.social 👇 Time to take back OUR public assets 💧💡🚌🚄📮 www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Welcome to rip-off Britain! £193bn paid to shareholders of the bus, train, mail, energy and water companies since the 1990s🤑 25% of average energy bill goes straight to corporate profits 💸 One in five bus services axed since 2019 😮 Enough! Public ownership NOW! @commonwealth