Is there another way?

I'm not sure which annoys me more: the fact that energy prices keep on going up, or that people seem surprised that this is the case. 

Rises in gas prices have once again been in the news recently and once again we have interview after interview with members of the public who seem to be under the impression that fuel companies (whether gas, electric, petrol...) are there to provide a service rather than to make money.

When you take the decision to privatise something - energy providers, railways, schools, hospitals - you have made a shift in terms of priorities. Now it is the shareholders who are more important than the consumer. You are now about maximising profit - not providing a service.

Now of course in the free market you might argue that if you don't provide a good service which gives value for money then you will lose customers - and therefore it is in the interests of the shareholders to provide a good service.

There has been comment made recently about changes in education and a move to make governing bodies smaller and to pay governors for their work. 

But what does all this say? Are we saying that as a society people only give of their best when they're paid for it? That the main driver, the main motivation, is greed?

I know the issues are complicated, that's why I don't often make political comment. But sometimes I wonder whether there has to be a different way, a better way. A way in which we put the interests of others first. A way in which money isn't the most important thing and people aren't driven by greed...