Democracy and regulation - How the public can govern essential services

Greg Palast, Jerrold Oppenheim and Theo MacGregor, Pluto Press, 233 pages, paperback, £16.99

This book provides plenty of evidence against the deregulation of privatised essential services.

The "UK model" expects markets to produce efficient services and lower prices. But when regulators intervene, they negotiate secretly with utility companies, giving the public, trade unions and consumer groups very little influence over the process or the results.

This has been disastrous enough in the UK, say the authors. But worse, the IMF and World Bank also insist on imposing it on developing countries, and large numbers of poor people have lost their access to water and power.

The authors argue that if multinational companies are not subject to effective scrutiny and control, they can be relied upon to sack staff, neglect maintenance and repair, raise prices and even fiddle the figures to increase profits.