Graham - really great to read your story and well done!

Chris - this page summarises our arguments on rail https://weownit.org.uk/public-ownership/railways

The experts that we rely on a lot are Transport for Quality of Life and this page includes a short video with Lynn Sloman outlining the case for public ownership.

On public polling - yes we will use it to make our case because I think people's views are an important part of the picture. It's striking that public support for public ownership across a range of services is so high yet the government fails to reflect that in their policies https://weownit.org.uk/public-solutions/support-public-ownership

The page is now published. I'm happy to add comments from the other side of the debate and have done so for RUGs^» (Rail User Group - about) already https://weownit.org.uk/blog/rail-privatisation-success-or-failure

I have offered to respond to this on Sky Views but haven't had a response yet! e.g. http://news.sky.com/story/sky-views-rail-privatisation-has-been-a-success-10719242

Most of our funding comes from donations. We have had funding from a few trusts but as a not for profit company (not a charity) we have limited options for funding. We will soon have some funding from unions for the first time, for a project on outsourcing. Thanks for the feedback - I'll make this page clearer.

Hi, many thanks for posting our request Graham!

We Own It is a campaign for public ownership. I set up the organisation with the very clear aim of shifting the debate on privatisation and making the case for public services for people not profit. We aim to be a voice for public service users who want to see public ownership.

If there are rail user groups that actively support privatisation we can reflect those views in the interests of creating a debate but our position and campaign is for public ownership, so you might not want to support our efforts if you disagree with our mission! It's up to you

On your questions Graham

a) I agree, public polling doesn't prove the wrongness or rightness of a policy. It just gives an idea of public sentiment, which of course is informed by the media. I would argue that the media is biased against public ownership, not for it.

b) What authority does anyone have to do anything?! We are trying to start a debate about rail privatisation. We think it has been a failure and we're interested in reflecting the frustrations of passengers on this and pushing for change.

I hope that clarifies things. We'll have a comment section on our webpage when it launches so if anyone would like to comment as an individual there that'll be very easy to do.

Thanks again for sharing!