How privatisation is stripping your assets

So in the last few weeks Carillion has collapsed, Chris Grayling has bailed out Stagecoach/Virgin to the tune of £2bn and Branson's Virgin have sued the NHS.  It is difficult to understand how all of this affects you, so I would ask you to cast your minds back to 2012 for a great example.

Croydon's conservative council, whose manifesto pledged to protect libraries as a key aid to social mobility, decided to close some libraries and outsource others.

The manifesto had served them well during the election, but was obviously as expendable as the social mobility of those that didn't vote for them.

To cover their obligations, the council minutes included 3 lines that said "we do not have the skills or a library model to compete with the private sector" despite this clearly being a lie (An independent study of South London Libraries had shown that Upper Norwood library, that Croydon jointly funded, was being run at less than half the price of other libraries).

Basing all of Croydon Libraries upon the Upper Norwood's model would have saved the council millions, but Croydon Tories decided not to let the facts get in the way of ideology.

Croydon pressed ahead with a joint outsourcing process with Wandsworth but reneged on the joint aspect when the deal was given to Greenwich Leisure (a non-profit set up to take over Greenwich's outsourced libraries). Instead, Croydon handed the deal to John Laing building services! (This was all about the construction company's skills in running libraries and nothing to do with the fact that they were about to rebuild the centre of Croydon!)

John Laing then themselves pulled out of the deal as the projected profits weren't sufficient and presumably they realised that they are a building company and know bugger all about running libraries.

Anyway, the contract was then handed to Carillion, libraries were closed and Upper Norwood Library, that was enshrined in a Victorian Trust and therefore could not be outsourced, was defunded, staff were made redundant and it's depleted resources means that it now opens on a part-time basis and now depends upon volunteers and ingenuity to stay afloat.

Now Carillion has redirected profits to shareholders and directors and has gone bust and the library is back in the hands of the Croydon's Labour local council.

Surely somebody should be accountable for this amazing ineptitude and there should be a far more robust tendering process. A process that has been bad for social mobility, bad for communities who have lost their hubs and hearts, bad for employees who lost their jobs, bad for taxpayers who are paying many times over the odds for this redirection of wealth, and bad for the country which is saddled with the all of the risk whilst the corporate backers syphon off the rewards.

David Cameron's real letter responding to Iain Duncan Smith's resignation

Iain Duncan Smith resignation response letter from David Cameron (Satirical)

Dear Iain, Thank you for your letter this evening. 

We are all very proud of the welfare cuts which this government has delivered over the last six years, and the reduction in support from those most vulnerable, in which you have played an important part.

As a government, we have done a huge amount to force the great unwashed people into work, reduce disability and promote social injustice. There are now more people in underpaid work than ever before in our country's history, with 2.4 million more zero hours, no paid or low paid jobs created since 2010.

I regret that you have chosen to step down from our regime at this moment. Together we designed the Personal Independence Payment to remove the crutch from the most vulnerable and to give disabled people a lot less money. They could barely afford to heat their houses or eat properly before this cut and this change will stimulate them getting out of the house and taking part in Great British life.

We all agreed that the resources being spent on disabled people should be properly managed and focused on those who need it most. So we also cut housing benefit for sheltered housing; which will move on many mentally and physically handicapped from housing that could be used for "hard working" people who stimulate the economy. It will also help push up house prices so we are all better off.

That is why we collectively agreed - you, No 10 and the Treasury - proposals which you and your department then announced a week ago. I find it a little ironic that the Gengiz Khan of my cabinet is now coming over all compassionate. 

Today we agreed not to proceed with the policies in their current form and instead to work together to spin these policies and make them more palatable for the gullible UK public.

In the light of this, I am puzzled and disappointed that you have chosen to resign. Would you mind ATOS checking whether you are right in the head.

You leave the government with my thanks and best wishes. 

While we are on different sides in the vital debate about the future of Britain's relations with Europe, the government will, of course, continue with its policy of welfare cuts, matched by our commitment to social injustice, to reducing the life chances of the most disadvantaged people in our country, and to ensuring that the corporates who most need help and protection continue to receive it.

Yours David