The Adelaide News Blog helps us all: Indicating that a special Defence Cabinet would now govern South Australia, Premier Mike Rann will announce this morning that he and all of State Cabinet would be presenting their resignations to the Governor later today. “You’ll hardly notice any difference.” Mr Rann told onlookers at the Norwood Pie…
Showing all posts tagged privatisation
US backed mercenaries in Somalia are how Obama does business
Recently The Nation’s Jeremy Scahill broke the story that the US was operating covertly in Somalia, including the use of an interrogation prison in Mogadishu. The New York Times expands on this tale, thankfully crediting Scahill, and includes the role of privatised forces in the war zone. The future of warfare is unaccountable: Richard Rouget,…
Not the best advertisement for Serco in New Zealand
Mmm: Auckland’s Mt Eden prison operator Serco has been accused of bribing inmates with bigger helpings of food and televisions in their cells to encourage them to behave. The prison officers’ union, the Corrections Association, said that in addition to larger meals, Serco served dessert every night, unheard of in the State prison system, Radio…
When corporate entities seduce the not-for-profit sector
Shameful behaviour in Britain that shows the collusion between privatised power and those tasked to care for the most vulnerable (via Open Democracy): Back in March, almost a year after the government had promised to end what Nick Clegg called the “shameful practice” of locking up asylum seeking families in conditions known to harm their…
Deaths in Serco’s care and yet the company still thrives
What exactly will it take for Western governments to realise that the profit motive is the worst argument for outsourcing essential human services? Separate investigations into three deaths in immigration removal centres (IRC) in the past month have been launched by the police, amid growing concern about the treatment of detainees. The spate of deaths…
Serco making money from the noble act of volunteering
A privatised future that gives us all a chill, writes Zoe Williams in the Guardian: It is pointless at this stage to pretend to be surprised that charities are facing …£100m worth of cuts to their local authority funding, although it is ironic that the sector most flattered by “big society” rhetoric should be the…
How many companies are shafting America in its WOT?
Far too many and who really cares? A United Arab Emirates-based logistics contractor billed Defense Department authorities in Iraq for parts at prices marked up as high as 5,000 percent and 12,000 percent, according to a quarterly report released Saturday by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction. A review of a $119 million reconstruction…
Who would trust firms to protect the public space?
Apparently the future in keeping us safe is to outsource intelligence to unaccountable corporations: In an age where cyberwarfare is more common than the physical battlefield, it may be necessary for the private sector to stop playing defense and go on offense, Gen. Michael Hayden said Friday. Hayden, who led the National Security Administration and…
When mad privatisation came to Greece
The country may be economically screwed but this plan will benefit only a few corporations and rich people: The starting gun for one of the biggest fire-sales in western history was fired as Greek officials began appointing advisers for the country’s ambitious privatisation drive. “Our target is clear, and it is to generate €1.7bn from…