Though Cowards Flinch’s Question to Polly Toynbee
Polly Toynbee is doing a live Q&A on the Guardian on whether class still matters. Copied below is TCF’s question to Polly, based on an earlier blog post:
The wealth gap, as you will attest, is far too wide – in 2010 it was at a point unseen since the second world war, and with the incoming cuts it is of grave concern to all those who believe everyone in society should be allowed the best possible chances to achieve the most they are capable of.
My question is, since you recognise that contractors in the private sector, not bound by any pay rates (as you’ve written before here) haven’t always got the public sector’s best interest at heart (and therefore that of public sector workers, many of whom are from a working class background), why in 2009 did you write in ‘Ethos’, the in-house magazine of multi-national outsourcing firm, Serco:
‘There is no doubt that putting some services out to tender has vastly improved certain standards over the years, broken the power of vested interests and brought in competition that has sharpened up results.’
(Link for that article is here)
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Bash the Left, from the Left, to save the Left
You seem to be struggling so I’ve helped you out by copying the rest of her paragraph for you. For some reason, you deliberately omitted it. Anyway, it answers your question. If you disagree with her answer, perhaps you should have asked about that, instead.
Just look at how hospital consultants’ waiting lists plummeted when a few Independent Treatment Centres were set up nearby. Suddenly, long waiting lists for hip and cataract operations fell because patients had a choice. The wholescale mass privatisation of a service is rarely needed, but a little gingering up round the edges has an electrifying effect on sleepy outfits. Often, private provision makes sense where small units need to buy in some expertise or back-office work they can’t develop themselves.
Bash the Left, from the Left, to save the Left
You might enjoy this offering:
https://ianbone.wordpress.com/2011/09/04/polly-toynbee-what-is-to-be-done/#comments
Haha unquestionably Polly would be leading that march