Saturday, July 28, 2012

Olympic Security - The British Use of Private Contractors

via The Guardian, which I hope is a respectable enough source for our very particular commenters.



The saga surrounding the Olympics and G4S may have placed the spotlight firmly on the use of private companies to protect the public, worried MI5, embarrassed the Home Office, and pleased and angered the armed forces in equal measure.

It is unlikely to persuade governments to back away from relying increasingly on the private sector to provide public services, even those directly responsible for the safety of its citizens and to fight on their behalf.
Far from it. More and more tasks will be "outsourced" as the rather euphemistic Whitehall phrase has it.
G4S, with an annual turnover of more than £7bn and worldwide contracts including in Iraq and Afghanistan, operates in what has been described by a Seymour Pierce analyst as "a golden age in outsourcing". Central and local government are spending £80bn on contracts with private companies a figure predicted to rise to £140bn in 2015.
Of course these numbers are nothing compared to what's happening in The States. What's your opinion? Is this a necessary expense or just a scam to pour taxpayer dollars into the pockets of a few?

Please leave a comment.

3 comments:

  1. ‎"Radiation and rockets at the London Olympics you ask? Yes, more than 7,000 tons of radioactive debris pushed just to the side to build the Olympic stadium and anti-aircraft missIes anchored on the rooftops of private London residences. War games, military and private security forces patting down the throngs at a cost of £1 billion ($1.54 billion) just for “security” alone, this is the straw which has finally broken the camel’s back for my lifetime of Olympics watching."

    http://cuttingthegordianknot.wordpress.com/2012/06/08/radiation-and-rockets-why-i-am-boycotting-the-london-2012-olympics/

    ReplyDelete
  2. G4S, how special British subjects get to handle firearms legally. . .

    ReplyDelete
  3. Mikeb said, " which I hope is a respectable enough source for our very particular commenters."

    The only people here who I am aware of that have trashed, ridiculed, and attacked anyone quoting or submitting article from the Daily Mail are Pooch and his besotted plutonic lover, DG.
    Correct me if I'm wrong.
    orlin sellers

    ReplyDelete