Analysis: Why Do We Still Fetishise Homeownership?
Aidan Beatty
Millions of young Britons will never own their own homes. So why do we still want to? Aidan Beatty explains.
Tag: privatisation
The Bastani Factor: Britain Is Now Fyre Festival
During the Covid pandemic the failures of Britain’s model have become painfully clear, from 80,000 deaths to a test and trace system which isn’t good enough. The latest shambles on free school meals demonstrates that these aren’t the result of a few bad individuals, or random mistakes, but the result of forty years of privatisation […]
Analysis: Money Alone Won’t Fix the Care Crisis – We Need a Radical Rethink
Emma Dowling
Perma-austerity and the persistent devaluation of care work have left social care in a deficit of millions. But throwing money at the problem won’t make it go away. What we need is a radical rethink, writes Emma Dowling - one that puts care workers and the communities they serve at the helm.
Report: Big Business Is Muscling in on the UK’s Nursery Racket
Sophie K Rosa
In Germany and France, around 3-4% of nurseries are private; in the UK, 84% are. All the evidence suggests that these nurseries provide worse childcare and working conditions. Is this the free market doing its thing, or the result of government negligence? Sophie K Rosa reports.
Opinion: Nationalisation of Airlines Could Lead to Political-economic Transformation – If the Left Can Get Organised
Grace Blakeley
In response to Covid-19, an increasing number of airlines are being nationalised with a view to re-privatising them as soon as the pandemic is over. But if the left can get organised and put pressure on these companies, argues Grace Blakeley, the recovery from coronavirus could also be a time of working class empowerment.
Lockdown Is Revealing the Need for Land Reform in the UK
Yali Banton-Heath
The coronavirus pandemic has exposed issues concerning our access to land and housing, and the limits on our right to occupy common space. When lockdown is lifted, we must demand a land reform which affords space for us all, argues Yali Banton-Heath.
Asylum Seeker Evictions Will Cause ‘Crisis on the Streets of Glasgow’, Charities Warn
Charlotte England and an anonymous case worker
A housing provider has announced it will resume a controversial policy to evict hundreds of asylum seekers in Glasgow, in a move charities say will leave scores of vulnerable people street homeless. Serco, which until recently held the government contract to house asylum seekers in the Scottish city, first announced plans to evict people denied […]
‘Like an A&E run by Virgin Active’: Physiotherapy Firm Awarded £86m NHS Mental Health Contract
Sophie Hemery
An NHS mental health contract has been awarded to a private company with next to no track record delivering IAPT services, in an unprecedented example of the escalating privatisation of Britain's healthcare. Sophie Hemery investigates for Novara Media.
The 21st Century Needs Public Ownership
Cat Hobbs
The 21st century has presented a set of challenges that private companies are ill suited to respond to. Cat Hobbs argues why embracing public ownership is the answer.
Novara FM: When We Own It: The Politics of Public Ownership
James Butler is joined by Cat Hobbs of We Own It and Andrew Towers of the CWU to discuss public ownership in the 21st century.
Privatisation Is Creating Unfair Access to Immigration Services
Rachel Connolly
The government recently outsourced visa application centres to private company Sopra Steria. Inconsistencies in the service – which is free in some parts of the country and not in others – and inadequate customer care highlight the dangers of privatising a vital public service.
Outsourcing Incarceration: Privitisation in Britain’s Immigration Detention Estate
Rudy Schulkind
The private companies that run Britain's detention centres have repeatedly failed to protect the rights, dignity and safety of the people they imprison. But the Home Office has created a system in which it is incredibly difficult to hold them to account.
Public Ownership Means Ensuring the Future of Public Services Works for All
Paul Mason
Far from being tied to notions of top-down bureaucratic management, John McDonnell's plans for public ownership are about empowering workers and consumers alike. It's a welcome step towards ensuring public services in the 21st century, writes Paul Mason.
Profits For Investors: The Political Economy of PFI
Grace Blakeley
Following the collapse of Carillion, it would be easy to say private finance intiatives (PFIs) simply don't work. But governments from Major to Blair to May have pursued the PFI agenda despite its terrible record - so who does it work for?
All The Best: The Peckham Terminator
Matt Zarb-Cousin and Max Shanly welcome Tony Blair’s former director of political operations John McTernan to All The Best to discuss their competing world views in a comradely fashion.
All The Best: Choo-Choo! All Aboard the Deselection Express!
Max Shanly and Matt Zarb-Cousin celebrate the completion of Jeremy Corbyn’s Red Army Takeover of the Labour Party.
The Lockdown: Britain’s Prison Industrial Complex
The Lockdown is a show all about prisons and the criminal justice system in Britain. Oonagh Ryder and Sam Swann discuss what the prison industrial complex looks like in Britain and why privatisation in the prison system matters.
IMOBastani: We Will Lose Our NHS
Aaron shows four key areas where the NHS is in freefall. The solution to the present crisis? More resources, an end to outsourcing and, of course, the resignation of Jeremy Hunt.