- Written by: Kamran Mofid
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G4S's Olympic struggles should derail the drive towards more privatisation
Private companies have one aim: profit maximisation. So expect cuts in staffing levels and everything done on the cheap
“The next time you meet one of those free-market ideologues who tells you private companies are always more efficient than the public sector, don't bother to get involved in a lengthy argument. Instead just use the example of G4S.
G4S, which describes itself as "the world's leading security solutions group", was given a lucrative £284m contract to supply more than 10,000 security staff to work at the Olympic Games.
Now, two weeks before the opening ceremony, G4S tells us it needs additional help to meet its obligations. The testimony of those who tried to get a job suggests incompetence on an enormous scale.”…- Written by: Kamran Mofid
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I signed up for security course in 90 seconds! Undercover Mail reporter experiences the shambolic G4S training centre
“Such is the desperation of G4S bosses to fill security places that when I walked into their Olympic base I was signed up to a training course within 90 seconds. Once inside, utter confusion reigned in the makeshift centre in the shadow of the Olympic Park. I had arrived shortly before 9am on Thursday posing as an unemployed man seeking work as a security guard. With no checks or questions, I was whisked into a large lecture hall with 130 other people and a woman demanding to see my passport. ‘Passport, name, date of birth,’ she barked. I handed it over. I was now officially signed up to complete.”…
- Written by: Kamran Mofid
- Hits: 3500
Harrowing picture of post-capitalist America: The 'sacrifice zones' - areas that have been offered up for exploitation in the name of profit, progress, and technological advancement
Chris Hedges and Joe Sacco: drawing America's invisible poor - audio slideshow
For his latest book, Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt, out this month in paperback, Pulitzer prize-winning author Chris Hedges collaborated with award-winning cartoonist and journalist Joe Sacco to produce a heartfelt, harrowing picture of post-capitalist America. Together they explore the country's 'sacrifice zones' - areas that have been offered up for exploitation in the name of profit, progress, and technological advancement - and show in words and images what life looks like in places where the marketplace rules without constraints.- Britain engulfed in corruption: Wandering through the Wasteland, Time to Return to the Promised Land
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- "I love Barclays": The Looting of Britain! "I love Barclays"!
- Olympics and Your Health: Welcome to London’s Olympic of shopping malls, junk food and fizzy drinks
- “When it comes to a global crisis, all countries are eventually in it together”