09-08-2012, 01:28 AM
Rosemary has realised that a few years ago she had been 'bid-candy'
She was reading her Sunday paper when she came across a nasty little phrase …
[URL="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/michelehanson"]Michele Hanson
guardian.co.uk,
Monday 6 August 2012 20.30 BST
[/URL]Rosemary was reading her Sunday paper, about Serco bidding to run the National Citizen Service, when she came across a nasty little new phrase "bid-candy". A charity is doing rather well and looking tasty, it has perhaps fallen upon hard times, then along comes a huge corporation, "partners" the charity, makes itself look genuinely caring, bids for a monster contract, gets it, gobbles up the little charity, turns it to crap, and carries on to make a fortune.
Then, even nastier, Rosemary realised that, a few years ago, she herself had been bid-candy. Her little charity once gave bereavement counselling to young women in prison. About 25% of them were queuing up for help and feeling better, when wham! In came a giant private company, "partnered" Rosemary's charity, ruined it, snaffled up a much bigger grant than Rosemary had, hired staff on the cheap with one weekend's training, and sacked Rosemary (a psychotherapist with decades of experience), who perhaps didn't put up as much of a fight as she could have done, because she was weakened at the time by an infected broken ankle, so trudging up and down long prison corridors wasn't easy.
But she couldn't have beaten them anyway. They may have been rubbish at bereavement counselling, but they spent a fortune on brochures and were fab at presentation. That's the only skill you need nowadays. For years I've wondered how outfits such as Atos, Crapita, G4S, Serco and Applied Language Solutions were still winning colossal contracts after servicing and solving diddly-squat. Now I know. No need to flap about court translators, border controls, patients' records, who's disabled, unemployed, poorly, meant to be deported or whatever. Presentation is the secret. Promise to "turn things round", grab three years' funding, cock it up and bingo! Off you go again.
Meanwhile all the desperate people hanging by their fingertips to their very last chance of a bearable life, finally lose their feeble grip and fall into the abyss. A million tragedies unfold, but the presentations go on, the contracts roll in. Not a golden legacy.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2...NTCMP=SRCH
She was reading her Sunday paper when she came across a nasty little phrase …
[URL="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/michelehanson"]Michele Hanson
guardian.co.uk,
Monday 6 August 2012 20.30 BST
[/URL]Rosemary was reading her Sunday paper, about Serco bidding to run the National Citizen Service, when she came across a nasty little new phrase "bid-candy". A charity is doing rather well and looking tasty, it has perhaps fallen upon hard times, then along comes a huge corporation, "partners" the charity, makes itself look genuinely caring, bids for a monster contract, gets it, gobbles up the little charity, turns it to crap, and carries on to make a fortune.
Then, even nastier, Rosemary realised that, a few years ago, she herself had been bid-candy. Her little charity once gave bereavement counselling to young women in prison. About 25% of them were queuing up for help and feeling better, when wham! In came a giant private company, "partnered" Rosemary's charity, ruined it, snaffled up a much bigger grant than Rosemary had, hired staff on the cheap with one weekend's training, and sacked Rosemary (a psychotherapist with decades of experience), who perhaps didn't put up as much of a fight as she could have done, because she was weakened at the time by an infected broken ankle, so trudging up and down long prison corridors wasn't easy.
But she couldn't have beaten them anyway. They may have been rubbish at bereavement counselling, but they spent a fortune on brochures and were fab at presentation. That's the only skill you need nowadays. For years I've wondered how outfits such as Atos, Crapita, G4S, Serco and Applied Language Solutions were still winning colossal contracts after servicing and solving diddly-squat. Now I know. No need to flap about court translators, border controls, patients' records, who's disabled, unemployed, poorly, meant to be deported or whatever. Presentation is the secret. Promise to "turn things round", grab three years' funding, cock it up and bingo! Off you go again.
Meanwhile all the desperate people hanging by their fingertips to their very last chance of a bearable life, finally lose their feeble grip and fall into the abyss. A million tragedies unfold, but the presentations go on, the contracts roll in. Not a golden legacy.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2...NTCMP=SRCH
"The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it." Karl Marx
"He would, wouldn't he?" Mandy Rice-Davies. When asked in court whether she knew that Lord Astor had denied having sex with her.
“I think it would be a good idea” Ghandi, when asked about Western Civilisation.
"He would, wouldn't he?" Mandy Rice-Davies. When asked in court whether she knew that Lord Astor had denied having sex with her.
“I think it would be a good idea” Ghandi, when asked about Western Civilisation.