Sparing the Rod

Those efficient G4S people are still learning lessons after their usual fashion; which is to say, not much. After a string of scandals and fiascos, the Government's favourite boot-boys are trying to flog off their last remaining contract for managing a "secure training centre" (child prison, in Standard English), in accordance with the prevailing religious orthodoxy which specifies that a private company shall, wherever possible, be punished for abject failure by an increase in profits. Conditions at the prison have become more violent, according to inspectors, because G4S are too efficient to train their staff properly or keep the staff they've got. So efficient are G4S, in fact, that the lack of staff at the prison can no longer be mitigated by bringing in staff from other prisons, because all the other prisons have been sold. The company's managing director of remunerative child-beating regards the situation as a bit of a challenge, which certainly shows an encouraging level of realism. It remains to be seen whether the Ministry for Profitable Incarceration will approve the company's attempt to drop the whole problem into the lap of a charity; doubtless much will depend on whether the taxpayer has made a sufficient contribution towards the moral well-being of G4S.