That Graybeing Touch Again

Well, here's a thing: despite the glittering records of the privatised rail companies, the privatised water companies, the privatised prisons and the part-privatised NHS, it seems that the privatised probation industry has been a bit of a flop. The "ambitious and innovative reform," as the Minister for Profitable Incarceration sniggeringly hath it, was introduced by the brilliant Chris Graybeing, and the very nearly unpredicted débâcle was considerately announced at the end of the Parliamentary session, so as not to upset the plebs who will be picking up the bill. Since the companies' contracts are being prematurely terminated, about £500 million of public money will be shovelled down their maw in order to assuage their emotional trauma. Perhaps most splendidly of all, this amount will include £115 million in penalty charges for failing to meet targets which were once the responsibility of the private companies but are now, by a miracle of transformative efficiency, the responsibility of the taxpayer.