For Conservatives, the deregulated free market is their key credo.

This leads to massive, ruthless and corrupt privatisation of public service provision.

Quality of provision plummets. People who rely on the service suffer (or even die).

The Covid-19 situation is ruthlessly exposing a massive problem with privatisation.

Because privatising a highly complex entity like, say, the NHS, involves fragmentation of the organisation. So why haven’t frontline staff all received their vital (as in, life-saving) Personal Protection Equipment yet? Who isn’t talking to whom? And where are the tests, Matthew?

Let’s think of the NHS as a human body, which is made of many different parts and systems, each with their own task, but communicating constantly and effectively in a self-regulating way, for the good of the whole body, i.e., to actually stay alive.

Now imagine that your liver is operated by Richard Branson, your left ventricle by G4S, and your duodenum by Wetherspoons. All these operators (“providers”) have to make a profit in order to keep “providing”. They also, initially, have zero experience in operating livers, ventricles, etc.

Giving them contracts means less to do for “government”, plus a handy scapegoat when quality of provision evaporates. Also, to “oversee” this chaotic marketplace we end up with Secretaries of State who come into post knowing nothing about their remit. And they’re the policy makers??

Probably most people don’t realise the extent of the penetration of the market into public provision, as it is usually hidden under familiar logos like NHS, or something with a tree in it.

However it is the by now routine, normalised aspect of this virally insidious, antisocial, almost religious, ideology which needs to be a) exposed to a much wider audience, and b) replaced.

So, information on the ultimate owners and funding sources of the companies which get the contracts, plus the corruption in the tendering and awarding processes, should be on the side of every bus, on hoardings, on beermats, all over social media, TV ads, etc.

“There are some parallels here with education, with respect to institutional memory loss and the disregard for experts… The lack of knowledge management overtime; the lack of a single voice/coherence; the obsession with competition and the idea of efficiency/quality being a narrow focus on what constitutes education i.e., a Govian academic curriculum not fit for purpose for many many students.” – Dr. Sarah Younie, Professor of Education Innovation, De Montfort University, UK.

Imagine having a diverse, representative, inclusive government who

· actually want to govern

· involve frontline practitioners, service users, and academics in making policy

· take responsibility for high quality, equitable, in-house, not for profit, public service provision

· appoint Secretaries of State who have actually worked frontline in their areas of policy remit. In fact make it a without which, key qualification for the post.

Will this ever happen?

Max Fishel March 2020