This article has been written by Dexter Whitfield, director of the European Services Strategy Unit as an accompaniment to his new book, which will have a launch in Edinburgh later this month. The new book Public Alternative to the Privatisation of Life sets out the scale, cost and impact of different forms of privatisation and encompasses […]
On the street with our Xmas Campaign
How much would you pay someone to put up a Christmas tree? We took to the streets of Edinburgh this week to ask people this to demonstrate the disproportionate costs that come with Private Finance Initiatives. Under a complex and unfair PFI contract, Alistair Darling had to pay £900 for the UK Treasury’s Xmas tree. This […]
Local-National Partnerships : A new model for Scotland
Lessons from a failed system Our schools are collapsing, hospitals are being failed and yet there’s more money being spent on them than ever, with nobody around to be held accountable. That’s the situation that our country has found itself in after years of contracts forged by Public Private Partnerships. Our infrastructure is costing taxpayers […]
Harvesting debt: the failures of NPDs
This article is written by Emma Saunders for Jubilee Scotland. It is an introduction to her thesis ‘Harvesting Debt: Hub South-East Scotland, Austerity and Public Procurement’ which explores the topic further. Emma was studying MSc by Research in Human Geography at the University of Edinburgh and has since completed this. ————————————————————————————————————————————— On the 21st of November, two weeks […]
Economical with food for thought
This week’s Economist says something puzzling: The middling poor, those on $2 a day, are pulling children from school and cutting back on vegetables so they can still afford rice. Those on $1 a day are cutting back on meat, vegetables and one or two meals, so they can afford one bowl. The desperate—those on […]
