I tried to reply before but my answer somehow got lost in the ether. So I'll try again. I am able to answer questions by myself. The magical process I had in mind is called a market economy. It is not a blind assumption but a simple fact for anyone who has studied elementary economics that competition can increase efficiency and lower costs (it is somewhat unfair by the way to describe outsourcing as a "racket" when billions of pounds worth of public services are supplied this way by hundreds of thousands of hard-working men and women). This increased efficiency need not be achieved by reducing service levels or wages (though each of these needs to be kept under critical review in any publicly funded service). More efficient procurement, for example, is one of the ways in which the private sector usually tops the public sector - look at the recently revealed scandal of government spending on IT . As to the example of the railways, I am old enough to remember pre-privatisation British Rail and spent many an unhappy hour thereon. If our railways are in a mess now, I cannot think of the word to describe their previous state. They have been in one kind of mess or another for as long as I can remember, through public ownership (BR), private ownership (Railtrack) and something which is neither one nor the other as far as I can see (Network Rail) - which is neither fully accountable to the market nor to the state. So I don't expect the mess to be cleared up soon.

Entire Thread

Topic	Date Posted	Posted By
Wandsworth Libraries	23/09/11 22:37:00	Alison Fraser
Wandsworth Libraries	28/09/11 13:02:00	Isabel Wooller
Re:Wandsworth Libraries	28/09/11 14:07:00	Roland Gilmore
Re:Re:Wandsworth Libraries	30/09/11 21:38:00	Jenny Featherstone
Re:Re:Re:Wandsworth Libraries	30/09/11 22:29:00	Andy Howard
Re:Re:Re:Re:Wandsworth Libraries	30/09/11 23:07:00	Roland Gilmore
Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Wandsworth Libraries	01/10/11 10:49:00	Richard Carter
Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Wandsworth Libraries	03/10/11 23:48:00	Andy Howard
Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Wandsworth Libraries	04/10/11 01:19:00	Roland Gilmore
Re:Re:Re:Re:Wandsworth Libraries	19/10/11 11:47:00	Jane Eades
Re:Re:Wandsworth Libraries	19/10/11 16:16:00	Lucille Grant
Re:Wandsworth Libraries	04/10/11 08:06:00	Vaughan Simpson
Re:Re:Wandsworth Libraries	04/10/11 09:47:00	Roland Gilmore
Re:Re:Re:Wandsworth Libraries	19/10/11 11:56:00	Jane Eades
Re:Re:Re:Re:Wandsworth Libraries	20/10/11 14:38:00	Guy Sunda

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