The main topic of conversation with my friends this past week has been the G4S fiasco, or meltdown as one candidly put it. Along with other massive global organisations such as Serco, most agreed that outsourcing is privatisation by the back door and none was happy with the concept.However Martyn Hart disagrees:'Outsourcing is far from privatisation – done properly, the client remains in control at all times.'Whilst I understand his reasoning - which looks good on paper - the reality is that governments are unable to draw up sensible contracts. Here in Scotland the Edinburgh trams disaster shows clearly that government - although in this case it's local government - is sadly lacking in the quality of employees required to design complex contracts.Why is this?

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