I read the news today oh boy! Page 930

Quote: sootyj @ July 17 2012, 4:19 PM BST

Infact according to statistics prison vans are now so insecure its lead to a drop in prison escapes. As escaping from a van is so easy.

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Arm the guards: problem solved.

Some where along the line both parties in the UK have become enamoured of the mantra. Privatise and subcontract. So we get shitty services for our taxes we have to use.

It's cheaper and more effective than paying soft and lazy government workers to do the same job. But it's imperative that the government keep a close eye on performance to ensure that they're getting good value for the money. Someone in the government is either incompetent and/or taking payoffs in situations like this and, as I said, heads should roll.

Except what you find is highly trained and dedicated government workers; prison officers, police men etc. Of which the UK has some of the best in the world.

Are replaced by twats in nylon uniforms with a fortnights training, no job security and no intention of turning up.

Quote: sootyj @ July 17 2012, 4:35 PM BST

Except what you find is highly trained and dedicated government workers; prison officers, police men etc. Of which the UK has some of the best in the world.

Are replaced by twats in nylon uniforms with a fortnights training, no job security and no intention of turning up.

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Again, shame on the government for not demanding and enforcing a higher level of performance.

I don't know what either current party could achieve

Two young men transform from armed thugs into scampering scaredy cats when a 71-year-old man turns the tables and starts shooting at them.

http://www.gainesville.com/article/20120716/ARTICLES/120719707/1109/sports?Title=Video-shows-patron-shooting-robbers-at-Palms-Internet-Cafe

P.S. Carry a .45 next time, Pops.

We don't need guns:

"A pensioner confronted two thieves trying to steal his award-winning petunias and saw them off with his garden trowel. "

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/9404639/Pensioner-fights-off-petunia-thieves-with-trowel.html

I <3

There are some mighty tough criminals in your country.

Quote: DaButt @ July 17 2012, 4:25 PM BST

It's cheaper and more effective than paying soft and lazy government workers to do the same job.

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Normally I go along on most things with you DaButt, but here is where you are in the wrong. You are acutally promoting ideological right wing corporate bullcrap instead of acutal real world experiences.

Would you like all of the police in the State of Texas, including the Rangers, who volunteered and take pride in their uniform, to lose their jobs because Rick Perry gave the contracts to Wells Fargo or American Guard Services or any number of rent-a-cop supermarket security guard services because it was more cost effective?

I wish soft and lazy government workers were in charge of the banks - they got bailed out by who again? That's right, the government and the tax payer. Did they all get sacked and go to jail? Yeah, I didn't think so.

Big Government - whether you like it or hate it - isn't concerned about profits and won't outsource jobs to Mexico and China. I'd rather have a small degree of incompetence and waste then a 'cost effective' private company ripping me off and not providing the services promised. When it comes to corporations, it's only 'cheaper' for them, not for us.

And just look. What. Happened when us Military sub contracted. Out to black water

Quote: sootyj @ July 17 2012, 1:50 PM BST

The defence budget is comparatively huge for our size and wealth.

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If we'd surrendered to the Nazis in WW2, had no nuclear deterrent and refused to get involved in global conflicts, I'd agree.

As it is, we're on a parity with France budget wise and they do bugger all. We're also constantly being relied on as one of the 'world police' and are always being invited to go in and sort things out militarially.

All the hippy dippys saying 'f**k the Falkland Islanders' are usually the first to cry 'send in the troops' when massacres happen in places like Kosovo, Libya and Sierra Leone.

You sir are more than welcome to f**k the falkland islanders ovine and biped

Quote: Renegade Carpark @ July 17 2012, 5:33 PM BST

Normally I go along on most things with you DaButt, but here is where you are in the wrong. You are acutally promoting ideological right wing corporate bullcrap instead of acutal real world experiences.

Would you like all of the police in the State of Texas, including the Rangers, who volunteered and take pride in their uniform, to lose their jobs because Rick Perry gave the contracts to Wells Fargo or American Guard Services or any number of rent-a-cop supermarket security guard services because it was more cost effective?

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I spent many years working for a company that did work previously reserved for government employees. We did the work better and much cheaply than the government could.

People are people, whether they are government employees or private contractors. They will do whatever their job demands of them, and usually not much more. If a contractor performs more poorly than a similar government worker, then one of the following is true:

1) The terms of the contract are not being fulfilled and the government should penalize the contract holder for failing to fulfill the terms of the contract. If the government is simply "letting them slide" then the public should throw the officials out of office, and perhaps into jail.

or

2) The terms of the contract are insufficient and the public should throw the government officials that agreed to it out of office and into a jail cell.

National defence is the one arena where I'll grudgingly allow the government to do what it does best: solve problems by throwing excessive and wasteful numbers of people and money at them

Quote: DaButt @ July 17 2012, 5:47 PM BST

1) The terms of the contract are not being fulfilled and the government should penalize the contract holder for failing to fulfill the terms of the contract. If the government is simply "letting them slide" then the public should throw the officials out of office, and perhaps into jail.

or

2) The terms of the contract are insufficient and the public should throw the government officials that agreed to it out of office and into a jail cell.

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All well and good until planes fall from the sky, nuclear power plants meltdown or global economies fail. Blaming people after the fact instead of insuring these things didn't happen in the first place is no way to run a society. Particularly as private companies come and go in the blink of an eye.

But I'm a meritocracy man - best person for the job - not the most profitable, cost effective, politically correct, fanciest educated or nepotisticly connected.

Quote: Renegade Carpark @ July 17 2012, 5:55 PM BST

All well and good until planes fall from the sky, nuclear power plants meltdown or global economies fail.

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All of those have happened with the government running and/or overseeing the operations.