Every now and again I
do an article roundup to bring together key articles from a couple of months work.
The second roundup was dedicated to lobbying following the discovery of a document from a healthcare lobbying group that told the tale of how
Sir Stephen Bubb played his part in changing the face of the NHS. In addition
it looked at the daily Telegraph’s role in helping promote the message of
‘competition’. More...
This roundup looks at
the political connections of two Think Tanks that silently go about producing policy that the government so
readily take onboard to leverage public resources into the private companies
that fund them. Reform, the BBC, Policy Exchange, Wonga are all in here, as is
David Cameron and how the government accepted the recommendations of the
‘Choice and Competition’ working group of the NHS Future Forum before they
received the final report. Democracy in this country is in a fragile state.
Please pass on this
blog to anyone you know.
1. ‘Just as I was signing off our Panel's
report on " Delivering real choice" I get sent a copy of the PM
speech announcing he is accepting many of our key recommendations (although we
haven't actually given him the report yet!) More…
2. Sir Stephen Bubb was a
key figure in ensuring private healthcare remained in the Health and Social
Care Act following the so-called ‘listening period.’ Read about how he bumped
in Lansley and got briefed before appearing on the Health and Social Care bill
Committee. More…
3. Policy Exchange Links
to the Conservative Party. They are a think tank with charity status, but
predominantly dream up ideas for privatising. They are meant to be politically
‘independent’, but are linked solely to the Conservative party. More here…
4. Reform are according to their website 'keen to involve corporate
organisations in our research because their expertise is often left out of the
Whitehall policy discussion.’ – See why this is a lie with reports on Aviva,
BMI
Healthcare, G4S
and see why this makes them a conduit
to privatisation. You can also see
which of their corporate partners are linked to Lords and MPs. More…
5. The BBC failed the
people of the UK for whom they are meant to inform. A new report analyses the
key stories they missed including the Lords and MPs research. How the BBC
betrayed the NHS. More…
6. A Complaint was sent
to the Charity Commission over the free market think tank Reform. The complaint
focused on their political independence and their links
to the Conservative party. The second part of the complaint looked at misleading statements made on their website. We await their response. More...
7. The government want to
privatise probations, and it is all linked into the Police Commissioner
elections, which will act as an opportunity to pressurise local leaders to
outsource other areas such as the fire brigade, the police, ambulance services,
of which Reform suggest Police Commissioners should be in charge. More…
8. It takes a certain kind of person to run a
company that takes advantage of people in desperate times, to squeeze money out
of them when they have nowhere else to go. The kind of person who would do such
a thing, should be admonished by society for preying on the needy however, this
government, who receives money from one of their main funders, sees him as a
person to go to for advice and to send senior advisers to lobby on the
company's behalf. More…
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