Devolving the state’s functions to the market

A lengthy article in the Guardian today by Matthew Taylor – How G4S is ‘securing your world’ – raises concerns for me about the motive and impact of private sector activity upon public sector services. Obviously, this is a well-worn concern, give the creeping privatisation of a variety of parts of the public sector (from contracting out of cleaning to the establishment of private universities). Nonetheless, I am worried about the ethos of such firms in the context of the (once) public sector.