Our economic system is broken – and unless we break with the government’s obsession with short-termist private profit, things are destined to get worse, warns Mercedes Villalba

PRIVATISATION of the public sector has a heavy human cost. Myths about “good” privatisation or “socially useful” contracting are not borne out by the real experiences of workers or those using services.
Privatisation means that even the water isn’t safe to drink in certain parts of this country. Thames Water, a company that turned over a cool profit of £2 billion last year, is now lobbying government to increase household water bills by 40 per cent.
Decades of cuts and privatisation have thrown the NHS into crisis. Wherever the private sector is allowed to get a foothold, whether it’s the NHS, councils, schools, waste collection or public utilities, we the public and the workers suffer detriment.

As more people on the left are now questioning the sex industry, HELEN O’CONNOR reports from a timely fringe at TUC Congress where women on the front line gave their perspective on why prostitution should never be considered ‘work’


