The greatest threat to democracy may no longer come from political parties but from unelected tech oligarchs like Peter Thiel and his powerful Silicon Valley network, argues JOHN GREEN
I ARRIVED here in Manchester angry. Angry at the failure of a neoliberal dogma that has resulted in the spectacular collapse of four high-profile outsourced and privatised projects, for which no-one is being held accountable or punished.
Carillion — two much-needed new hospitals in Liverpool and Birmingham lie mothballed, while the failed construction and outsourcing giant’s apprenticeship programme appears to have been a sham scheme.
Birmingham Prison — the government forced to take over from G4S after the chief inspector of prisons said it had fallen into a “state of crisis.”
The HS2 debacle exposes what happens when public infrastructure is handed to private contractors – especially when set against China’s state-led high-speed rail success, says CARLOS MARTINEZ
Channel 4’s Dirty Business shows why private companies cannot be trusted with vital services like water, says PAUL DONOVAN


