TPA – Blind To Their Own

For once, this week’s BBC Panorama (Undercover Care: The Abuse Exposed) brought a truly original and shocking programme: the treatment of people with learning difficulties at a care home in Bristol has led to a number of arrests, and even Young Dave has intervened.

Soon after has come the revelation that Southern Cross, a private company that manages old peoples’ homes, and is in receipt of substantial sums of taxpayers’ money to do so, is in trouble. Here, a questionable business model involving buying properties, then doing a sale and leaseback deal on them, and ended up saddling Southern Cross with an unsustainable rent bill as the property market slumped.

In both cases, the thought enters that there is questionable value being obtained for taxpayers. So the obvious conclusion appears to be that this is a no-brainer for the assembled non-job holders at the so-called Taxpayers’ Alliance (TPA): here is something useful for them to campaign about.

But thus far the TPA has said not one word about either Panorama or Southern Cross. Nor, as I noted earlier today, has it made any comment on the latest news that the so-called War On Drugs is continuing to fail both drug users and the wider population.

The reason for silence on the drugs issue is because the TPA depends heavily for its publicity on media outlets that like to shout down any discussion on the subject. But why not pitch in on care homes issues? Ah well. Here we see the real motivation behind the TPA.

The care homes in question are all in the private sector. The TPA claims to be campaigning in the interests of taxpayers, but as I’ve said many times, its sole purpose is the demonisation of Government – any Government – together with public service and public works.

The fall-out from the Panorama programme, and the Southern Cross problem, together with the TPA’s total silence on both, shows that my characterisation of the TPA was right all along. The idea that the TPA is in it for ordinary taxpayers is a total sham.