CHARITY BEGINS ABROAD

It’s hard to make the imprisonment of innocent children palatable, but getting a children’s charity on board in the whole exercise is one amazing bit of spin. After Cleggo’s dramatic U-turn on his promise to “end the shameful practice” of locking up kids with new-style ‘pre-departure accommodation’ such as the one planned for Pease Pottage, East Sussex (see SchNEWS 760), now Barnado’s is to help oversee the ‘welfare’ side. Presumably the ‘welfare’ aspect of sending home families who, in many cases, fear for their lives will be one big cuddly-toy elephant in the room.

Talking of deportation – the death of Angolan deportee Jimmy Mubenga during forced deportation last October is back in the spotlight. Security firm G4S (see SchNEWS 746), whose guards are thought to have caused Mubenga’s death by suffocation through their violent restraining techniques, may face corporate manslaughter charges. There has only ever been one case of a company being convicted of this, so if you’re holding your breath this time you might go the same way as G4S’s victims. The company earns over £600m from the government for services and, as the cuts axe keeps falling, they have been contracted for even more - including the private sector replacement for the scrapped youth unemployment schemes. And although G4S was swiftly removed from its deportation duties after the incident, it still runs three immigration removal centres.

It seems the government likes to keep their (corporate) friends close, and their (campaigning) enemies even closer.