One of my least favourite UK firms is Capita (unaffectionately known as Crapita in some parts), a firm that provides the systems that help run things like the BBC television licence (boo!) and the London Congestion charge (qualified hiss), and which may, perhaps, be involved in operating a proposed national ID card (that would qualify for hurricane force boos all round). Well, in the light of such observations, this is rather interesting, is it not?
The chairman of Capita Group, a services company with government contracts, resigned on Thursday following publicity over a 1-million-pound loan he made to the Labour Party
It is important to remember that businesses like Capita are hardly paragons of capitalist virtue, in my opinion. Capita makes money from things like the licence fee, which essentially extorts money from people who own a TV set, even if they do not watch BBC programmes. If I were an ethical investment fund manager, I would refuse to own its stock on principle.
By the way, the idea of naming and shaming businesses, politicians and individuals involved with intrusive businesses like Capita was mentioned on Samizdata last summer. It will be interesting to see what else happens in the loans-for-peerages affair.
No wonder Blair looked miserable on Budget day yesterday.
Teflon Tone’s left standing yet again as all around him fall. I think it it was Quentin Letts who recently said that following a nuclear holocaust the only creatures left would be cockroaches and Tony Blair, who would look at the destruction surrounding him and think: “Well, that turned out ok then.”
Pete_London – Thanks for that quote and my first laugh of the day!
Capita is such a sleazy company (they harass and get put in jail single mothers who can’t pay their BBC licence tribute) that obviously, they would be a prominent player in the current Blair disgrace. Sleazy is as sleazy does.
I have just had a runin with Capita Employee 5021 (“I have no name sir”) over attempting to reclaim the London congestion charge from tomorrow’s date (24th March) through to next Friday (31st March) for one of my staff who is off to Miami for the Winter Music Conference this afternoon. To say that 5021 was incredibly obtuse and unhelpful would be a master of understatement. The man progressed from telling me that they don’t do refunds through the grudging admission that he too wouldn’t like it if it happened to him up to telling me a part (not all, mind you) of the URL needed to download the refund request form. Further obstruction was encountered when one discovers that you must send the form in to them by surface mail, which ensures that you lose one day’s refund (£8) and that you must pay an ‘administration fee’ (£10) for handling the refund.
I must confess to having a very short fuse when dealing with both corporate and state bureaucrats so by the end of the conversation I was wishing him the same career success as his CEO has just encountered. I am slightly mollified by the news that the US Ambassador to London has claimed diplomatic immunity on behalf of the embassy here and refused to pay some £160,000 in outstanding congestion charge Penalty Charge Notices. Since Capita are actually financially liable for any unpaid fines to Transport for London they will have to bear the cost of Robert Tuttle’s steadfastness.
Julian Taylor: “I must confess to having a very short fuse when dealing with both corporate and state bureaucrats…”
If you haven’t already visited his site. You might derive some helpful tips on how to deal with this type of ‘civil servant’ from Neil Herron.
http://neilherron.blogspot.com/
I have to agree with Johnathan Pearce about Capita, which I regard not as a capitalist organisation at all – rather as a maggot feeding off a bloated corpse.
Rod Aldridge (the head maggot) epitomises the sleazy underbelly of unprincipled scoundrels from “industry” (though one stretches the term if applying to companies like Capita) who have floated and funded ZaNuLabour and who are, thus, working with it to make us all vassals of the state.
Further to Julian’s comment, there’s also the question of the unnecessarily intrusive way the CC is collected by database surveillance of all traffic and collecting personal information on all charge payers. It has got Madonna, for one, highly exasperated, according to press reports.
(She won’t want to provide all her addresses anywhere for the NIR, I’m sure, and I’d like to have her considered views on nationalised identity management in the press. So if anyone out there is a friend, ask her to get in touch with me at NO2ID: general-DOT-secretary-AT-no2id-DOT-net.)
Madonna has a Myspace site but I should think the best way to get in contact with her, should you wish to, is either by contacting Liz Rosenberg PR (her publicity agent) or by contacting her main agent which I believe is still CCA in Los Angeles.
I worked for those swine at Crapita for a bit. I am still none the wiser as to what they actually do.
You mean you can BUY a peerage in the UK?????
I was raised to believe these were handed out after distinguishing ones self in battle for the homeland or at worst, being a Rolling Stone or Beatle (at least contributing to the Balance of Trade). So what does one get for a peerage in return for 1,000,000 pounds?
Is it like in Roman times where you basically got limitless credit and ground floor business opportunities to be declared a Friend of the Ceaser?
Uain – You’re confused. Knights aren’t peers. No, it’s not like Roman times. Who would give you “limitless credit”? The government? Now, there’s a thought. Caesar is spelled thus.
I see the ex-chief of Crapita has coincidentally been named to head some huge boondoggle – 00ps! – taxpayer funded important youth scheme. Naturally, the two are certainly not connected. The Telegraph didn’t mention how much taxpayer money for this highly useful scheme would be paid to Ron Aldridge in salary, benefits and pension for his important services.
All us nobility-loving Americans can get our titles for actually somewhat reasonable prices here:
Nobility.co.uk
Become a baron for 40,000 quid. Not bad.
Or you can go to an auction and probably pay a bit less. Check out the Manorial Society for more info.
Yes, a lot of Third Worlders used to go this route. Now they bribe their way in, like everyone else.
Capita are the company that produces the application forms for the Civil Service.
Forms that ask questions (and demand documentary evidence) of applicants’ experience of running large orgnizations, or their “leadership skills” – for jobs like dole office clerk.
“They got the contracts on merit” – sure they did.