In late January a tribunal found that a traffic warden, Hakim Berkani, had been unfairly dismissed after blowing the whistle on illegal quota-setting by his employer.
Three things are worrying here.
Firstly, he was not employed directly by the authorities, but by NSL – a private contractor. To place law-enforcement in private hands is surely asking for trouble. Tax-collectors in New Testament Judea were widely known to be creaming it: and I am sure the Mafia, experts in collecting revenue, would love to do so with official sanction.
Secondly, NSL is the largest such contractor in the UK, working for 60 local authorities. So there is no reason to be optimistic that the same practices are not operating throughout the country.
Thirdly, and astonishingly, within weeks of Berkani's tribunal, the government is proposing to allow the contracting-out of police work.
Berkani said to reporters: "Do you tell a police officer he should arrest a minimum of 10 people a day?" He was joking. David Cameron is not joking.
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