Shadow State is the second book of journalist Alan White, and where the first – pseudonymously published – One Blood can be read as a starting point on understanding British gang culture, this latest offering gives the same treatment to the UK’s prolific but well-veiled industry for the outsourcing of public services.
In writing it, White has performed a service the value of which it is hard to overstate, and testimonials on the rear cover from MPs Andy Slaughter and Margaret Hodge suggest that the book will be read by those who can hopefully learn its crucial lessons and interpret them in policy. Shadow State traces the lineage of outsourcing, its scope, scale, working methods and flaws; for such a hydra of an industry, the feat is considerable. Whether you are a journalist, campaigner or only a concerned member of society seeking to understand a model now responsible for a quarter of our public services, the book is to outsourcing what James Meek’s Private Island was to privatisation.
