I brought the week to an end too soon. The Daily Mail hasn't finished with Emma Harrison. Its long article headlined, "Living off the state - and how: Inside the 16 bedroom, 42-loo mansion of Government's families tsar whose £8.5m payday provoked outrage" is a real demolition job. They've homed in on the opulence of her home, Thornbridge Hall; her personal wealth, an estimated £70 million; and the history of A4e. They've spoken to the neighbours, and to some clients. It's painful. And it's not all accurate. They haven't grasped the history of New Deal, for instance. But it really is so devastating that one could almost feel sorry for Harrison. Is there a danger of overkill here? It won't deprive A4e of any contracts. All it will do is drive her off the TV for a while.
An excellent article. I wonder if she feels a pang of guilt when she visits her proteges?
ReplyDelete"all it will do is keep her off the TV for a while".
ReplyDeleteBe grateful for small mercies.
Frankly the woman's ego is so overblown I doubt that it will.
Still the more she exposes herself the more the Mail will keep on her case. So not all bad.
Do I feel sorry for Ms Harrison? ....er, NO!
ReplyDeleteShe has made her own bed and now she has to lie in it so to speak. I and many here have been saying these very things about A4e and Ms Harrison for a good few years now. Were we listened to? Were we 'eck as like!
Harrison is in the line of fire for two good reasons.
Firstly, as A4e is funded almost entirely by tax money it is not at all surprising that people demand to know how and why A4e is funded and how well it performs
(Or more often than not how well it under-performs)
Secondly, Ms Harrison no doubt thinks she is media friendly. In reality she is something of a 'media tart'. She far too readily gets her name in the press, TV, radio and the net. Well, this can and now has backfired somewhat. Esp. wth Harrison being appointed Cameron's 'families champion', a very high profile role in itself.
Perhaps Harrison will lick her wounds and take more of a back seat for a while. Even if she does, the pressure not just on her and A4e but also the government and other W2W providers needs to be kept up!
I'm certainly no fan of The Daily Mail but maybe in this case, the enemy of my enemy is my friend.
ReplyDeleteCan't believe it has not been noticed before that the tax payer has been funding her greedy lifestyle for a long time - getting people back to work should be a non profit running scheme let the tax payers decide!
ReplyDelete