Those who work in the sector

Those who have followed this blog for some time will be aware of my attitude towards people who work in the w2w sector.  I don't allow any disparaging comments about them either individually or in general.  There are a number of reasons for that.  One is that, as someone who used to work in the business myself (although not for any of the primes and not recently), I know that the vast majority are decent human beings trying to do the best job they can.  It's not their fault.  Of course, there are people who are probably in the wrong job; and clients who have to deal with them will get angry and upset.  But that is true anywhere, and not a reason for denigrating all of them.  So I will not use this blog to insult or accuse staff.
Secondly, some employees and ex-employees have been enormously helpful to me; as providers of inside information, or as knowledgeable people who could explain things to me and others when I clearly didn't know what I was talking about.
From time to time staff have tried to engage with the blog by being critical of me or of the people who post here.  Usually I will allow that, if it's making a contribution to the discussion.  Most of them, however, mistake the purpose of what I do, which is to follow a particular company, and to look critically at the outsourcing business in this sector.  They want to tell us how wrong we are.  Some even want to sneer at people who are out of work, and tell them that it's their fault.  Fine, but there's at least one forum, the Indus Delta site, which is for professionals in the industry.  Or, of course, they could start their own site.  Here, we're not about a "balanced discussion" when that means giving equal space to people who want to praise the business and those involved in it, particularly whilst patronising or insulting their opponents.  So don't bother.

Finally, links to three articles to which I'll return in the next day or two; the New Statesman, the Scottish Daily Record, and the Independent.