Security and Cowboy Builders

Imagine that you're getting a builder in to put up an extension, or maybe a conservatory. You'd almost certainly get quotations from at least 2 or 3 different firms, and compare not just the price, but also the scope of supply for the job, i.e. what's included in the price. You might confirm some details, such as if the contractor is responsible for disposing of waste, or skip hire etc. You would probably check the builder's references, even possibly going to speak to past clients, to get an idea of the quality and reliability of the builder and his team.

When all this information is in, you make an informed choice about which builder to choose. It's probably a balance between price, quality and reliability. In terms of time, and also financially, it's usually wise to have some contingency in place.

World English Dictionary
contingency  (kənˈtɪndʒənsɪ) 

— n  , pl  -cies 
1.  a. a possible but not very likely future event or condition; eventuality 
 b. ( as modifier ): a contingency plan  
2.  something dependent on a possible future event 
3.  a fact, event, etc, incidental to or dependent on something else 
4.  in systemic grammar  
 a. Compare adding modification of the meaning of a main clause by use of a bound clause introduced by a binder such as if, when, though,  or since 
 b. ( as modifier ): a contingency clause  
5.  logic  
 a. the state of being contingent 
 b. a contingent statement 
6.  dependence on chance; uncertainty 
7.  statistics  
 a. the degree of association between theoretical and observed common frequencies of two graded or classified variables. It is measured by the chi-square test 
 b. ( as modifier ): a contingency table ; the contingency coefficient 

In the context that we've been discussing, a reasonable contingency plan might include things such as discovering that footings need to be deeper than anticipated, or perhaps an uncharted drain. Timings might, depending upon the circumstances, be changed by the weather or perhaps sickness. The broad picture from the definitions above is that the events considered in a contingency are possible, but perhaps not likely or maybe even incidental to the matter at hand.

I doubt that anyone has ever undertaken a building project with a particular supplier and included as a contingency that the work will be done so badly, that you end up having to pay someone else to do it again, (or even do it yourself) or that the builder will fail to turn up. If you even suspected that either of these situations might occur, only the most arrogant or stupid of people would continue with that contractor.

Yet, if the Government (specifically, Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt) is to be believed, this is exactly what has happened. All week, Hunt has been playing down the utter and total failure of G4S to provide the required number of security guards, saying that it's completely normal for a contractor to fail to deliver, and that contingency plans were in place for this.

Hunt continues to maintain that the Government had been monitoring G4S closely during the run-up to the Games. Again, IF this is true, then it is inescapable that the monitoring was not close enough.

Hunt and Theresa May find themselves in an inextricable mess entirely of their own making. The process has been mismanaged to the extent that nothing that they save, true or otherwise, can - or should - save their jobs. Both must go after the Olympics are over.