I've been privatised. The comprehensive package of "help and support" I get from the Jobcentre (you know, the one that's been so successful in helping me get a job so far) is being withdrawn, and will in future be "delivered" by a "partner organisation". The literature I've been given is short on details of exactly what this will entail other than financial sanctions for non-compliance, so it looks at this stage very much like The Same Old Shit In A New Wrapper, i.e. if I do get work anytime soon, it'll be despite this programme rather than because of it but they'll still claim the credit and so collect a big fat bung from the government.
This series is a preemptive attempt to keep the record straight on that score. I was going to spin it off into a separate blog, but I got halfway through the introductory "How I got here" post and realised that I could have truth or anonymity but not both at once, and that anything which could be construed as an undercover investigation of the programme could itself be used as an excuse to "sanction" me.
Feh.
Anyway, I've got a couple of weeks to go while my details are handed over, so this is the trailer rather than episode one. Watch this space, social policy fans.
Meanwhile, I continue developing:
art for Cherry Al's iPhone game,
my followup proposal for Insomnia,
a pitch for a classic drama adaptation,
the return of some old stuff,
and my next short-run daily webcomic
as well as continuing to be available for art workshops, one-off or regular illustration/design/editing jobs and private commissions large or small,
none of which, obviously, counts as "work".