IBM UK, located mid-way between the high culture of the South Bank and Waterloo Station’s bohemian arches, is carrying on the time-honoured tradition of community involvement: the company says that people of all ages, backgrounds and types are to found among the homeless, and since 1988, IBM South Bank has developed a programme that includes cash donations to needy agencies, training for the young and donations of food and clothing; however, top of the list of IBM’s help to the homeless is a courtesy car to Waterloo for employees; does this mean that IBM is sparing its dwindling staff the reality of poverty and the need to run the gauntlet of the notorious sunken roundabout whose informal residents have been grimly trying to burn down Waterloo Bridge, or is it an attempt to prevent them swapping reminiscences with the literally disappearing employees that general manager Nick Temple proudly boasts of at the drop of a hat?
