Archive for the ‘Politics’ Category
Protecting the Olympics (2)
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Source: Holger.Ellgaard, Wikipedia
The Olympic debacle continues. Not only are there missiles ready to shoot down unauthorised aeroplanes over East London housing estates, but now army personnel are checking bags as people enter the Olympic village. G4S – a company to which the state has outsourced a lot of public sector work over the years – cannot meet its contractual obligations to supply 10,000 ‘guards’; though waits until 2 weeks before the event to tell anyone.
Its chief executive, Nick Buckles, went on the Today programme yesterday to answer some benign and straightforward questions from Justin Webb. Clearly, over the preceding 24 hours he had had some media training. The advice was – “tell your story and stick to it. Repeat it and then repeat it again; go for the sympathy thing, the company will take a big hit, maybe £50m.”
We wait to see if Keith Vaz, chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee – can get any more out of him next week when he appears before them.
The interview can be heard here.
Protecting the Olympics
Swiss Rapier Missiles. Source Wikepedia: Nirazul
The Guardian newspaper today reports “Mr Justice Haddon-Cave said the residents of the Fred Wigg tower had expressed “shock, anxiety and worry” over the prospect of missiles being stationed on top of their building, but they had been under “something of a misapprehension” about the nature of the equipment to be deployed and the risks deployment would bring.
“Yesterday David Forsdick, representing Philip Hammond, said the defence secretary was under no statutory duty to consult the residents, although an impact assessment had been carried out and the tenants’ human rights taken into consideration. Residents had no legitimate expectation that they would be consulted on issues involving the defence of the realm and national security.”
So, can we see the impact assessment? What kind of misapprehension about missiles on the roof might the residents have? To what extent is protecting the IoC and the Olympic event a defence of the realm?
The best of British design and the Olympics
It is starting to get a little bit tedious, the constant references to the past in terms of design: Pillar boxes, buses, etc. These posters, moreover, are embarassing. Does Richard Branson really equate with being Great?
It is also unfortunately very true now that what makes cities distinctive now is their past. The present and maybe future in terms of artefacts – buildings, products – are generic and global. The same artefacts appear in many of great cities across the globe. BBC Radio 4 seems obsessed about this point, and are discussing it at length. This is the debate’s latest instalment.
Why politics matters
Golden Dawn logo
It has been quite a couple of weeks. Francois Hollande is elected President of France on a less Austerity ticket. The Greeks don’t elect anyone to run the country but open the door to some of Europe’s most agressive fascists. And the fickle English electorate finally shows that it realises that the Conservatives rule in their own interests. It may be too late on that one, however, if healh service ‘reforms’ and educational ‘reforms’ go unchecked.
This all challenges the ‘fix’ agreed by the previous generation of European leaders regarding the Euro and sovereign debt. Yesterday morning we learned that Spanish government bailed out the country’s fouth largest bank, Bankia. Today they are shoring up the rest of the banking sector against the backdrop of no growth, high unemployment and investor withdrawal of funds.
It is clear, however, that electors are unlikely to be swayed by policies that continue to support those who have brought on the misery by their own greed, self-belief and inability to manage their own financial instrument creations. (This morning we find JP Morgen Chase have reported an embarrassing $2bn loss generated by a trader in derivatives that were designed to hedge against risks elsewhere in the bank.)
I’m hopeful about the French. The Greeks, however, have resorted to a fascist response. I suspect a contagion is not likely across Europe, the Greeks will need to manage them robustly. They are not democrats.
Flag courtesy of Stlemur
Privatising schools
I have written many times about Michael Gove; but whilst most have been preocuppied by NHS reforms, Gove has continued his assuault on comprehensive education. The march of the Academies has carried on relentless with over half of the country’s high schools converted on the promise of higher budgets, albeit independent of the local education authority that often brings economies of scale to works and procurement.
The motivation is, of course, selection – a return to grammar schools. Elitism. But there is a light in all of this. Local education authorities may be a thing of the past, but schools may still need to organise themselves co-operatively, as there are genuine benefits to be achieved by collective provision. Let us see how it develops.
Privatising roads
Not content with the National Health Service, now the Conservatives want to privatise the roads on the grounds that we do not have enough money to build or repair the network. Some thoughts.
First, governments, even indebted ones, can raise money for infrastructure cheaper than the the private sector (as the Private Finance Initiative demonstrates only too well). Second, tapping into sovereign wealth funds means ceding infrastructure to the Gulf States? Third, we know it is not about raising money, rather it is about paying big business well to run services that we can manage better – cheaper – inside. The railways are a case in point, nomatter how the Transport Secretary thinks she can reorganise the railways, the private sector has milked and will continue to milk the public coffers because they can. Because we let them. And every time the Government offers more assets, not surprisingly they accept them and get fatter.
Privatisation of the NHS
Why do the Conservatives hate public provision of services so much? The Guardian reported this week the privatisation of
NHS Devon and Devon county council’s frontline services for children including some child protection services, treatment for mentally ill children and adolescents, therapy and respite care for those with disabilities, health visiting, and palliative nursing for dying children.
Who are the two front runners in this £130m contract? Serco and Virgin. Seemingly fallen by the wayside is a joint bid between Devon Partnership NHS trust, bidding along with Barnardo’s and other local charities.
I’m no fan of poor NHS management and care. But it does matter who runs the NHS. It does matter that those running it are not subject to shareholder pressure. Money is tight enough as it is, adding another shareholder dimension is unhelpful or even unethical. Virgin branded healthcare is in bad taste.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/mar/15/devon-nhs-childrens-services-privatisation?INTCMP=SRCH
The special relationship
So David Cameron is now in The USA shoring up the special relationship. The speeches yesterday on the Whitehouse lawn were 
somewhat over-the-top with respect to how fabulous the Camerons and the Obamas are. The description of beacons of liberty, freedom, justice, etc. from both sides seemed to have a certain other worldliness quality. Where does constant regime change, interference in other countries’ affairs, Guantanamo Bay, assassination squads, privatisation, bank bailouts….fit into all of this.
Nice clothes.
Bank bonuses
So, Stephen Hester has declined his £1m bonus. Well done.
This morning’s radio comments on the issue have been revealing and need a more robust response. Though I give credit to Evan Davis again for challenging one interviewee who suggested that firms need to be able to pay on the basis of desert. Davis came back very quickly and said that the logic of capitalism was that firms try to get labour as cheaply as possible. Only senior managers seem to think that they deserve high salaries.
Stephen Hestor, noted Robert Peston on the Today programme, is a ‘determined man’ who may find himself with job offers to go to other banks where he could claim his bonus without political interference. Here are the things to say to all of those senior bankers – and anyone else who thinks that they deserve more.
Go. If you can find a better place to live than London, go. Second, having got us into this mess, you might feel that you have some responsibility to help clean up the mess. The banking sector owes the taxpayer a lot of money and gratitude. There wouldn’t be a banking sector without us. Go to Beijing, Singapore, Dubai. We really need a reformed banking sector – one that serves the citizens rather than exploits them. We want small businesses to be able to function and develop. Banks, as they are currently manifested, are a hindrance.
Finally, I have heard the argument that we need Stephen Hestor so that we can return the bank to the private sector and retrieve the £45bn or so that we have invested. At the moment it is ‘worth’ half of that. The experience from Northern Rock is that we will not get our money back with or without Stephen Hestor with or without his bonus.
A New Royal Yacht
A tear was in Her Majesty’s eye when the Britannia was decomissioned back in 1997. Prince Charles clearly likes the idea of a new Royal Yacht for himself his mother. And being apolitical as he is, he’s been lobying the government for it. Thank goodness for Michael Gove and David Willets supported by the Daily Mail to put this vital issue on the agenda. The Diamond Jubilee – only the second one in world history – should be remembered more than the Olympic Games in 2012. A new royal yacht is clearly the best way to do this.
Today, 22 January 2012, the Observer is running the story about how this bid for a new yacht was orchestrated. No co-incidence, it seems, that this was raised at this time. There are many issues. Even if there are no tax receipts used to fund this ship, the list of backers suggests that we should have a little concern. The focus on the educational value, is a case in point. Primarily, goes the argument, the ship will be a training vessel for underprivileged young people to learn a seafaring and develop teamworking skills. That is why, no doubt, Pearson Education, owners of Edexcel, the skilled company that sets impossible exam questions for 16 year old students and briefs teachers on exam content, is a big supporter. (Why have public qualifications been privatised?) The Queen’s representative in Hampshire [does she need a representative in Hampshire?] Rear Admiral David Bawtree, also a director of Visor Consultants, a private security firm, is the man behind the project called FSB21. Not forgetting also that Tony Blair, the man who decommissioned Britannia, now regrets the decision. He’s got a bob or two, these days.
Notwithstanding all of that, fine, if they want another Royal Yacht, go ahead. Amongst that lot, there is enough money for sure. But why not just be honest, it is a floating hotel for the elite. The spin is nauseating. And please make sure that you have enough to maintain it. So often, taxpayers are left with the bill.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/jan/21/royal-yacht-britannia-stage-managed
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