This AADHIKARonline page was last edited at 1925 Hrs GMT in London East One UK on Saturday 6 September 2008
By©Muhammad Haque
1920 Hrs GMT London Saturday 6 September 2008
CRASS role by ‘our inept Council’ is the clear verdict of a local resident writing in their local paper after it became clear that the local Council had showed lack of common sense on transport.... And vision....The particular local resident took the ‘local council ‘to task over their role on their local Crossrail project......How ‘local council’ after local council is being exposed as being CRASS and lacking common sense whenever the ‘Crossrail’, any ‘Crossrail’ scheme is involved... There must be something about the word “Crossrail’ that gets the local council’s to act crass!
We know all about the CRASS role being played for Crossrail by the local Tower Hamlets Council in London.
The ineptitude of the other local council referred to above is of course about Aberdeen council in Scotland.
Then we have heard of the Ealing Council in West London which has just been taken to court by one ‘property’ business for having misled the business of the property in Acton.
The crassness of Crossrail-backing ‘local’ councils extends to ‘central’ Govt [UK] min cabinet ministers.
And even to banks
Big business was supposed to be the ‘saviour’ of the Uk economy....
Not any more...
The evidence of Big Business looting the public has come out - been coming out- in buckets full of greed and stupidity... So much so that even the Crossrail hole plot-backing BBC allowed one of its reporters today Saturday ^ September 2008 to use the word ‘hole’ and ‘dug’.. He said that the BIG BANKS that had been finding themselves in a hole that they had dug themselves... were having to get themselves out of the hole all by themeless.... Or words to that effect...
At last!
No digging
No holes
No digging Crossrail holes in the economic and the environment of the East End of London ....
[To be continued]
33rd year AADHIKAR
0225 GMT Thursday 06 June 2013
AADHIKAR Media Foundation Editor © Muhammad Haque
Founding News Editor
Shah M Azizul Haque
AADHIKAR Media Foundation established with the publication of AADHIKAR the weekly on Monday 19 December 1980 from London E1 UK.
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Khoodeelaar! updating evidence of Crossrail hole plot-approver Brown's service to Big Business: the TUC's statement [95]
This page was last edited at 0910 Hrs GMT London Saturday 6 September 2008:
"
PM urged to take extra tax from ‘super-rich’
By George Parker and Andrew Taylor
Published: September 6 2008 01:47 | Last updated: September 6 2008 01:47
Gordon Brown was on Friday warned by Britain’s top trade unionist that he was facing a new onslaught from the Labour left unless he took on the “super-rich” and reined in his government’s close relationship with the City and big business.
Brendan Barber, head of the Trades Union Congress, called on Mr Brown to ignore “intimidation” from the City and to levy a windfall tax on energy companies, as well as to make the very wealthy pay more in tax.
EDITOR’S CHOICE
George Parker: No way out of the morass for Brown this autumn - Sep-05
Brown back to face down foes - Aug-19
Brown urged to increase tax on richest - Aug-18
Analysis: Is Brown to blame? A reputation harmed more by words than deeds - Aug-08
Brown to be star on Downing Street TV - Aug-06
PM set to axe ‘part-time’ Scottish role - Aug-04
Mr Barber, seen as a moderate in union circles, told the Financial Times that he “cringed” when he heard John Hutton, business secretary, calling for the country to celebrate millionaires.
He warned Mr Brown that he neglected “ordinary people” at his peril and that the government was not showing the “energy and urgency” that trade unionists would like to help them through the downturn.
Mr Barber’s comments herald what could turn into a bruising week at the hands of Labour activists for Mr Brown, who attends a dinner at the annual TUC conference in Brighton on Tuesday. Trade union leaders are already furious at his apparent decision not to levy a windfall tax on energy companies and there is so far little sign that Alistair Darling, chancellor, is about to soak the super-rich.
The Brighton gathering is potentially dangerous for the prime minister, who so far has faced the most intense criticism of his leadership from those on the centre-right of the party, including from Charles Clarke, the former home secretary.
Mr Brown’s worst nightmare – and the fervent hope of his critics on the Blairite right – is that the party’s traditional wing will join their mooted uprising against the prime minister, considering any new leader an improvement.
Although Mr Barber was careful not to criticise Mr Brown personally, his comments confirm the view that the party’s traditional members are becoming increasingly agitated at what they see as his failure to side with the poor against the rich.
Mr Barber said Mr Brown should repudiate the view of Peter Mandelson, the former cabinet minister, who said he was “intensely relaxed about people becoming filthy rich”.
“I don’t think we should be intensely relaxed and that’s a totem pole we need to drag down,” said Mr Barber.
He said tensions between the unions and government had “got sharper”, especially as the economy had dived and working families were struggling to make ends meet. Mr Barber added that Mr Brown should start listening to core supporters and pay less heed to the biggest corporations, which he claimed had “perhaps an undue influence” over government policy.
Noting that the government had revealed Mr Brown had not invited any trade unionists to his Chequers country home, while entertaining business leaders and celebrities, he said that big companies had “a particular inside track which I’m not comfortable with ... They have an extraordinary level of access in a way we have not quite seen with other governments”.
He said Mr Hutton exemplified what he believed was the government’s excessive interest in championing business interests. “I think he has taken the remit of the newly constructed Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform – which has put such an unbalanced emphasis on being the one-sided voice of business – far too literally.”
Mr Barber believes the union movement still has time to persuade Labour to embrace a more ambitious programme to improve workers’ rights ahead of the next election, expected in 2010. But he admitted there was so far no sign of the government agreeing to commit to “something of a change in direction” by closing tax loopholes or otherwise hitting what he called the “super-rich”. Treasury officials say there is no active work being carried out on any new “super-tax” rate.
Mr Barber attributed the government’s reluctance to embark on traditional Labour redistributive tax policies on the “intimidation of the siren voices in the City of London”, which claimed that higher taxes would drive the wealthy overseas. “We have now got an elite group accumulating wealth on a scale that has not historically been seen in previous generations going back over a long period,” he said.
He also accused ministers of being “obsessed with the ghosts of the winter of discontent” – when public sector workers held strikes across Britain in 1978-79 – and for that reason insisting on a “fantastically rigid pay policy” for today’s public workers. “Within the public sector, this dogmatic attempt to railroad through this ... policy is amounting to a real cut in living standards for millions of ordinary people.”
In spite of his criticisms, Mr Barber says he does not expect trade unionists to switch en masse to the Tories.
“The Conservative party has a track record on many of the issues that we are most concerned with which is deeply hostile to the things that we stand for,” he said.
Mr Brown might get a rough ride in Brighton, but Mr Barber smiles when he says he has not invited – and has no intention of inviting – David Cameron, the Tory leader, next year.
................................
Union stalwart
Brendan Barber, 57, has spent most of his working life as a TUC official. Lancashire born, he gained a BA in social sciences at City University in London.
His first job in 1974 was as a researcher for the Ceramics, Glass and Mineral Products Industry Training Board. In 1975, he joined the TUC as a policy officer dealing with training.
In 1979 he became head of the TUC press and information office – a job he held for eight years. This was followed by five years as head of the TUC organisation and industrial relations department. He was appointed deputy general secretary in 1993, taking over as general secretary in 2003.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008
"
"
PM urged to take extra tax from ‘super-rich’
By George Parker and Andrew Taylor
Published: September 6 2008 01:47 | Last updated: September 6 2008 01:47
Gordon Brown was on Friday warned by Britain’s top trade unionist that he was facing a new onslaught from the Labour left unless he took on the “super-rich” and reined in his government’s close relationship with the City and big business.
Brendan Barber, head of the Trades Union Congress, called on Mr Brown to ignore “intimidation” from the City and to levy a windfall tax on energy companies, as well as to make the very wealthy pay more in tax.
EDITOR’S CHOICE
George Parker: No way out of the morass for Brown this autumn - Sep-05
Brown back to face down foes - Aug-19
Brown urged to increase tax on richest - Aug-18
Analysis: Is Brown to blame? A reputation harmed more by words than deeds - Aug-08
Brown to be star on Downing Street TV - Aug-06
PM set to axe ‘part-time’ Scottish role - Aug-04
Mr Barber, seen as a moderate in union circles, told the Financial Times that he “cringed” when he heard John Hutton, business secretary, calling for the country to celebrate millionaires.
He warned Mr Brown that he neglected “ordinary people” at his peril and that the government was not showing the “energy and urgency” that trade unionists would like to help them through the downturn.
Mr Barber’s comments herald what could turn into a bruising week at the hands of Labour activists for Mr Brown, who attends a dinner at the annual TUC conference in Brighton on Tuesday. Trade union leaders are already furious at his apparent decision not to levy a windfall tax on energy companies and there is so far little sign that Alistair Darling, chancellor, is about to soak the super-rich.
The Brighton gathering is potentially dangerous for the prime minister, who so far has faced the most intense criticism of his leadership from those on the centre-right of the party, including from Charles Clarke, the former home secretary.
Mr Brown’s worst nightmare – and the fervent hope of his critics on the Blairite right – is that the party’s traditional wing will join their mooted uprising against the prime minister, considering any new leader an improvement.
Although Mr Barber was careful not to criticise Mr Brown personally, his comments confirm the view that the party’s traditional members are becoming increasingly agitated at what they see as his failure to side with the poor against the rich.
Mr Barber said Mr Brown should repudiate the view of Peter Mandelson, the former cabinet minister, who said he was “intensely relaxed about people becoming filthy rich”.
“I don’t think we should be intensely relaxed and that’s a totem pole we need to drag down,” said Mr Barber.
He said tensions between the unions and government had “got sharper”, especially as the economy had dived and working families were struggling to make ends meet. Mr Barber added that Mr Brown should start listening to core supporters and pay less heed to the biggest corporations, which he claimed had “perhaps an undue influence” over government policy.
Noting that the government had revealed Mr Brown had not invited any trade unionists to his Chequers country home, while entertaining business leaders and celebrities, he said that big companies had “a particular inside track which I’m not comfortable with ... They have an extraordinary level of access in a way we have not quite seen with other governments”.
He said Mr Hutton exemplified what he believed was the government’s excessive interest in championing business interests. “I think he has taken the remit of the newly constructed Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform – which has put such an unbalanced emphasis on being the one-sided voice of business – far too literally.”
Mr Barber believes the union movement still has time to persuade Labour to embrace a more ambitious programme to improve workers’ rights ahead of the next election, expected in 2010. But he admitted there was so far no sign of the government agreeing to commit to “something of a change in direction” by closing tax loopholes or otherwise hitting what he called the “super-rich”. Treasury officials say there is no active work being carried out on any new “super-tax” rate.
Mr Barber attributed the government’s reluctance to embark on traditional Labour redistributive tax policies on the “intimidation of the siren voices in the City of London”, which claimed that higher taxes would drive the wealthy overseas. “We have now got an elite group accumulating wealth on a scale that has not historically been seen in previous generations going back over a long period,” he said.
He also accused ministers of being “obsessed with the ghosts of the winter of discontent” – when public sector workers held strikes across Britain in 1978-79 – and for that reason insisting on a “fantastically rigid pay policy” for today’s public workers. “Within the public sector, this dogmatic attempt to railroad through this ... policy is amounting to a real cut in living standards for millions of ordinary people.”
In spite of his criticisms, Mr Barber says he does not expect trade unionists to switch en masse to the Tories.
“The Conservative party has a track record on many of the issues that we are most concerned with which is deeply hostile to the things that we stand for,” he said.
Mr Brown might get a rough ride in Brighton, but Mr Barber smiles when he says he has not invited – and has no intention of inviting – David Cameron, the Tory leader, next year.
................................
Union stalwart
Brendan Barber, 57, has spent most of his working life as a TUC official. Lancashire born, he gained a BA in social sciences at City University in London.
His first job in 1974 was as a researcher for the Ceramics, Glass and Mineral Products Industry Training Board. In 1975, he joined the TUC as a policy officer dealing with training.
In 1979 he became head of the TUC press and information office – a job he held for eight years. This was followed by five years as head of the TUC organisation and industrial relations department. He was appointed deputy general secretary in 1993, taking over as general secretary in 2003.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008
"
KHOODEELAAR! No to "Crossrail hole plot..." CAMPAIGN updating evidence: Adding Croydon MP Pelling's reported criticism of Crossrail [94]
This page was last edited at 2345 GMT London Friday 5 september 2008:
KHOODEELAAR! No to "Crossrail hole..." CAMPAIGN comment posted at 2326 GMT on Friday 5 September 2008 on the web site of the CROYDON ADVERTISER in response to their story about their local MP's alleged criticism of Boris Johnson over raising transport fares in London, : KHOODEELAAR! comment scrutinises the CROSSRAIL scam. THE FOLLOWING TEXTS have been edited to add a few words that were NOT included in the item as posted on the web site of the CROYDON ADVERTISER: “You quote Mr Pelling as saying: "Part of the increase is due to government imposed demands for Londoners to pay for Crossrail, but these demands could be delayed to a later date." This is a very significant statement. Especially as it comes only a day after Boris Johnson wrote a piece in the London ‘EVENING STANDARD’ that contained some very significant disclosures about how Ken Livingstone had in effect abused his position in 2007 to promote Crossrail. These disclosures - based on files that Boris Johnson has access to as part of his position now - and Mr Pelling’s comments about the possibility of the Crossrail demands being delayed, raise the question: why had neither Blair nor Brown allowed either House of the UK Parliament to hear objectors’ evidence that would have saved London public so much extra, and wasteful bills on Crossrail? For almost five years, the Khoodeelaar! Campaign against Crossrail has looked for evidence of ANY public – that is ordinary people who need transport in London- demand for the particular scheme at £Billions of public cost. NOT one iota of evidence has come forth. What we HAVE encountered has been and is spin from Big Business construction conglomerates and the mysterious City of London interests. Isn’t it time to scrap this scam before it is used by shady and shoddy operatives to fleece the London and the UK public of more £Millions and £Billions? Crossrail is going to be the ‘next’ Millennium Dome only 20 times worse and as wasteful… Can the UK and London economy afford such waste? Muhammad Haque, London ' [To be continued]
KHOODEELAAR! No to "Crossrail hole..." CAMPAIGN comment posted at 2326 GMT on Friday 5 September 2008 on the web site of the CROYDON ADVERTISER in response to their story about their local MP's alleged criticism of Boris Johnson over raising transport fares in London, : KHOODEELAAR! comment scrutinises the CROSSRAIL scam. THE FOLLOWING TEXTS have been edited to add a few words that were NOT included in the item as posted on the web site of the CROYDON ADVERTISER: “You quote Mr Pelling as saying: "Part of the increase is due to government imposed demands for Londoners to pay for Crossrail, but these demands could be delayed to a later date." This is a very significant statement. Especially as it comes only a day after Boris Johnson wrote a piece in the London ‘EVENING STANDARD’ that contained some very significant disclosures about how Ken Livingstone had in effect abused his position in 2007 to promote Crossrail. These disclosures - based on files that Boris Johnson has access to as part of his position now - and Mr Pelling’s comments about the possibility of the Crossrail demands being delayed, raise the question: why had neither Blair nor Brown allowed either House of the UK Parliament to hear objectors’ evidence that would have saved London public so much extra, and wasteful bills on Crossrail? For almost five years, the Khoodeelaar! Campaign against Crossrail has looked for evidence of ANY public – that is ordinary people who need transport in London- demand for the particular scheme at £Billions of public cost. NOT one iota of evidence has come forth. What we HAVE encountered has been and is spin from Big Business construction conglomerates and the mysterious City of London interests. Isn’t it time to scrap this scam before it is used by shady and shoddy operatives to fleece the London and the UK public of more £Millions and £Billions? Crossrail is going to be the ‘next’ Millennium Dome only 20 times worse and as wasteful… Can the UK and London economy afford such waste? Muhammad Haque, London ' [To be continued]
KHOODEELAAR! No to Crossrail hole plot... CAMPAIGN updating evdience: Adding Crydoin MP Pelling's reported crioticvism fo Crossrail [93]
KHOODEELAAR! No to "Crossrail hole..." CAMPAIGN comment posted at 2326 GMT on Friday 5 September 2008 on the web site of the CROYDON ADVERTISER in response to their story about their local MP's alleged criticism of Boris Johnson over raising transport fares in London, : KHOODEELAAR! comment scrutinises the CROSSRAIL scam. THE FOLLOWING TEXTS have been edited to add a few words that were NOT included in the item as posted on the web site fo the CROYDON ADVERTISER: “You quote Mr Pelling as saying: "Part of the increase is due to government imposed demands for Londoners to pay for Crossrail, but these demands could be delayed to a later date." This is a very significant statement. Especially as it comes only a day after Boris Johnson wrote a piece in the London ‘EVENING STANDARD’ that contained some very significant disclosures about how Ken Livingstone had in effect abused his position in 2007 to promote Crossrail. These disclosures - based on files that Boris Johnson has access to as part of his position now - and Mr Pelling’s comments about the possibility of the Crossrail demands being delayed, raise the question: why had neither Blair nor Brown allowed either House of the UK Parliament to hear objectors’ evidence that would have saved London public so much extra, and wasteful bills on Crossrail? For almost five years, the Khoodeelaar! Campaign against Crossrail has looked for evidence of ANY public – that is ordinary people who need transport in London- demand for the particular scheme at £Billions of public cost. NOT one iota of evidence has come forth. What we HAVE encountered has been and is spin from Big Business construction conglomerates and the mysterious City of London interests. Isn’t it time to scrap this scam before it is used by shady and shoddy operatives to fleece the London and the UK public of more £Millions and £Billions? Crossrail is going to be the ‘next’ Millennium Dome only 20 times worse and as wasteful… Can the UK and London economy afford such waste? Muhammad Haque, London ' [To be continued]