0758 Hrs GMT London Thursday 30 April 2009:
KHOODEELAAR! TOLD YOU SO! That the Crossrail scam agenda is a cult, is being treated as a cult and the pretence of ‘local democracy' is sick-makingly exposed as worse than that. There is no hiding this fact from some of the utterances by Councillors behvaing like the stooges that they are of the Crossrail scam.
Just note their words.
Incredible, isn’t it.
That these crassly Crossrail-scam-complicit-Councillors are supposed to represent the local people in and of Islington.
They sound just like Rupert Bawden. Allegedly, on behalf of the people of Tower Hamlets’ !
Bawden was the crass-role-playing one [a local Councillor - although he was a stranger in more ways than can be inferred from the routine references to the ‘fact; that he was a councillor in Tower Hamlets] in the name of Tower Hamlets. He uttered idiotic words of such banal ignorance in September 2007 when Khoodeelaar! put our THEN active demands to the FOOL Council that we have had to take an extended break to allow the temptations to get distracted by those. We are evidentially, constitutionally and politically placed now to continue the dissection of Rupert Bawden miniature political irrespsosbilityw,m betrayal and treachery against the local people and community in Tower Hamlets.
We shall do so now. And as a frae of topical reference ion that we shall cite various parts from the item below that we are quoting from the Islington gazette, which is owned by the same anti-social, pro-CRASSrail trading outfit Ar****** that also owns the ‘East London Idiotiser’;.
We shall contrast the roles being played by the ‘islington Gazette’ on the one hand and by the ‘Newham Recorder’ and the ‘East London Idiotiser’ on the other.
In the SHORT term senses of the two temporal phrases
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.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
KHOODEELAAR! HAD TOLD SIMON JENKINS SO! A year after that, Jenkins agrees! 'Kill Crossrail' Jenkins says. We were much more measured!
0308 Hrs GMT London Wednesday 29 April 2009
A week short of a full year ago, KHOODEELAAR! Campaign against “Crossrail hole, Big Business agenda” organiser Muhammad Haque wrote to the [Rupert Murdoch -ed] Times online in London in response to their columnist [and a former Editor] Simon Jenkins promoting the London mayoral election [then only a fortnight away] as an achievement for democracy. Yesterday, 28 April 2009, Jenkins published [in the EVENING STANDARD, the crassest peddler for CRASSrail] his call to Boris Johnson to scrap Crossrail. No, Jenkins in fact said, ‘Crossrail will eat money. Kill it, Boris.”
That is some language to use to describe Crossrail!
Here is what Muhammad Haque had told Simon Jenkins on 19 April 2008. The Times online NEVER published that comment by Muhammad Haque. Most of the commentary Muhammad haque has posted in response to the relevant pieces of lies by the Times online, have been suppressed. Ironic then that the truth tends to come out. Not may be through Rupert Murdoch-ed outlets. But somewhere else. And a bit later than would be just. In his call yesterday [Tuesday 28 April 2009: The EVENING nostandards STANDARD Op Ed page Comment] to Boris Johnson asking Johnson to ‘Kill Crossrail’, Simon Jenkins echoes the KHOODEELAAR! diagnosis. The diagnosis that we had begun in 2004 describing Crossrail as CRASSrail. Crass as we have been saying because it was crassly conceived. And crassly peddled..... We shall be examining the full extent of that in a series following this updater commentary.
[To be continued]
____________________
Following is what Muhammad Haque written in April 2008 in response to Simon Jenkins:
2320 Hrs GMT London Saturday 19 April 2008:
Khoodeelaar! No to imprudent utterances and actions by Gordon Brown - No to the Crassrail hole plot or[propaganda by one fo the Uk’s most compromised, unorigional ‘columnists’ - the Establishment in-house promoter Simon Jenkins in his ill-informed plug for Crossrail in this weekend’s Sunday Times….
By khoodeelaar
In the first response sent to the Timesonline, Muhammad Haque has said [at 2215 Hrs GMT London Saturday 19 April 2008] the following to Simon Jenkins’ propaganda [which, as usual, reads like an extension of the scripted agenda of Big Business interests] piece for the wasteful post of mayor in the name of London:-
“
Every city needs a Ken v Boris show – it brings local politics back to life
“
Really?
What life?
Charade! Charade! and wasteful, costly and irrelevant charade!
On all counts flaunted by Simon Jenkins, the bureaucracy of a ‘mayor of London’ has been a denial of democracy.
To say the least!
Unless of course Mr Jenkins means “for career courtesans and assorted plastic promoters and propagandists” in “the media”.
The coverage Mr Jenkins boastfully promotes has been to cover up the truth. To conceal the disgraceful abuse of access to public cash and the propensity to waste it in cultivating a corrupt career and entourage.
Neither the 2012 Olympics nor Crossrail is an achievement Neither has been a response to ordinary peoples’ demand or needs.
Neither the 2012 Olympics nor Crossrail is a reality. BOTH are doomed to discredit their peddlers.
Neither ‘project’ [in fact SCAM] has been causally or democratically linked with there being a mayor in the name of London.
Both are products of lobbys ['lobbies']. Big Business, antidemocratic . lobbys [='lobbies'] and vested interests.
Neither can be afforded by any British city in the ordinary sense of economic capacity. Neither deserves to be peddled to any urban centre
Tags: A mayor for London has been a denial of democracy, Crossrail and 2012 Olympics staging are charades!, Simon Jenkins as Big Business propagandist
A week short of a full year ago, KHOODEELAAR! Campaign against “Crossrail hole, Big Business agenda” organiser Muhammad Haque wrote to the [Rupert Murdoch -ed] Times online in London in response to their columnist [and a former Editor] Simon Jenkins promoting the London mayoral election [then only a fortnight away] as an achievement for democracy. Yesterday, 28 April 2009, Jenkins published [in the EVENING STANDARD, the crassest peddler for CRASSrail] his call to Boris Johnson to scrap Crossrail. No, Jenkins in fact said, ‘Crossrail will eat money. Kill it, Boris.”
That is some language to use to describe Crossrail!
Here is what Muhammad Haque had told Simon Jenkins on 19 April 2008. The Times online NEVER published that comment by Muhammad Haque. Most of the commentary Muhammad haque has posted in response to the relevant pieces of lies by the Times online, have been suppressed. Ironic then that the truth tends to come out. Not may be through Rupert Murdoch-ed outlets. But somewhere else. And a bit later than would be just. In his call yesterday [Tuesday 28 April 2009: The EVENING nostandards STANDARD Op Ed page Comment] to Boris Johnson asking Johnson to ‘Kill Crossrail’, Simon Jenkins echoes the KHOODEELAAR! diagnosis. The diagnosis that we had begun in 2004 describing Crossrail as CRASSrail. Crass as we have been saying because it was crassly conceived. And crassly peddled..... We shall be examining the full extent of that in a series following this updater commentary.
[To be continued]
____________________
Following is what Muhammad Haque written in April 2008 in response to Simon Jenkins:
2320 Hrs GMT London Saturday 19 April 2008:
Khoodeelaar! No to imprudent utterances and actions by Gordon Brown - No to the Crassrail hole plot or[propaganda by one fo the Uk’s most compromised, unorigional ‘columnists’ - the Establishment in-house promoter Simon Jenkins in his ill-informed plug for Crossrail in this weekend’s Sunday Times….
By khoodeelaar
In the first response sent to the Timesonline, Muhammad Haque has said [at 2215 Hrs GMT London Saturday 19 April 2008] the following to Simon Jenkins’ propaganda [which, as usual, reads like an extension of the scripted agenda of Big Business interests] piece for the wasteful post of mayor in the name of London:-
“
Every city needs a Ken v Boris show – it brings local politics back to life
“
Really?
What life?
Charade! Charade! and wasteful, costly and irrelevant charade!
On all counts flaunted by Simon Jenkins, the bureaucracy of a ‘mayor of London’ has been a denial of democracy.
To say the least!
Unless of course Mr Jenkins means “for career courtesans and assorted plastic promoters and propagandists” in “the media”.
The coverage Mr Jenkins boastfully promotes has been to cover up the truth. To conceal the disgraceful abuse of access to public cash and the propensity to waste it in cultivating a corrupt career and entourage.
Neither the 2012 Olympics nor Crossrail is an achievement Neither has been a response to ordinary peoples’ demand or needs.
Neither the 2012 Olympics nor Crossrail is a reality. BOTH are doomed to discredit their peddlers.
Neither ‘project’ [in fact SCAM] has been causally or democratically linked with there being a mayor in the name of London.
Both are products of lobbys ['lobbies']. Big Business, antidemocratic . lobbys [='lobbies'] and vested interests.
Neither can be afforded by any British city in the ordinary sense of economic capacity. Neither deserves to be peddled to any urban centre
Tags: A mayor for London has been a denial of democracy, Crossrail and 2012 Olympics staging are charades!, Simon Jenkins as Big Business propagandist
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
KHOODEELAAR! TOLD YOU SO! that the Crossrail scam-agenda-touting Tower Hamlets Council was lying about Whitechapel..
1415 [1405]
Hrs GMT London Tuesday 28 April 2009: KHOODEELAAR! TOLD YOU SO!
That 'in' Tower Hamlets, described by Rupert Mudoch-ed Times in 2008, as 'the most deprived borough' in the country, is NOT 'benefiting' the local people.. That NO publicly paid for service installed in the area called 'Tower Hamlets London borough' [in whatever permutation] is good enough.. That ALL publicly-paid for ‘services’ are doing persistent disservice to the ordinary people. This starts with the ‘local’ Tower Hamlets Council. The controlling g clique remains in place, no matter what the appearances are of ‘change’. ...There is no change for the better... And the gory facts of daily denial and the daily lying by the controlling clique on and in the ‘London Borough of Tower Hamlets Council’ are suppressed by the corruptly ‘edited’ Archant-owned and controlled ‘East London Aparthedier’, the monopoly ‘local’ ‘newspaper’ that is supposed to be ‘engaged in a campaign to retain commercial independence from the Council over the in-house propaganda title the East End Lies’. This is a claim most recently asserted by its alleged editor malcolm Starbrook in a feeble piece of idiocy pegged to a pathetic lobby of the OFT.....The East London Aparthedier is as responsible for the state of poor services in the ‘East End’ borough as the Council itself. As indeed is the local Hospital. The ‘main’ Whitechapel Hospital.. Oops! The frighteningly ‘up-market named’ ROYAL London ! OOOPS! There is nothing royal about the mistreatment and no treatment that are routinely meted out to local people by that outfit of the sinking NHS... the high rise building that has just gone up will not hide, will not be able to hide the centuries old 'tradition' [now, there is a 'comfy' 'familiar' word!] of disservice to local people that is FACT..... No wonder that the allegedly joint investigation allegedly run by COMPUTER WEEKLY and the Lon don GUARDIAN media group has found appalling evidence of negligence and lack of basic care about patients’ rights and needs at the Whitechapel Hospital... But then they would, only tokenistically... nether the Guardian nor Computer Weekly would tell the truth if we told them. Even if we made the facts so universally objectively verifiable that no known test could find anything lacking in the veracity of our evidence... For the Guardian is a lying medium. And any association that Computer Weekly might have with the Guardian would be affected by the agenda of the poisonous, racist, crusader-linked and crusader-prompted lies that the Guardian runs against ordinary people and against universal truth.... That is why the Guardian has perniciously concealed and covered up the facts about the wastefulness of CROSSRAIL.. That is why for years the lying Guardian has colluded with the Big business tout ken Livingstone in Livingstone’s tout role as a peddler for CROSSRAIL... The line that the Guardian’s ‘transport’ ‘writer’ Dan Milmo has confessed, is MAINLY about linking Canary Wharf to Heathrow... a line that is NOT aimed to bring any objectively definable benefits to ordinary people in the East End Borough of Tower Hamlets... Yet the corrupt clique in time in post and in control of the ‘local’ Tower Hamlets Council BARGAINED for a Crossrail station at Whitechapel.... Without that role, there would have been no reference to ANY need for a Whitechapel station for Crossrail.. Thus the ALIGNMENT would have been VERY different. Or significantly different...But the local Tower Hamlets ‘Council’ controlling clique via its relevant [temporal] stooges and touts retailed the lie that Crossrail was ‘vital’, that it would bring ‘benefits to the Borough’. What benefits? What unheard of benefits? Only if they in fact intended there to be inconceivable benefits, in the sense of untrue, unfounded, unreal and unrealisable ones!!!! Only in their most callous and insane fantasies would they see any benefits in the ordinary sense.... Yet the lying clique said that a Whitechapel station for Crossrail was VITAL because there would be TRILLIONS of medical students coming to study at the Whitechapel Hospital ‘medical school’! They must have meant that the EXISTING Whitechapel station, which is linked to both the Metropolitan Lines and the District Lines, will REPEL anyone carrying an ID as a Jacqui Smith-ed medical student..A special Jacqui Smith ID they all medical student zombies would be required to wear in the fantasy trip to Whitechapel Hospital Medical School! And any sign of any such zombie would trigger instant mechanical and physical repulsion action by the EXISTING District Line and Metropolitan line tube trains and their allied systems.... The kind of ‘evidence that the joint investigation by Computer Weekly and the Guardian has uncovered...... The truth is that Tower Hamlets Council is more closely linked with the Whitechapel Hospital operation of Big Business agenda than either the Guardian or any comparable ‘mainstream’ media will ever know. Or admit to knowing even if they were shown the evidence .... The only guarantee that local people will benefit from the due services is if local people campaign for local delivery - real, true, genuine, at all times - of locals services... As KHOODEELAAR! has been doing for the past 5 years and 4 moths... Tower Hamlets Council’s Crossrail agenda-touting controlling clique is too compromised, too corruptly-installed by its links with the vested interests at the helm at the Whitechapel Hospital AGENDA....It would not notice anything wrong if even more disturbing evidence of wrongdoing, violations, breaches were uncovered about what the Whitechapel Hospital agenda-promoting force has been actually doing against the rights, against the needs and against the preferences of local people....
[To be continued]
Risk Management
Hundreds of patients lost in NPfIT systems
Author:Tony CollinsPosted: 07:51 28 Apr 2009
A group of London hospitals has lost track of patients who have missed treatment under the Government's 18-week wait target, after problems with pioneering NHS IT systems.
The difficulties are the most serious of any major implementation under the NHS's National Programme for IT [NPfIT].
Computer Weekly and The Guardian, in a joint investigation, have learned that details of hundreds of patient appointments have lain hidden or unrecorded in systems which were installed as part of the NPfIT.
When the appointments were discovered, patients had already missed their treatment within the Government's target wait time. The Government's promise is that "everyone who chooses to be treated within 18 weeks, and for whom it is clinically relevant, will be treated in that timeframe".
ADVERTISEMENT
Now the group of London hospitals - which are run by Barts and The London NHS Trust and include the world-famous St Bartholomew's Hospital in Smithfield - have stopped issuing reports on the number of patients who have not been treated within 18 weeks, although these reports are required by the Government.
Data too unreliable
The Department of Health and officials in London have said the data in the trust's Care Records Service system is too unreliable.
Staff at Barts, in trying to meet the 18-weeks target, have been facing a backlog of more than 2,000 patients.
Separately the trust has apologised to 447 patients who waited more than 13 weeks to see a specialist. Patients at Barts have also waited longer than the four-hour wait target for A&E and for inpatient treatment within 26 weeks.
Rollout resumes as problems worsen
Despite the problems the NPfIT minister Ben Bradshaw has announced that the roll-out of the Care Records Service - the system at the heart of the problems at Barts - is to resume rolling out.
The rollout stopped last year because of the severity of problems at London hospitals.
Plans and timetables are now being prepared for BT to install the Cerner Millennium Care Records Service at Kingston, Bristol, Bath, and at various hospitals in the London area.
Health officials in London have told Computer Weekly that improvements to implementations are being made in the light of past mistakes.
But they gave the same assurance after each troubled go live of the Care Records Service at the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre, Weston, Milton Keynes, and Barnet and Chase Farm. Despite the assurances, the problems have become more serious.
Barts still breaching targets
Barts has directed patients on its backlog to other hospitals including independent treatment centres. It has also set up additional clinics. But the hospital concedes that it is still breaching Government targets.
The problems at Barts are not with 18 and 13-week targets alone. Tower Hamlets Primary Care Trust says its chief executive has written to the head of Barts and The London to "raise our serious concerns" about the non-availability of "data relating to maternity care."
The Government target is for women to see a midwife or maternity healthcare professional within 12 weeks of pregnancy. But Tower Hamlets says. "We have now initiated the process of collecting data manually, as the Care Records Service system at Barts and The London is unable to produce the reports required."
Another government target is for patients to wait no more than 26 weeks for treatment as an inpatient. Tower Hamlets says the latest data shows that Barts has "far exceeded the number of allowable breaches".
PCT's formal warning to Barts
The PCT has "issued a Warning Notice to BLT [Barts and The London Trust] in line with the performance process in the acute contract".
Various official investigations are underway, including a "Serious Untoward Incident" inquiry because the details of hundreds of Barts' patients who needed appointments and treatment were left undiscovered in the systems.
Patients could be harmed by delays
Some doctors believe that the decision of officials and ministers to resume the go-live of the Care Records Service in London and parts of England is a triumph of politics over the safety and welfare of patients.
Tower Hamlets Primary Care Trust says a breach of waiting time targets at Barts "may have an impact on clinical outcomes".
Katherine Murphy, Director of the Patients Association, said: "Cancelled and delayed operations can have a huge effect on patients. The hospitals have stated that the patients have not come to any clinical harm, but that doesn't mean patients aren't being forced to wait whilst in pain or discomfort."
Several primary care trusts in London, which pay for patients to be treated at Barts, report breaches in Government waiting time targets because of the Care Records Service problems at Barts. "Unfortunately Barts and The London's performance in this area [meeting national targets] has impacted on our PCT partners," says Barts.
Some NHS officials say the problems with go-live of the Cerner Care Records Service are not because of the software but because of the unreliability of data and the way the system is implemented.
Clinical concerns at Royal Free
The Royal Free, whose Chief Executive Andrew Way has defended the decision to resume the rollout of the Care Records Service, said: "It's important to separate out the administrative processes that may or may not be adequate and effective at Barts and the London from the introduction of Care Records Service".
The Royal Free's board has been told that there are clinical concerns about the Care Records Service although the technology is now more stable. Difficulties with the Care Records Service at Barnet and Chase Farm have been reported as "ongoing" by the board this year, although the system there went live nearly two years ago, in the summer of 2007.
There are reports in Australia, the US and the Middle East of difficulties with similar technology.
Barts and LPfIT official respond
Helen Avery, a spokeswoman for the London Programme for IT, said: "The health and safety of patients is of paramount importance in any decision the London Acute Programme Board makes on behalf of the NHS
"There are always challenges with early adopters of complex IT solutionsThe approach being taken at the other trusts that are currently planning to implement Cerner Millennium has been informed from the lessons learnt from the improvement programmes at the live sites and enables more localisation and tailoring of the system as well as close working between clinicians and solution experts."
A spokesman for Barts and the London NHS Trust said: "Barts and The London has some of the best quality clinical care in the country. There are, however, some weaknesses in our information management and administration systems, which we are addressing through a comprehensive improvement programme Until this is complete, we have agreed with the Department of Health, NHS London and Tower Hamlets Primary Care Trust that our performance will not be reported. As soon as we have validated our data, we will resume our monthly reports in the usual way."
It added that no patient has come to clinical harm. It is awaiting the results of a Serious Untoward Incident investigation into the "root cause of the waiting list reporting concerns and why management systems did not alert the organisation to it sooner".
London trusts in chaos as NHS IT system 'loses' waiting lists - The Guardian
Lessons from troubled go-live at Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre
RELATED TAGS
care records care trust cerner millennium hamlets primary nhs trust primary care records service serious untoward tower hamlets untoward incident
Hrs GMT London Tuesday 28 April 2009: KHOODEELAAR! TOLD YOU SO!
That 'in' Tower Hamlets, described by Rupert Mudoch-ed Times in 2008, as 'the most deprived borough' in the country, is NOT 'benefiting' the local people.. That NO publicly paid for service installed in the area called 'Tower Hamlets London borough' [in whatever permutation] is good enough.. That ALL publicly-paid for ‘services’ are doing persistent disservice to the ordinary people. This starts with the ‘local’ Tower Hamlets Council. The controlling g clique remains in place, no matter what the appearances are of ‘change’. ...There is no change for the better... And the gory facts of daily denial and the daily lying by the controlling clique on and in the ‘London Borough of Tower Hamlets Council’ are suppressed by the corruptly ‘edited’ Archant-owned and controlled ‘East London Aparthedier’, the monopoly ‘local’ ‘newspaper’ that is supposed to be ‘engaged in a campaign to retain commercial independence from the Council over the in-house propaganda title the East End Lies’. This is a claim most recently asserted by its alleged editor malcolm Starbrook in a feeble piece of idiocy pegged to a pathetic lobby of the OFT.....The East London Aparthedier is as responsible for the state of poor services in the ‘East End’ borough as the Council itself. As indeed is the local Hospital. The ‘main’ Whitechapel Hospital.. Oops! The frighteningly ‘up-market named’ ROYAL London ! OOOPS! There is nothing royal about the mistreatment and no treatment that are routinely meted out to local people by that outfit of the sinking NHS... the high rise building that has just gone up will not hide, will not be able to hide the centuries old 'tradition' [now, there is a 'comfy' 'familiar' word!] of disservice to local people that is FACT..... No wonder that the allegedly joint investigation allegedly run by COMPUTER WEEKLY and the Lon don GUARDIAN media group has found appalling evidence of negligence and lack of basic care about patients’ rights and needs at the Whitechapel Hospital... But then they would, only tokenistically... nether the Guardian nor Computer Weekly would tell the truth if we told them. Even if we made the facts so universally objectively verifiable that no known test could find anything lacking in the veracity of our evidence... For the Guardian is a lying medium. And any association that Computer Weekly might have with the Guardian would be affected by the agenda of the poisonous, racist, crusader-linked and crusader-prompted lies that the Guardian runs against ordinary people and against universal truth.... That is why the Guardian has perniciously concealed and covered up the facts about the wastefulness of CROSSRAIL.. That is why for years the lying Guardian has colluded with the Big business tout ken Livingstone in Livingstone’s tout role as a peddler for CROSSRAIL... The line that the Guardian’s ‘transport’ ‘writer’ Dan Milmo has confessed, is MAINLY about linking Canary Wharf to Heathrow... a line that is NOT aimed to bring any objectively definable benefits to ordinary people in the East End Borough of Tower Hamlets... Yet the corrupt clique in time in post and in control of the ‘local’ Tower Hamlets Council BARGAINED for a Crossrail station at Whitechapel.... Without that role, there would have been no reference to ANY need for a Whitechapel station for Crossrail.. Thus the ALIGNMENT would have been VERY different. Or significantly different...But the local Tower Hamlets ‘Council’ controlling clique via its relevant [temporal] stooges and touts retailed the lie that Crossrail was ‘vital’, that it would bring ‘benefits to the Borough’. What benefits? What unheard of benefits? Only if they in fact intended there to be inconceivable benefits, in the sense of untrue, unfounded, unreal and unrealisable ones!!!! Only in their most callous and insane fantasies would they see any benefits in the ordinary sense.... Yet the lying clique said that a Whitechapel station for Crossrail was VITAL because there would be TRILLIONS of medical students coming to study at the Whitechapel Hospital ‘medical school’! They must have meant that the EXISTING Whitechapel station, which is linked to both the Metropolitan Lines and the District Lines, will REPEL anyone carrying an ID as a Jacqui Smith-ed medical student..A special Jacqui Smith ID they all medical student zombies would be required to wear in the fantasy trip to Whitechapel Hospital Medical School! And any sign of any such zombie would trigger instant mechanical and physical repulsion action by the EXISTING District Line and Metropolitan line tube trains and their allied systems.... The kind of ‘evidence that the joint investigation by Computer Weekly and the Guardian has uncovered...... The truth is that Tower Hamlets Council is more closely linked with the Whitechapel Hospital operation of Big Business agenda than either the Guardian or any comparable ‘mainstream’ media will ever know. Or admit to knowing even if they were shown the evidence .... The only guarantee that local people will benefit from the due services is if local people campaign for local delivery - real, true, genuine, at all times - of locals services... As KHOODEELAAR! has been doing for the past 5 years and 4 moths... Tower Hamlets Council’s Crossrail agenda-touting controlling clique is too compromised, too corruptly-installed by its links with the vested interests at the helm at the Whitechapel Hospital AGENDA....It would not notice anything wrong if even more disturbing evidence of wrongdoing, violations, breaches were uncovered about what the Whitechapel Hospital agenda-promoting force has been actually doing against the rights, against the needs and against the preferences of local people....
[To be continued]
Risk Management
Hundreds of patients lost in NPfIT systems
Author:Tony CollinsPosted: 07:51 28 Apr 2009
A group of London hospitals has lost track of patients who have missed treatment under the Government's 18-week wait target, after problems with pioneering NHS IT systems.
The difficulties are the most serious of any major implementation under the NHS's National Programme for IT [NPfIT].
Computer Weekly and The Guardian, in a joint investigation, have learned that details of hundreds of patient appointments have lain hidden or unrecorded in systems which were installed as part of the NPfIT.
When the appointments were discovered, patients had already missed their treatment within the Government's target wait time. The Government's promise is that "everyone who chooses to be treated within 18 weeks, and for whom it is clinically relevant, will be treated in that timeframe".
ADVERTISEMENT
Now the group of London hospitals - which are run by Barts and The London NHS Trust and include the world-famous St Bartholomew's Hospital in Smithfield - have stopped issuing reports on the number of patients who have not been treated within 18 weeks, although these reports are required by the Government.
Data too unreliable
The Department of Health and officials in London have said the data in the trust's Care Records Service system is too unreliable.
Staff at Barts, in trying to meet the 18-weeks target, have been facing a backlog of more than 2,000 patients.
Separately the trust has apologised to 447 patients who waited more than 13 weeks to see a specialist. Patients at Barts have also waited longer than the four-hour wait target for A&E and for inpatient treatment within 26 weeks.
Rollout resumes as problems worsen
Despite the problems the NPfIT minister Ben Bradshaw has announced that the roll-out of the Care Records Service - the system at the heart of the problems at Barts - is to resume rolling out.
The rollout stopped last year because of the severity of problems at London hospitals.
Plans and timetables are now being prepared for BT to install the Cerner Millennium Care Records Service at Kingston, Bristol, Bath, and at various hospitals in the London area.
Health officials in London have told Computer Weekly that improvements to implementations are being made in the light of past mistakes.
But they gave the same assurance after each troubled go live of the Care Records Service at the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre, Weston, Milton Keynes, and Barnet and Chase Farm. Despite the assurances, the problems have become more serious.
Barts still breaching targets
Barts has directed patients on its backlog to other hospitals including independent treatment centres. It has also set up additional clinics. But the hospital concedes that it is still breaching Government targets.
The problems at Barts are not with 18 and 13-week targets alone. Tower Hamlets Primary Care Trust says its chief executive has written to the head of Barts and The London to "raise our serious concerns" about the non-availability of "data relating to maternity care."
The Government target is for women to see a midwife or maternity healthcare professional within 12 weeks of pregnancy. But Tower Hamlets says. "We have now initiated the process of collecting data manually, as the Care Records Service system at Barts and The London is unable to produce the reports required."
Another government target is for patients to wait no more than 26 weeks for treatment as an inpatient. Tower Hamlets says the latest data shows that Barts has "far exceeded the number of allowable breaches".
PCT's formal warning to Barts
The PCT has "issued a Warning Notice to BLT [Barts and The London Trust] in line with the performance process in the acute contract".
Various official investigations are underway, including a "Serious Untoward Incident" inquiry because the details of hundreds of Barts' patients who needed appointments and treatment were left undiscovered in the systems.
Patients could be harmed by delays
Some doctors believe that the decision of officials and ministers to resume the go-live of the Care Records Service in London and parts of England is a triumph of politics over the safety and welfare of patients.
Tower Hamlets Primary Care Trust says a breach of waiting time targets at Barts "may have an impact on clinical outcomes".
Katherine Murphy, Director of the Patients Association, said: "Cancelled and delayed operations can have a huge effect on patients. The hospitals have stated that the patients have not come to any clinical harm, but that doesn't mean patients aren't being forced to wait whilst in pain or discomfort."
Several primary care trusts in London, which pay for patients to be treated at Barts, report breaches in Government waiting time targets because of the Care Records Service problems at Barts. "Unfortunately Barts and The London's performance in this area [meeting national targets] has impacted on our PCT partners," says Barts.
Some NHS officials say the problems with go-live of the Cerner Care Records Service are not because of the software but because of the unreliability of data and the way the system is implemented.
Clinical concerns at Royal Free
The Royal Free, whose Chief Executive Andrew Way has defended the decision to resume the rollout of the Care Records Service, said: "It's important to separate out the administrative processes that may or may not be adequate and effective at Barts and the London from the introduction of Care Records Service".
The Royal Free's board has been told that there are clinical concerns about the Care Records Service although the technology is now more stable. Difficulties with the Care Records Service at Barnet and Chase Farm have been reported as "ongoing" by the board this year, although the system there went live nearly two years ago, in the summer of 2007.
There are reports in Australia, the US and the Middle East of difficulties with similar technology.
Barts and LPfIT official respond
Helen Avery, a spokeswoman for the London Programme for IT, said: "The health and safety of patients is of paramount importance in any decision the London Acute Programme Board makes on behalf of the NHS
"There are always challenges with early adopters of complex IT solutionsThe approach being taken at the other trusts that are currently planning to implement Cerner Millennium has been informed from the lessons learnt from the improvement programmes at the live sites and enables more localisation and tailoring of the system as well as close working between clinicians and solution experts."
A spokesman for Barts and the London NHS Trust said: "Barts and The London has some of the best quality clinical care in the country. There are, however, some weaknesses in our information management and administration systems, which we are addressing through a comprehensive improvement programme Until this is complete, we have agreed with the Department of Health, NHS London and Tower Hamlets Primary Care Trust that our performance will not be reported. As soon as we have validated our data, we will resume our monthly reports in the usual way."
It added that no patient has come to clinical harm. It is awaiting the results of a Serious Untoward Incident investigation into the "root cause of the waiting list reporting concerns and why management systems did not alert the organisation to it sooner".
London trusts in chaos as NHS IT system 'loses' waiting lists - The Guardian
Lessons from troubled go-live at Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre
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KHOODEELAAR! TOLD YOU SO! For 5 yrs 4 months. Now EVEN the ex-Ed of Crassrail-peddling E Standard says so too. SCRAP Crossrail!
1220 [1158] Hrs GMT London Tuesday 28 April 2009:
KHOODEELAAR! has been telling you so for more than 5 years now! Crossrail is crass! Now EVEN a CRASS role playing, Crassrail-peddling nostandards EVENING STANDARD editor, Simon Jenkins, says so as well! If Boris Johnson is not bonkers, he will pay heed to Simon jenkins. We know that Boris is too biased/prejudiced/ill-advised/narrow-minded/racist to say he would listen to Khoodeelaar! So let him say he ‘could’ and therefore he would listen to Simon Jenkins instead....
.We shall be publishing some of the thousands of items we have written and published saying the same thing for 5 years and 4 months... SCRAP wasteful, DIVERSIONARY Crossrail now... [To be continued]
HEADLINES:
Three cleared of aiding 7/7 bombers..... Travel warning as swine flu hits UK..... Flu could hit 40% of UK population..... Mother detained over sons' deaths..... PM defends expenses plan 'progress'..... Stabbing death: Four men questioned..... Fresh appeal to clear bomber's name..... UK work hours opt-out to continue..... Unions' anger over rail job losses..... Collins suggests a Camilla makeover.....
Make do and mend: Engineering work on the Waterloo and City line. The Underground is teetering on the brink of insolvency
Crossrail will eat money. Kill it, Boris, and save the bankrupt Tube instead
Simon Jenkins
28.04.09
Kill Crossrail. Kill it now. Offer it up as London's gift to public sector sanity, while there is still time to avoid millions of pounds climbing into billions on a project that London does not need. What London needs is a fully working, modernised Tube. So kill Crossrail to save the Tube.
Crossrail, with a completely new rail tunnel from Paddington to Liverpool Street, has few friends. It has been stopped and restarted too many times to count over the past quarter-century. When Gordon Brown said in 2007 that "it will definitely proceed", sceptics sensed the cold hand of death grip its throat.
When Whitehall set out a tripartite funding package for the line in 2008, the caveats and qualifications grew in number. In an interview in February the transport minister, Lord Adonis, warned the world that, if Londoners do not raise their two-thirds share, "the Mayor understands that Crossrail will collapse ... ".
Mention Crossrail to Boris Johnson and his normally open, cheerful visage changes to that of a parent just told his kids are on drugs. He starts to shake. When reminded that he once said Crossrail was "one of those times you have to say, get in that hole and keep digging" the look becomes a rictus.
At a farewell dinner at City Hall earlier this month, the outgoing head of Transport for London, Tim O'Toole, hinted at his known private view that Crossrail is capital madness. He pleaded with his colleagues to fight instead for the existing Tube, now teetering on the brink of insolvency. TfL executives know that continuing with Crossrail will eat money and distract management for a decade.
It would yield nothing but bad news stories, while severely disrupting traffic in central London just when it will be recovering from the water mains chaos. Test drilling is already upheaving St Giles.
Crossrail is no longer a railway that makes sense. Back in the Eighties it was way behind the Jubilee line and the then (and now) top priority, a new northeast/southwest line from Hackney to Chelsea and beyond. Lines were needed to fill the Tube-less no-man's-lands of Greenwich and Chelsea/Fulham.
It took Margaret Thatcher to force through the Jubilee line to help the Reichman brothers build Canary Wharf. Chelsea/Hackney has no such power backers.
This project's only real friends have been in the City, eager to fend off the "threat" from Docklands and garner the bulk of the 900,000 extra office jobs predicted for London a decade ago. Nobody expects that need now. The Central line's parallel capacity can easily be increased by station improvements and better management.
Crossrail's backers have duly fallen back on that catch-all for any extravagant project, "urban regeneration". But that involves taking the line far out to the east, at further cost. For all the efforts of consultants to prove otherwise, this line is neither profitable nor a priority for economic renewal.
Boris Johnson now has a golden chance. He knows the capital must tighten its belt somehow - especially after he failed to curb the gargantuan appetite of the Olympics (costing more than half the £16billion total for Crossrail).
Johnson has already had to end his predecessor's costly fantasies, the Thames Gateway bridge, the Cross-river tram and the Dagenham light railway extension.
The Government has offered £5.6billion to the Crossrail budget. The rest must come from a raised London business rate (£3.5billion), borrowing against so-called train access charges (£2.3billion) and £2.7billion from TfL, this time borrowing against future fares.
Given the recent history of Tube finances, these figures are wholly unreal. TfL is close to technical bankruptcy. Borrowing against future revenue is mad, especially when it has already been assigned to meet Crossrail's running costs. Has London learned nothing about dodgy accounting from the past five years of such projects?
Meanwhile the City Corporation is offering a meagre £200million, on top of which is budgeted £150million from City businesses and, once upon a time, £230million from the airports authority, BAA. Lord Adonis claims this amounts to a further £750million, which is inconceivable. The truth is that Crossrail is another financial pig in a poke.
The Government has already poured £2billion in extra guilt money into the Tube to finance its public-private partnership (PPP), the sunk cost of this now largely aborted scheme. No minister or official has ever taken responsibility for it - indeed the official, Shriti Vadera, has been rewarded with both a peerage and a ministry.
In addition, the Government has pledged a huge £39billion to TfL over the next decade, a sum higher than anything conceived during nationalisation. This, it says, will have to embrace the completion of the PPP scheme and Crossrail. But the latter is not formally ring-fenced.
This is the Mayor's great opportunity. He has a £1.4billion hole in his transport budget already and must somehow fund £3billion of debt left over from the Treasury's collapsed Metronet infrastructure company.
Adonis said last November that there was no way he would plug this hole, despite it being one of the Government's own creation. He could hardly have given a more direct indication of his willingness to see Crossrail crash.
Johnson could now argue that the £5.6billion for Crossrail be switched to other Tube projects, such as resignalling the Bakerloo and Piccadilly lines and replacing Metropolitan line stock, projects that may anyway have to be postponed to meet the cost of Crossrail. Cancelling the latter would relieve the Tube budget of a tidal wave of uncertain costs now advancing down the track.
This would enable Johnson to declare himself the saviour of London's Underground railway, after a decade of mismanagement and financial chaos.
By liberating himself from Crossrail and demanding that London be allowed to keep its transport grant, he could begin to reconstruct TfL's finances and meet its voracious appetite for new signals, stations and rolling stock. He could declare a clean slate.
Johnson need not fear the Government on this: if ministers wanted Crossrail they would have paid for it. He need not fear the City.
He can use the recession as an excuse to put this white elephant to sleep while garnering the popularity of restoring London's transport system to sanity. But first he must kill Crossrail.
Link to:
Reader Views (5) Add your view | Show all
Here's a sample of the latest views published. You can click view all to read all views that readers have sent in.
Simon Jenkins is absolutely right, Crossrail is a white elephant already, is not needed and does not create the missing transport links that London actually needs. Nobody commenting here has actually given a good, sound reason for it to continue, only the usual nefarious rubbish about regeneration which is wholly unevidenced and which does not stand up to the most basic scrutiny.
Boris should kill off Crossrail now and spend the money on the Tube which desperately needs it.
- Matt, London, UK
Stuff Crossrail, i want a Cross Bridge. Trying to get across the river in east London is a nightmare.
A new Thames Gateway bridge is a MUST.
- Mr S.Port, London
Crossrail is vital to London, the South East, the whole UK.£36 billion in benefits to the GDP, 14,000 jobs created, many more other jobs also created as a result to service this great project.
Yes, of course invest in the existing Tube network but as well as Crossrail not at its expense.
Regeneration, modernisation and investment are a damn sight better that stagnation.
- Luke, London
Add your comment
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Your email address will not be publishedEmail:
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Your comment:Terms and conditionsmake text area biggerYou have 1500 characters left.
KHOODEELAAR! has been telling you so for more than 5 years now! Crossrail is crass! Now EVEN a CRASS role playing, Crassrail-peddling nostandards EVENING STANDARD editor, Simon Jenkins, says so as well! If Boris Johnson is not bonkers, he will pay heed to Simon jenkins. We know that Boris is too biased/prejudiced/ill-advised/narrow-minded/racist to say he would listen to Khoodeelaar! So let him say he ‘could’ and therefore he would listen to Simon Jenkins instead....
.We shall be publishing some of the thousands of items we have written and published saying the same thing for 5 years and 4 months... SCRAP wasteful, DIVERSIONARY Crossrail now... [To be continued]
HEADLINES:
Three cleared of aiding 7/7 bombers..... Travel warning as swine flu hits UK..... Flu could hit 40% of UK population..... Mother detained over sons' deaths..... PM defends expenses plan 'progress'..... Stabbing death: Four men questioned..... Fresh appeal to clear bomber's name..... UK work hours opt-out to continue..... Unions' anger over rail job losses..... Collins suggests a Camilla makeover.....
Make do and mend: Engineering work on the Waterloo and City line. The Underground is teetering on the brink of insolvency
Crossrail will eat money. Kill it, Boris, and save the bankrupt Tube instead
Simon Jenkins
28.04.09
Kill Crossrail. Kill it now. Offer it up as London's gift to public sector sanity, while there is still time to avoid millions of pounds climbing into billions on a project that London does not need. What London needs is a fully working, modernised Tube. So kill Crossrail to save the Tube.
Crossrail, with a completely new rail tunnel from Paddington to Liverpool Street, has few friends. It has been stopped and restarted too many times to count over the past quarter-century. When Gordon Brown said in 2007 that "it will definitely proceed", sceptics sensed the cold hand of death grip its throat.
When Whitehall set out a tripartite funding package for the line in 2008, the caveats and qualifications grew in number. In an interview in February the transport minister, Lord Adonis, warned the world that, if Londoners do not raise their two-thirds share, "the Mayor understands that Crossrail will collapse ... ".
Mention Crossrail to Boris Johnson and his normally open, cheerful visage changes to that of a parent just told his kids are on drugs. He starts to shake. When reminded that he once said Crossrail was "one of those times you have to say, get in that hole and keep digging" the look becomes a rictus.
At a farewell dinner at City Hall earlier this month, the outgoing head of Transport for London, Tim O'Toole, hinted at his known private view that Crossrail is capital madness. He pleaded with his colleagues to fight instead for the existing Tube, now teetering on the brink of insolvency. TfL executives know that continuing with Crossrail will eat money and distract management for a decade.
It would yield nothing but bad news stories, while severely disrupting traffic in central London just when it will be recovering from the water mains chaos. Test drilling is already upheaving St Giles.
Crossrail is no longer a railway that makes sense. Back in the Eighties it was way behind the Jubilee line and the then (and now) top priority, a new northeast/southwest line from Hackney to Chelsea and beyond. Lines were needed to fill the Tube-less no-man's-lands of Greenwich and Chelsea/Fulham.
It took Margaret Thatcher to force through the Jubilee line to help the Reichman brothers build Canary Wharf. Chelsea/Hackney has no such power backers.
This project's only real friends have been in the City, eager to fend off the "threat" from Docklands and garner the bulk of the 900,000 extra office jobs predicted for London a decade ago. Nobody expects that need now. The Central line's parallel capacity can easily be increased by station improvements and better management.
Crossrail's backers have duly fallen back on that catch-all for any extravagant project, "urban regeneration". But that involves taking the line far out to the east, at further cost. For all the efforts of consultants to prove otherwise, this line is neither profitable nor a priority for economic renewal.
Boris Johnson now has a golden chance. He knows the capital must tighten its belt somehow - especially after he failed to curb the gargantuan appetite of the Olympics (costing more than half the £16billion total for Crossrail).
Johnson has already had to end his predecessor's costly fantasies, the Thames Gateway bridge, the Cross-river tram and the Dagenham light railway extension.
The Government has offered £5.6billion to the Crossrail budget. The rest must come from a raised London business rate (£3.5billion), borrowing against so-called train access charges (£2.3billion) and £2.7billion from TfL, this time borrowing against future fares.
Given the recent history of Tube finances, these figures are wholly unreal. TfL is close to technical bankruptcy. Borrowing against future revenue is mad, especially when it has already been assigned to meet Crossrail's running costs. Has London learned nothing about dodgy accounting from the past five years of such projects?
Meanwhile the City Corporation is offering a meagre £200million, on top of which is budgeted £150million from City businesses and, once upon a time, £230million from the airports authority, BAA. Lord Adonis claims this amounts to a further £750million, which is inconceivable. The truth is that Crossrail is another financial pig in a poke.
The Government has already poured £2billion in extra guilt money into the Tube to finance its public-private partnership (PPP), the sunk cost of this now largely aborted scheme. No minister or official has ever taken responsibility for it - indeed the official, Shriti Vadera, has been rewarded with both a peerage and a ministry.
In addition, the Government has pledged a huge £39billion to TfL over the next decade, a sum higher than anything conceived during nationalisation. This, it says, will have to embrace the completion of the PPP scheme and Crossrail. But the latter is not formally ring-fenced.
This is the Mayor's great opportunity. He has a £1.4billion hole in his transport budget already and must somehow fund £3billion of debt left over from the Treasury's collapsed Metronet infrastructure company.
Adonis said last November that there was no way he would plug this hole, despite it being one of the Government's own creation. He could hardly have given a more direct indication of his willingness to see Crossrail crash.
Johnson could now argue that the £5.6billion for Crossrail be switched to other Tube projects, such as resignalling the Bakerloo and Piccadilly lines and replacing Metropolitan line stock, projects that may anyway have to be postponed to meet the cost of Crossrail. Cancelling the latter would relieve the Tube budget of a tidal wave of uncertain costs now advancing down the track.
This would enable Johnson to declare himself the saviour of London's Underground railway, after a decade of mismanagement and financial chaos.
By liberating himself from Crossrail and demanding that London be allowed to keep its transport grant, he could begin to reconstruct TfL's finances and meet its voracious appetite for new signals, stations and rolling stock. He could declare a clean slate.
Johnson need not fear the Government on this: if ministers wanted Crossrail they would have paid for it. He need not fear the City.
He can use the recession as an excuse to put this white elephant to sleep while garnering the popularity of restoring London's transport system to sanity. But first he must kill Crossrail.
Link to:
Reader Views (5) Add your view | Show all
Here's a sample of the latest views published. You can click view all to read all views that readers have sent in.
Simon Jenkins is absolutely right, Crossrail is a white elephant already, is not needed and does not create the missing transport links that London actually needs. Nobody commenting here has actually given a good, sound reason for it to continue, only the usual nefarious rubbish about regeneration which is wholly unevidenced and which does not stand up to the most basic scrutiny.
Boris should kill off Crossrail now and spend the money on the Tube which desperately needs it.
- Matt, London, UK
Stuff Crossrail, i want a Cross Bridge. Trying to get across the river in east London is a nightmare.
A new Thames Gateway bridge is a MUST.
- Mr S.Port, London
Crossrail is vital to London, the South East, the whole UK.£36 billion in benefits to the GDP, 14,000 jobs created, many more other jobs also created as a result to service this great project.
Yes, of course invest in the existing Tube network but as well as Crossrail not at its expense.
Regeneration, modernisation and investment are a damn sight better that stagnation.
- Luke, London
Add your comment
Show all
Name:
Your email address will not be publishedEmail:
Town and country:
Your comment:Terms and conditionsmake text area biggerYou have 1500 characters left.
Monday, April 27, 2009
KHOODEELAAR! evidential note about Google interfering with and sabotaging our editorial access to the blog
2010 Hrs GMT London Monday 27 April 2009
Google has been doing this for the past few days with the following set of words.
"Make money from your blog. Publish ads with Google AdSense"
[To be continued]
Google has been doing this for the past few days with the following set of words.
"Make money from your blog. Publish ads with Google AdSense"
[To be continued]
Sunday, April 26, 2009
KHOODEELAAR! evidential note [2] of the day on the imprudence of Gordon Brown's 'economic policies'
1445 Hrs GMT London Sunday 26 April 2009:
KHOODEELAAR! evidential note [2] of the day on the imprudence of Gordon Brown's 'economic policies'. To find that his ‘cash for MPs’ deal and overture [posted on YouTube and mocked so remorselessly that even the BBC had to allow the latest edition of 'Have I Got News for You' to let on that they too found Brown's acting stint on YouTube beyond parody!!!!] has been totally ridiculed and exposed shows lack of good value [sic]. To then find that Tessa Jowell, reportedly in control of a £9 Billion budge in the name of the people of the UK and under the pretext of the 2012 Games hosting banner is now linkable to a careeristically gold-mining Gould shows a ‘values’-free regime indeed.
And that is even before we began an updater dissection of the ridiculous conceptual entity called ‘Vah-loos’ that the imprudent Mr Brown has confected to add embarrassment to incredulity...
When the then editor of the UK Financial Times newspaper wrote an alleged tribute to the just-deceased Eddie George and as pub lished in the Daily Mail media Group [“My utterly engaging neighbour, the jolly Capt Mainwaring of Threadneedle Street By ANDREW GOWERS] [Last updated at 12:36 AM on 19th April 2009” ], he let slip that the OVERLY-hyped ‘independence’ of the Bank of England which Gordon Brown had claimed to have introduced in 1997 and which he relished and profited from for the past 11 years, was in fact something the late Governor of the Bank of England disagreed with... The one point of that ‘disclosure’ is that the ex editor of the FT did not make anything of THAT `aspect of the Bank of England independence’ for all those years. The FT’s ex-editor did a greater disservice to the cause of regulation. Not as much disservice as Gordon Brown did. Because it NOW transpires that Brown in fact created the real obstruction to regulation in the banking sector by giving the FSA [= F****** S****** A*******] the key role......As events of the past six months have forced many disclosures [albeit not nearly enough but SOME disclosures nonetheless], the evidence shows that far from making regulation a reality, Gordon Brown in fact abolished true regulation of the UK and related banking sector and that the so-called independence of the Bank of England too was a sham.....It is in this context again that KHOODEELAAR! ‘advising’ Brown to scrap Crossrail before the mud of abuse and waste and unnecessary debts and fraud come thick and fast and totally bury him and his name and his role and his claims in it......[To be continued]
TEXTS only reproduced on this AADHIKAROnline blog from the web site of the DAILY MAIL Media Group London on Sunday 26 April 2009
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1173566/Tessa-Jowell-offered-Olympic-cash-bid-family-friend-seat-parliament.html
Tessa Jowell 'offered Olympic cash in bid to get family friend seat in parliament'
By MILES GOSLETT
Last updated at 2:55 PM on 26th April 2009
Comments (47)
Add to My Stories
Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell is in the spotlight over an email from Georgia Gould
Labour was plunged into a fresh storm last night after a leaked email suggested that Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell promised money from the 2012 Games in exchange for the selection of a family friend as a General Election candidate.
Miss Jowell is accused of trying to 'bribe' party members in the Erith and Thamesmead constituency by telling them that if they selected Georgia Gould, the area would be in a good position to benefit from the £9billion Olympics budget which she controls.
In an email, written the day after the April 7 meeting, Miss Gould - the 22-year-old daughter of Tony Blair's poll guru Lord Gould - wrote: 'I hosted a great meeting last night for Tessa Jowell, the Minister for the Olympics. Tessa spoke with real passion about the opportunities for investment that will result from the Olympics.
'Tessa said it was the job of the local MP to fight for Erith & Thamesmead and for future investment ... She was kind enough to say that I was the right person to do this.'
Under Government rules, Ministers are banned from using Government resources for party political purposes.
Last night, Tory MP Douglas Carswell said he would write to Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell to demand an investigation into the allegations.
'Labour seems to have trouble distinguishing party political matters from official Government business,' he said.
'What was Ms Jowell doing talking about the potential benefits of the Olympic Games to this constituency at the same time as talking up her preferred candidate?'
Tory Philip Davies, a member of the Commons Culture, Media and Sport select committee, said: 'This sounds like a bribe to me. It's entirely wrong for the Olympics Minister to use the promise of Olympics investment as a tool to try to win a power struggle in the Labour Party.'
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Miss Jowell is one of several senior Labour figures connected to the Gould family who have supported Miss Gould's bid to win selection to the safe seat in a deprived part of South-East London, including Tony Blair's former spin doctor Alastair Campbell. The contest has been dogged by a bitter dispute within the party, with accusations of attempted vote-rigging and claims that Miss Gould is exploiting her powerful political connections to secure victory over local candidates.
Leaflets handed out to publicise the meeting at a community centre in the constituency read: 'Come and meet Tessa Jowell MP (Olympics Minister) with Georgia Gould. Let's find out how we can use our proximity to the Olympics to get more activities for children and young people.'
Miss Jowell has repeatedly refused to confirm whether she attended the meeting, but a source who was there said: 'Tessa Jowell spent the first ten minutes talking about Georgia Gould, saying that she would make an excellent MP. She then spoke about the Olympics.'
Friends in high places: Georgia Gould pictured with Tony Blair's former spin doctor Alastair Campbell
Another source who was at the meeting said: 'She talked about jobs in the area. She said Georgia Gould was a strong character who would make a strong candidate.'
Sitting MP John Austin, whose impending retirement has triggered the selection battle, last night criticised Miss Jowell.
He said: 'I do not think it is appropriate for another MP to be involved in the selection process in another constituency. It should be a matter for local members.'
He has already made a formal complaint to Commons Speaker Michael Martin, alleging that Miss Jowell defied parliamentary convention by making the speech backing Miss Gould in his constituency without telling him.
He has also complained to Labour Party bosses about alleged rule breaches by campaigners encouraging members to sign up for postal votes.
The selection process was mired in controversy last weekend after a ballot box containing 95 postal votes was broken into at the party's headquarters in
London, and ballot papers torn.
It has also emerged that the home of the Labour official in charge of the ballot box, Mike Creighton, was burgled earlier this month, meaning he was away from the office dealing with the break-in when the ballot box was interfered with.
The email sent by Georgia Gould referring to a meeting at which Miss Jowell spoke
Although he confirmed the break-in, Mr Creighton refused to discuss the matter. Earlier this month, all Labour members and officials were ordered not to speak publicly about any aspect of the selection battle.
Several senior Labour figures have been actively campaigning for Miss Gould. As well as Miss Jowell, those who have either phoned local members or visited them include Tony Blair's former spin doctor Alastair Campbell, former MP Stephen Twigg - who has been seen canvassing with Miss Gould - and former Labour general secretary Baroness McDonagh.
A senior Labour source said: 'The message that's been put out is that Georgia Gould is an influential person with influential friends and, because of that, she can deliver.'
Miss Gould, who graduated from St Catherine's College, Oxford, less than a year ago, is from one of Britain's most powerful political families.
Her father, Philip, was a spin doctor for ex-Labour leader Neil Kinnock in the Eighties and later one of Mr Blair's key advisers in Downing Street. Her mother, Gail Rebuck, the chairman and chief executive of publishing group Random House, is also a prominent figure in Labour circles and reputedly secured Alastair Campbell a £1million deal for his memoirs.
At Oxford Miss Gould was chairman of the Oxford University Labour Club (OULC). One of her best friends was Nicky Blair, younger son of Mr Blair.
During her stewardship, in 2007, she lured a string of high-profile Blairite MPs to Oxford to speak at meetings, including David Miliband, Alan Milburn and Charles Clarke. Attracting speakers of such influence was unusual even by the relatively high standards of the OULC.
She also asked Alastair Campbell, a close friend of Lord Gould, to address the club's John Smith Memorial Dinner in 2007. One Oxford contemporary has claimed Miss Gould referred to him as 'Uncle Ally'.
In a bid to boost her chances of selection, it is understood that Miss Gould has enlisted the freelance help of members of staff who work for communications and strategy group BBM Consultants, of which Baroness McDonagh is a former director.
Shadow Olympics Minister Hugh Robertson said: 'If there is any suggestion that Tessa Jowell is using London 2012 for Labour Party political purposes this clearly breaks a series of very firm cross-party undertakings that have been in place since 2005.'
The London Games have been described by the Olympics Delivery Authority as the 'biggest regeneration project in Europe'.
But according to experts, the economic and structural benefits are most likely to be felt in those boroughs adjoining the Olympic Park in the Lower Lea Valley in East London.
For other London boroughs, including Erith and Thamesmead, the economic benefits are entirely dependent on what the London Mayor is able to inject into grass-roots sport.
Miss Gould confirmed last night that she had sent the email, adding: 'I've been advised not to talk to the Press so I can't comment. Clearly these allegations are nonsense but I can't get into a discussion. I'm really sorry.'
A spokesman for Miss Jowell and the Labour Party dismissed any allegations of wrongdoing.
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The longer this lot are in power, the more this country gets like a banana republic. Apologies to the countries that actually grow bananas. I doubt we'd even organise that without a trough refill.
Click to rate Rating 366 - isabella, london, 26/4/2009 01:35
Par for the course for Labour. I'm not in the least bit surprised.
Click to rate Rating 316 - Pete, Manchester, 26/4/2009 01:34
Anything to do with this Labour Government does not surprise me anymore.
Click to rate Rating 319 - Graham Brekke, Cardiff, 26/4/2009 01:33
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KHOODEELAAR! evidential note [2] of the day on the imprudence of Gordon Brown's 'economic policies'. To find that his ‘cash for MPs’ deal and overture [posted on YouTube and mocked so remorselessly that even the BBC had to allow the latest edition of 'Have I Got News for You' to let on that they too found Brown's acting stint on YouTube beyond parody!!!!] has been totally ridiculed and exposed shows lack of good value [sic]. To then find that Tessa Jowell, reportedly in control of a £9 Billion budge in the name of the people of the UK and under the pretext of the 2012 Games hosting banner is now linkable to a careeristically gold-mining Gould shows a ‘values’-free regime indeed.
And that is even before we began an updater dissection of the ridiculous conceptual entity called ‘Vah-loos’ that the imprudent Mr Brown has confected to add embarrassment to incredulity...
When the then editor of the UK Financial Times newspaper wrote an alleged tribute to the just-deceased Eddie George and as pub lished in the Daily Mail media Group [“My utterly engaging neighbour, the jolly Capt Mainwaring of Threadneedle Street By ANDREW GOWERS] [Last updated at 12:36 AM on 19th April 2009” ], he let slip that the OVERLY-hyped ‘independence’ of the Bank of England which Gordon Brown had claimed to have introduced in 1997 and which he relished and profited from for the past 11 years, was in fact something the late Governor of the Bank of England disagreed with... The one point of that ‘disclosure’ is that the ex editor of the FT did not make anything of THAT `aspect of the Bank of England independence’ for all those years. The FT’s ex-editor did a greater disservice to the cause of regulation. Not as much disservice as Gordon Brown did. Because it NOW transpires that Brown in fact created the real obstruction to regulation in the banking sector by giving the FSA [= F****** S****** A*******] the key role......As events of the past six months have forced many disclosures [albeit not nearly enough but SOME disclosures nonetheless], the evidence shows that far from making regulation a reality, Gordon Brown in fact abolished true regulation of the UK and related banking sector and that the so-called independence of the Bank of England too was a sham.....It is in this context again that KHOODEELAAR! ‘advising’ Brown to scrap Crossrail before the mud of abuse and waste and unnecessary debts and fraud come thick and fast and totally bury him and his name and his role and his claims in it......[To be continued]
TEXTS only reproduced on this AADHIKAROnline blog from the web site of the DAILY MAIL Media Group London on Sunday 26 April 2009
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1173566/Tessa-Jowell-offered-Olympic-cash-bid-family-friend-seat-parliament.html
Tessa Jowell 'offered Olympic cash in bid to get family friend seat in parliament'
By MILES GOSLETT
Last updated at 2:55 PM on 26th April 2009
Comments (47)
Add to My Stories
Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell is in the spotlight over an email from Georgia Gould
Labour was plunged into a fresh storm last night after a leaked email suggested that Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell promised money from the 2012 Games in exchange for the selection of a family friend as a General Election candidate.
Miss Jowell is accused of trying to 'bribe' party members in the Erith and Thamesmead constituency by telling them that if they selected Georgia Gould, the area would be in a good position to benefit from the £9billion Olympics budget which she controls.
In an email, written the day after the April 7 meeting, Miss Gould - the 22-year-old daughter of Tony Blair's poll guru Lord Gould - wrote: 'I hosted a great meeting last night for Tessa Jowell, the Minister for the Olympics. Tessa spoke with real passion about the opportunities for investment that will result from the Olympics.
'Tessa said it was the job of the local MP to fight for Erith & Thamesmead and for future investment ... She was kind enough to say that I was the right person to do this.'
Under Government rules, Ministers are banned from using Government resources for party political purposes.
Last night, Tory MP Douglas Carswell said he would write to Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell to demand an investigation into the allegations.
'Labour seems to have trouble distinguishing party political matters from official Government business,' he said.
'What was Ms Jowell doing talking about the potential benefits of the Olympic Games to this constituency at the same time as talking up her preferred candidate?'
Tory Philip Davies, a member of the Commons Culture, Media and Sport select committee, said: 'This sounds like a bribe to me. It's entirely wrong for the Olympics Minister to use the promise of Olympics investment as a tool to try to win a power struggle in the Labour Party.'
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Miss Jowell is one of several senior Labour figures connected to the Gould family who have supported Miss Gould's bid to win selection to the safe seat in a deprived part of South-East London, including Tony Blair's former spin doctor Alastair Campbell. The contest has been dogged by a bitter dispute within the party, with accusations of attempted vote-rigging and claims that Miss Gould is exploiting her powerful political connections to secure victory over local candidates.
Leaflets handed out to publicise the meeting at a community centre in the constituency read: 'Come and meet Tessa Jowell MP (Olympics Minister) with Georgia Gould. Let's find out how we can use our proximity to the Olympics to get more activities for children and young people.'
Miss Jowell has repeatedly refused to confirm whether she attended the meeting, but a source who was there said: 'Tessa Jowell spent the first ten minutes talking about Georgia Gould, saying that she would make an excellent MP. She then spoke about the Olympics.'
Friends in high places: Georgia Gould pictured with Tony Blair's former spin doctor Alastair Campbell
Another source who was at the meeting said: 'She talked about jobs in the area. She said Georgia Gould was a strong character who would make a strong candidate.'
Sitting MP John Austin, whose impending retirement has triggered the selection battle, last night criticised Miss Jowell.
He said: 'I do not think it is appropriate for another MP to be involved in the selection process in another constituency. It should be a matter for local members.'
He has already made a formal complaint to Commons Speaker Michael Martin, alleging that Miss Jowell defied parliamentary convention by making the speech backing Miss Gould in his constituency without telling him.
He has also complained to Labour Party bosses about alleged rule breaches by campaigners encouraging members to sign up for postal votes.
The selection process was mired in controversy last weekend after a ballot box containing 95 postal votes was broken into at the party's headquarters in
London, and ballot papers torn.
It has also emerged that the home of the Labour official in charge of the ballot box, Mike Creighton, was burgled earlier this month, meaning he was away from the office dealing with the break-in when the ballot box was interfered with.
The email sent by Georgia Gould referring to a meeting at which Miss Jowell spoke
Although he confirmed the break-in, Mr Creighton refused to discuss the matter. Earlier this month, all Labour members and officials were ordered not to speak publicly about any aspect of the selection battle.
Several senior Labour figures have been actively campaigning for Miss Gould. As well as Miss Jowell, those who have either phoned local members or visited them include Tony Blair's former spin doctor Alastair Campbell, former MP Stephen Twigg - who has been seen canvassing with Miss Gould - and former Labour general secretary Baroness McDonagh.
A senior Labour source said: 'The message that's been put out is that Georgia Gould is an influential person with influential friends and, because of that, she can deliver.'
Miss Gould, who graduated from St Catherine's College, Oxford, less than a year ago, is from one of Britain's most powerful political families.
Her father, Philip, was a spin doctor for ex-Labour leader Neil Kinnock in the Eighties and later one of Mr Blair's key advisers in Downing Street. Her mother, Gail Rebuck, the chairman and chief executive of publishing group Random House, is also a prominent figure in Labour circles and reputedly secured Alastair Campbell a £1million deal for his memoirs.
At Oxford Miss Gould was chairman of the Oxford University Labour Club (OULC). One of her best friends was Nicky Blair, younger son of Mr Blair.
During her stewardship, in 2007, she lured a string of high-profile Blairite MPs to Oxford to speak at meetings, including David Miliband, Alan Milburn and Charles Clarke. Attracting speakers of such influence was unusual even by the relatively high standards of the OULC.
She also asked Alastair Campbell, a close friend of Lord Gould, to address the club's John Smith Memorial Dinner in 2007. One Oxford contemporary has claimed Miss Gould referred to him as 'Uncle Ally'.
In a bid to boost her chances of selection, it is understood that Miss Gould has enlisted the freelance help of members of staff who work for communications and strategy group BBM Consultants, of which Baroness McDonagh is a former director.
Shadow Olympics Minister Hugh Robertson said: 'If there is any suggestion that Tessa Jowell is using London 2012 for Labour Party political purposes this clearly breaks a series of very firm cross-party undertakings that have been in place since 2005.'
The London Games have been described by the Olympics Delivery Authority as the 'biggest regeneration project in Europe'.
But according to experts, the economic and structural benefits are most likely to be felt in those boroughs adjoining the Olympic Park in the Lower Lea Valley in East London.
For other London boroughs, including Erith and Thamesmead, the economic benefits are entirely dependent on what the London Mayor is able to inject into grass-roots sport.
Miss Gould confirmed last night that she had sent the email, adding: 'I've been advised not to talk to the Press so I can't comment. Clearly these allegations are nonsense but I can't get into a discussion. I'm really sorry.'
A spokesman for Miss Jowell and the Labour Party dismissed any allegations of wrongdoing.
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The longer this lot are in power, the more this country gets like a banana republic. Apologies to the countries that actually grow bananas. I doubt we'd even organise that without a trough refill.
Click to rate Rating 366 - isabella, london, 26/4/2009 01:35
Par for the course for Labour. I'm not in the least bit surprised.
Click to rate Rating 316 - Pete, Manchester, 26/4/2009 01:34
Anything to do with this Labour Government does not surprise me anymore.
Click to rate Rating 319 - Graham Brekke, Cardiff, 26/4/2009 01:33
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KHOODEELAAR! TOLD BROWN AND DARLING SO! That they were involved in abusing the positions of power at the expense of the public...
0125 Hrs GMT London 26 April 2009:
KHOODEELAAR! TOLD BROWN AND DARLING SO! That they were operating a programme of unaccountable occupation of positions of power without any evidence of any objective rigour applied to the 'uses' and abuses of the powers... That they were heading therefor for the hole of their own creating... The latest evidential 'news' about the poverty-creation department's James Purnell serve to conform our warning and diagnoses...The crass conduct as reported about James Purnell typifies the deep hole of irresponsibility that has been dug in every single part of 'Government'.... Just how the Cameron lot hope to correct and repair all of that is a serious question for society and for the economy.......So KHOODEELAAR! will be going into an updater and an in-depth commentary on the poverty-creation scams that the Brown-fronted Blaired regime has been ‘running’.....
.[To be continued]
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/97114/EXCLUSIVE-Come-clean-minister-
EXCLUSIVE: COME CLEAN MINISTER
EMBARRASSING: Purnell’s flat looked like ‘a pigsty’ says his landlord
Sunday April 26,2009
By Julia Hartley-Brewer and David Jarvis
Have your say(1)
CABINET Minister James Purnell left his taxpayer-funded second home “looking like a pigsty” despite claiming more than £1,600 for cleaning and repairs.
The Work and Pensions Secretary abandoned the once-smart, £1,820-a- month apartment with wine stains on the wall, a grimy kitchen, rusty sink and filthy carpets which had to be replaced, according to his landlord.
Our pictures inside show the shocking state of the London flat when Mr Purnell and his girlfriend Lucy Walker vacated it.
Electrical wiring was exposed, the washing machine looked dirty, work surfaces were filthy, there appeared to be damp patches on the carpets and the walls were stained. Mr Purnell’s tenancy resulted in a bitter exchange of legal letters between his solicitor and the landlord’s lawyers over unpaid bills amounting to £4,000 for cleaning and repairs.
In one letter Mr Purnell’s lawyers admitted the flat had not been properly cleaned when he left.
But during his tenancy the Minister, tipped as a future Labour leader, claimed £1,050 for cleaning, averaging £100 a month, and a further £586 for repairs from taxpayer-funded expenses.
MUCKY: The filthy sink
Mr Purnell did not submit receipts for the cleaning and repairs as he was not required to do so for expenses coming to less than £250 until last year.
He also left a three-piece suite in the flat despite claiming a further £1, 541 in second home furniture allowance between 2004 and 2008.
When he eventually left the flat he forfeited his £2,520 deposit which the landlord used to pay a £2,587.25 decoration and repair bill.
According documents obtained by the Sunday Express he still owes £1,523.12. including £910.63 for alarm repairs, £307.74 for cleaning, £47.50 inventory charges and £190.00 for changing the locks.
Bachelor Mr Purnell, 38, MP for Stalybridge and Hyde in Greater Manchester, shared the third-floor flat with Miss Walker between 2004 and 2006.
The landlord claimed the carpets were beyond repair but didn‚t charge the MP for their replacement choosing instead to only charge him for their disposal.
The affair will be extremely embarrassing for Mr Purnell, who is the bookies‚ favourite to replace embattled Home Secretary Jacqui Smith.
The Sunday Express revealed earlier this month (April) how Mr Purnell also charges the £400 a month for his household groceries, an expense which has cost the taxpayer £9,094 in the past five years.
SEARCH UK NEWS for:
He has claimed more than £145,000 in expenses for running his second home since he became an MP in 2001.
A source close to the company which managed the flat said: „He left the property in an absolutely dreadful condition. It looked like a pigsty.
„We were holding a deposit of about £2,500 but the total damage came in at £5,000.
„We had to have that whole flat deep cleaned and redecorated.
„There were red wine stains up the wall and coffee stains everywhere. There were big splash marks on the wall.
The lining wall paper had to be stripped and re-papered.
MESSY: The sitting room
„The kitchen sink was disgusting. It looked like it had never been cleaned for the duration of the tenancy.
„The kitchen floor was a rusty orange colour and it should have been white.
„I‚d be surprised if a Hoover had ever been switched on in that flat.‰
Mr Purnell‚s lawyers denied the landlord‚s claim that the property was damaged but accepted that it had not been cleaned before it was vacated.
The landlord has since taken no action to settle the outstanding bills.
A spokesman for Mr Purnell said: „There was a dispute between tenant and landlord which reached a conclusion a long time ago.
STAINED: A sideboard is very stained
„James felt frustrated that the landlord refused to return the deposit. He initially pursued the matter through legal channels but let it rest as the costs of fighting it further would far outweigh recouping the deposit.
„It‚s not true that he did not clean the flat regularly during his tenancy.
He had a long-standing arrangement with a professional cleaning company.‰
Mr Purnell‚s second home expenses show he claimed £1,820 in May 2006 to cover the rent on the flat, £1,210 in June 2006 and £1,310 in Oct 2006.
It is unclear why the amounts vary though it is thought Miss Walker may have made a contribution to the monthly rent which altered Mr Purnell‚s overall claim.
The couple moved into the duplex flat with a roof terrace overlooking Covent Garden in December 2004 though Mr Purnell moved out in December 2006, seven months before Miss Walker who stayed on until June, 2007.
In one letter to his landlord Mr Purnell‚s lawyer said: „Our clients accept that they did not clean the property when vacating on June 25, 2007.
„They do however reject any suggestion that there was damage to the property beyond „fair wear and tear‰ to an extent that total redecoration of the property was required.‰
After leaving the flat Mr Purnell moved to a flat in Islington and in 2007 moved again to another flat in Islington.
The Sunday Express revealed earlier this month (April) how Mr Purnell claims in full for his utility and council tax bills and has also claimed thousands of pounds for furnishing and cleaning his London home.
His £1,541 bill for furniture included £220 for a chair and £153.75 on bedding. The MP, who has a reputation as one of Westminster‚s snappiest dressers, also claimed £220 for a mirror. Mr Purnell submitted claims totalling £618 for kitchenware, £543 for electrical goods, including two televisions and £134.70 for lights for his flat.
Mr Purnell claims more than £20,000 a year in second homes allowances yet in the past five years he has submitted only one receipt, a £34.50 bill for a bouquet of flowers.
Since 2001, when he was elected as a Labour MP he has claimed more than £145,000 in expenses for running his second London home.
KHOODEELAAR! TOLD BROWN AND DARLING SO! That they were operating a programme of unaccountable occupation of positions of power without any evidence of any objective rigour applied to the 'uses' and abuses of the powers... That they were heading therefor for the hole of their own creating... The latest evidential 'news' about the poverty-creation department's James Purnell serve to conform our warning and diagnoses...The crass conduct as reported about James Purnell typifies the deep hole of irresponsibility that has been dug in every single part of 'Government'.... Just how the Cameron lot hope to correct and repair all of that is a serious question for society and for the economy.......So KHOODEELAAR! will be going into an updater and an in-depth commentary on the poverty-creation scams that the Brown-fronted Blaired regime has been ‘running’.....
.[To be continued]
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/97114/EXCLUSIVE-Come-clean-minister-
EXCLUSIVE: COME CLEAN MINISTER
EMBARRASSING: Purnell’s flat looked like ‘a pigsty’ says his landlord
Sunday April 26,2009
By Julia Hartley-Brewer and David Jarvis
Have your say(1)
CABINET Minister James Purnell left his taxpayer-funded second home “looking like a pigsty” despite claiming more than £1,600 for cleaning and repairs.
The Work and Pensions Secretary abandoned the once-smart, £1,820-a- month apartment with wine stains on the wall, a grimy kitchen, rusty sink and filthy carpets which had to be replaced, according to his landlord.
Our pictures inside show the shocking state of the London flat when Mr Purnell and his girlfriend Lucy Walker vacated it.
Electrical wiring was exposed, the washing machine looked dirty, work surfaces were filthy, there appeared to be damp patches on the carpets and the walls were stained. Mr Purnell’s tenancy resulted in a bitter exchange of legal letters between his solicitor and the landlord’s lawyers over unpaid bills amounting to £4,000 for cleaning and repairs.
In one letter Mr Purnell’s lawyers admitted the flat had not been properly cleaned when he left.
But during his tenancy the Minister, tipped as a future Labour leader, claimed £1,050 for cleaning, averaging £100 a month, and a further £586 for repairs from taxpayer-funded expenses.
MUCKY: The filthy sink
Mr Purnell did not submit receipts for the cleaning and repairs as he was not required to do so for expenses coming to less than £250 until last year.
He also left a three-piece suite in the flat despite claiming a further £1, 541 in second home furniture allowance between 2004 and 2008.
When he eventually left the flat he forfeited his £2,520 deposit which the landlord used to pay a £2,587.25 decoration and repair bill.
According documents obtained by the Sunday Express he still owes £1,523.12. including £910.63 for alarm repairs, £307.74 for cleaning, £47.50 inventory charges and £190.00 for changing the locks.
Bachelor Mr Purnell, 38, MP for Stalybridge and Hyde in Greater Manchester, shared the third-floor flat with Miss Walker between 2004 and 2006.
The landlord claimed the carpets were beyond repair but didn‚t charge the MP for their replacement choosing instead to only charge him for their disposal.
The affair will be extremely embarrassing for Mr Purnell, who is the bookies‚ favourite to replace embattled Home Secretary Jacqui Smith.
The Sunday Express revealed earlier this month (April) how Mr Purnell also charges the £400 a month for his household groceries, an expense which has cost the taxpayer £9,094 in the past five years.
SEARCH UK NEWS for:
He has claimed more than £145,000 in expenses for running his second home since he became an MP in 2001.
A source close to the company which managed the flat said: „He left the property in an absolutely dreadful condition. It looked like a pigsty.
„We were holding a deposit of about £2,500 but the total damage came in at £5,000.
„We had to have that whole flat deep cleaned and redecorated.
„There were red wine stains up the wall and coffee stains everywhere. There were big splash marks on the wall.
The lining wall paper had to be stripped and re-papered.
MESSY: The sitting room
„The kitchen sink was disgusting. It looked like it had never been cleaned for the duration of the tenancy.
„The kitchen floor was a rusty orange colour and it should have been white.
„I‚d be surprised if a Hoover had ever been switched on in that flat.‰
Mr Purnell‚s lawyers denied the landlord‚s claim that the property was damaged but accepted that it had not been cleaned before it was vacated.
The landlord has since taken no action to settle the outstanding bills.
A spokesman for Mr Purnell said: „There was a dispute between tenant and landlord which reached a conclusion a long time ago.
STAINED: A sideboard is very stained
„James felt frustrated that the landlord refused to return the deposit. He initially pursued the matter through legal channels but let it rest as the costs of fighting it further would far outweigh recouping the deposit.
„It‚s not true that he did not clean the flat regularly during his tenancy.
He had a long-standing arrangement with a professional cleaning company.‰
Mr Purnell‚s second home expenses show he claimed £1,820 in May 2006 to cover the rent on the flat, £1,210 in June 2006 and £1,310 in Oct 2006.
It is unclear why the amounts vary though it is thought Miss Walker may have made a contribution to the monthly rent which altered Mr Purnell‚s overall claim.
The couple moved into the duplex flat with a roof terrace overlooking Covent Garden in December 2004 though Mr Purnell moved out in December 2006, seven months before Miss Walker who stayed on until June, 2007.
In one letter to his landlord Mr Purnell‚s lawyer said: „Our clients accept that they did not clean the property when vacating on June 25, 2007.
„They do however reject any suggestion that there was damage to the property beyond „fair wear and tear‰ to an extent that total redecoration of the property was required.‰
After leaving the flat Mr Purnell moved to a flat in Islington and in 2007 moved again to another flat in Islington.
The Sunday Express revealed earlier this month (April) how Mr Purnell claims in full for his utility and council tax bills and has also claimed thousands of pounds for furnishing and cleaning his London home.
His £1,541 bill for furniture included £220 for a chair and £153.75 on bedding. The MP, who has a reputation as one of Westminster‚s snappiest dressers, also claimed £220 for a mirror. Mr Purnell submitted claims totalling £618 for kitchenware, £543 for electrical goods, including two televisions and £134.70 for lights for his flat.
Mr Purnell claims more than £20,000 a year in second homes allowances yet in the past five years he has submitted only one receipt, a £34.50 bill for a bouquet of flowers.
Since 2001, when he was elected as a Labour MP he has claimed more than £145,000 in expenses for running his second London home.
Friday, April 24, 2009
How GOOGLE is forcing its adsense nonsense on our editorial access to this blog
Google has been placing the following message for the past 20 hours or so and is refusing to move it off. It is blocking our access and editing
"
Make money from your blog. Publish ads with Google AdSense
"
"
Make money from your blog. Publish ads with Google AdSense
"
KHOODEELAAR! evidential note on the crass , contradictory 'journalism' of the lying Guardian: CROSSRAIL hole of waste left uncovered by lying Guardian
News
UK news
Budget
Deepest budget cuts since 70s to fill '£45bn hole'
Alistair Darling accused of 'tax bombshell' as thinktank warns of massive cash gap
Ashley Seager and Patrick Wintour
The Guardian, Friday 24 April 2009
Article history
Ministers will be forced to make the most savage spending cuts since the 1970s, a respected economic thinktank predicted yesterday, confounding Alistair Darling's attempt to deflect claims that his budget has ushered in a decade of austerity.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies warned that even big spending cuts in health and schools may not be enough to fill the structural deficit in the nation's finances.
Robert Chote, the institute's director, said that by 2017-18 the loss through tax increases and cuts in public spending would be equivalent to £2,840 a year for every family in the country - only half of which has been accounted for by the government.
The IFS calculated that there is a £45bn black hole in the finances, requiring a further tax rises of £1,430 per family, or massive spending cuts. While it predicted that most of the hole would be filled by cuts, the shadow chancellor, George Osborne, was quick to condemn Labour's "secret tax bombshell".
The chancellor avoided mention of spending cuts in his budget speech, concentrating on a 0.7% a year increase in spending from 2011, which excludes investment in key areas such as schools and hospitals. But the IFS pointed to the 17% annual cuts in investment spending from 2011-12 which will see it halve in three years, concluding that this will mean total spending will fall by 0.1% a year over that period.
Once the effect of the 8% annual growth in debt interest payments and rising spending on unemployment benefit are stripped out, spending across government departments will have to fall by an average of 2.3% a year in real terms, said IFS economist Gemma Tetlow. Cuts of this order were last seen in the 70s.
She added that with the government pledged to continue increasing spending on overseas aid, it was likely that all other departments would face spending cuts. "Health, education, law and order would all experience real cuts."
Chote said it looked likely that the bulk of the savings required over the coming eight years would mainly come from spending cuts rather than new taxes.
"The main burden of the looming tightening - at least over the next few years - is likely to fall on the users of public services," he said.
At the same time, Gordon Brown was fighting off claims that the new 50% top rate of income tax imposed on those earning more than £150,000 marked the death of the New Labour project.
Brown and Darling were encouraged by initial poll projections that the new top rate was popular with more than half the electorate.
But a separate poll for the Politics Home website showed 53% of those polled not believing the chancellor's economic forecasts that growth will surge back to 1.25% next year and 3.5% in 2011. Only 9% had full faith in the forecast.
Lord Mandelson, the business secretary, pleaded with the electorate to judge the government's budget decisions and the recovery in a year's time.
In interviews yesterday, Darling conceded public spending was being constrained, but dismissed suggestions that the cuts were of a Thatcherite dimensions, arguing that public spending was at a far higher overall level than in the 1980s. New hospitals and schools only had to be built once, he said. "I believe after a shock to the system such as we have had, we have to ask ourselves about every pound we spend. I know what I have set out will be tough."
But he refused to say how departmental budgets will be cut after 2011.
Osborne said: "This secret tax bombshell of £1,430 per family was not even announced by the chancellor on Wednesday. It shows what a dishonest budget it was and how quickly it is unravelling.
"Britain has moved from the age of prosperity to an age of austerity, but the leadership of the Labour party has been completely left behind by events.
"The most cynical trick of all for the government is to pretend that they are only hitting the rich by raising their taxes before the election, while delaying the real tax rises and tough spending decisions until after the election."
He refused to promise to abolish the 50p rate, even though Boris Johnson, the mayor of London, called for its repeal and urged the Tories to concentrate on tackling the "colossal waste" in Whitehall. Brown denied that the 50% tax rate represented the end of the politics of aspiration. "There has got to be a contribution by those who have the most, and who have gained the most over the last few years," he said.
"This is not taxation for its own sake, it is tax for a purpose. This is Britain fighting back against the international recession, this is Britain taking bold action for recovery."
Although the introduction of the 50% rate breached a key New Labour manifesto commitment, Brown insisted: "What we are about is aspiration, we are about helping people get on, we are about giving people new chances, we are about helping people make the most of their potential. New Labour, that's what we're about."
Darling described the 50p as necessary "while we resolve this situation".
UK news
Budget
Deepest budget cuts since 70s to fill '£45bn hole'
Alistair Darling accused of 'tax bombshell' as thinktank warns of massive cash gap
Ashley Seager and Patrick Wintour
The Guardian, Friday 24 April 2009
Article history
Ministers will be forced to make the most savage spending cuts since the 1970s, a respected economic thinktank predicted yesterday, confounding Alistair Darling's attempt to deflect claims that his budget has ushered in a decade of austerity.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies warned that even big spending cuts in health and schools may not be enough to fill the structural deficit in the nation's finances.
Robert Chote, the institute's director, said that by 2017-18 the loss through tax increases and cuts in public spending would be equivalent to £2,840 a year for every family in the country - only half of which has been accounted for by the government.
The IFS calculated that there is a £45bn black hole in the finances, requiring a further tax rises of £1,430 per family, or massive spending cuts. While it predicted that most of the hole would be filled by cuts, the shadow chancellor, George Osborne, was quick to condemn Labour's "secret tax bombshell".
The chancellor avoided mention of spending cuts in his budget speech, concentrating on a 0.7% a year increase in spending from 2011, which excludes investment in key areas such as schools and hospitals. But the IFS pointed to the 17% annual cuts in investment spending from 2011-12 which will see it halve in three years, concluding that this will mean total spending will fall by 0.1% a year over that period.
Once the effect of the 8% annual growth in debt interest payments and rising spending on unemployment benefit are stripped out, spending across government departments will have to fall by an average of 2.3% a year in real terms, said IFS economist Gemma Tetlow. Cuts of this order were last seen in the 70s.
She added that with the government pledged to continue increasing spending on overseas aid, it was likely that all other departments would face spending cuts. "Health, education, law and order would all experience real cuts."
Chote said it looked likely that the bulk of the savings required over the coming eight years would mainly come from spending cuts rather than new taxes.
"The main burden of the looming tightening - at least over the next few years - is likely to fall on the users of public services," he said.
At the same time, Gordon Brown was fighting off claims that the new 50% top rate of income tax imposed on those earning more than £150,000 marked the death of the New Labour project.
Brown and Darling were encouraged by initial poll projections that the new top rate was popular with more than half the electorate.
But a separate poll for the Politics Home website showed 53% of those polled not believing the chancellor's economic forecasts that growth will surge back to 1.25% next year and 3.5% in 2011. Only 9% had full faith in the forecast.
Lord Mandelson, the business secretary, pleaded with the electorate to judge the government's budget decisions and the recovery in a year's time.
In interviews yesterday, Darling conceded public spending was being constrained, but dismissed suggestions that the cuts were of a Thatcherite dimensions, arguing that public spending was at a far higher overall level than in the 1980s. New hospitals and schools only had to be built once, he said. "I believe after a shock to the system such as we have had, we have to ask ourselves about every pound we spend. I know what I have set out will be tough."
But he refused to say how departmental budgets will be cut after 2011.
Osborne said: "This secret tax bombshell of £1,430 per family was not even announced by the chancellor on Wednesday. It shows what a dishonest budget it was and how quickly it is unravelling.
"Britain has moved from the age of prosperity to an age of austerity, but the leadership of the Labour party has been completely left behind by events.
"The most cynical trick of all for the government is to pretend that they are only hitting the rich by raising their taxes before the election, while delaying the real tax rises and tough spending decisions until after the election."
He refused to promise to abolish the 50p rate, even though Boris Johnson, the mayor of London, called for its repeal and urged the Tories to concentrate on tackling the "colossal waste" in Whitehall. Brown denied that the 50% tax rate represented the end of the politics of aspiration. "There has got to be a contribution by those who have the most, and who have gained the most over the last few years," he said.
"This is not taxation for its own sake, it is tax for a purpose. This is Britain fighting back against the international recession, this is Britain taking bold action for recovery."
Although the introduction of the 50% rate breached a key New Labour manifesto commitment, Brown insisted: "What we are about is aspiration, we are about helping people get on, we are about giving people new chances, we are about helping people make the most of their potential. New Labour, that's what we're about."
Darling described the 50p as necessary "while we resolve this situation".
Thursday, April 23, 2009
KHOODEELAAR! evidential note about the CRASSness of Crossrail scam peddlers - another McNulty raises his peddling noise for another Crossrail!
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/2009/04/23/labour-demand-major-transport-improvements-across-scotland-86908-21300351/
Labour demand major transport improvements across Scotland
Apr 23 2009
LABOUR today called for wide-ranging transport improvements across the west of Scotland, despite claims it should be "wary of the credibility gap" on the issue.
The party said key rail and road projects were either not identified or given sufficient priority in the Scottish Government's recently published transport review.
But Tories said the main opposition had failed to act when it was in power in the first eight years of devolution.
Labour MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie Des McNulty told Parliament: "Glasgow and its adjoining towns have wrestled with the economic legacy they were left from manufacturing industry and risen to new challenges.
"But much of the infrastructure in the conurbation is outdated. Major new infrastructure investment is needed."
He welcomed moves to extend the M74 but said the A82 from Glasgow to Fort William had "never been brought up to standard".
Mr McNulty said the apparent exclusion from Government plans for Glasgow Crossrail and Clyde Fastlink scheme is "unjustifiable".
He conceded that his former administration was no "better or worse" than the SNP Government on transport priorities.
"I hope members of other parties will join Labour members now in speaking up louder for the west of Scotland, putting the case strongly for key infrastructure projects that are vital for the economic and social well-being of the region we represent," he added.
Tory MSP Gavin Brown criticised Labour for its record in power during the Holyrood debate.
He welcomed much of Mr McNulty's speech, but added: "On the issue of transport projects, I do think the Labour Party have to be very wary of the credibility gap."
Labour was "synonymous" with delays during its two terms in power, he said.
Mr Brown told MSPs that previous Labour transport debates had failed to mention the new priorities.
He added: "What their priorities are today, did not seem to be their priorities when they were in government, weren't even their priorities when they were debating several months ago."
Mr Brown said the M8 and rail link between Edinburgh and Glasgow should be updated and called on the Government to list its transport schemes in order of priority.
Green MSP Patrick Harvie spoke about the need for "transformational change" to encourage more people out of their cars.
He argued: "What's needed is not incremental improvements to the existing system, but transformational change. A dramatic shift to walking, cycling and public transport leading to far lower levels of car traffic."
And he added: "Of course to create transformational change like that we would require substantial investment."
The Glasgow MSP also hit out the "absurdity of sinking hundreds of millions even billions into pounds" into building new roads.
"It is an appallingly damaging example of 1960s thinking and an utter waste of money," Mr Harvie said.
Labour demand major transport improvements across Scotland
Apr 23 2009
LABOUR today called for wide-ranging transport improvements across the west of Scotland, despite claims it should be "wary of the credibility gap" on the issue.
The party said key rail and road projects were either not identified or given sufficient priority in the Scottish Government's recently published transport review.
But Tories said the main opposition had failed to act when it was in power in the first eight years of devolution.
Labour MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie Des McNulty told Parliament: "Glasgow and its adjoining towns have wrestled with the economic legacy they were left from manufacturing industry and risen to new challenges.
"But much of the infrastructure in the conurbation is outdated. Major new infrastructure investment is needed."
He welcomed moves to extend the M74 but said the A82 from Glasgow to Fort William had "never been brought up to standard".
Mr McNulty said the apparent exclusion from Government plans for Glasgow Crossrail and Clyde Fastlink scheme is "unjustifiable".
He conceded that his former administration was no "better or worse" than the SNP Government on transport priorities.
"I hope members of other parties will join Labour members now in speaking up louder for the west of Scotland, putting the case strongly for key infrastructure projects that are vital for the economic and social well-being of the region we represent," he added.
Tory MSP Gavin Brown criticised Labour for its record in power during the Holyrood debate.
He welcomed much of Mr McNulty's speech, but added: "On the issue of transport projects, I do think the Labour Party have to be very wary of the credibility gap."
Labour was "synonymous" with delays during its two terms in power, he said.
Mr Brown told MSPs that previous Labour transport debates had failed to mention the new priorities.
He added: "What their priorities are today, did not seem to be their priorities when they were in government, weren't even their priorities when they were debating several months ago."
Mr Brown said the M8 and rail link between Edinburgh and Glasgow should be updated and called on the Government to list its transport schemes in order of priority.
Green MSP Patrick Harvie spoke about the need for "transformational change" to encourage more people out of their cars.
He argued: "What's needed is not incremental improvements to the existing system, but transformational change. A dramatic shift to walking, cycling and public transport leading to far lower levels of car traffic."
And he added: "Of course to create transformational change like that we would require substantial investment."
The Glasgow MSP also hit out the "absurdity of sinking hundreds of millions even billions into pounds" into building new roads.
"It is an appallingly damaging example of 1960s thinking and an utter waste of money," Mr Harvie said.
KHOODEELAAR! contextual action commentary on the crass stupidity as exhibited by the London Daily Telegraph, typifying crassness and ignorance ...
1225 Hrs GMT London Thursday 23 April 2009
KHOODEELAAR! contextual action commentary on the crass stupidity as exhibited by the London Daily Telegraph, typifying the crassness and ignorance of the rest of the ‘British’ ‘mainstream’ ‘media’ about democracy and accountability via, about and in the ‘British’ ‘Parliament’-1
This commentary is about John Whittingdale.
And about Michael Grade
And about ITV
and about the status each has been given in a piece today by the London daily telegraph.
First and foremost is the role ascribed to John Whittingdale. His most ‘glorious’; achievement is linked with his role as one of the political bag carriers for Maggie Thatcher before he got into Parliament following her departure from the address in Downing Street.
Whittingdale has held all the Right wing bag carrier positions that could be found in the occupation camps set up during Thatcher's years in office. The one we are focussing on is a comparatively minor one. Yet it should have been the more important in truth. But truth and objective far less universal criteria do not apply either to the UK Parliament or to the media. Hence the lack of accountability. And the absence of democracy. And the zero presence of justice or fairness.
Whittingdale features in a piece devoted to the further promotion of the image of Michael Grade in the Telegraph.
Whittingdale appears in that reference to have been a fan of Michael Grade’s.
That would not be surprising, given that he has been a fan of anyone with any exhibited authoritarian streak and holding any position of power.
He is reported as follows by the TELEGRAPH today:
“
"It is an extraordinary blow," said John Whittingdale, chairman of the Commons Culture Committee, at the time.”
The allegedly extraordinary blow was about Michael Grade’s leaving his then latest BBC post in favour of the ITV company.
How was it a blow at all?
The Telegraph does not say.
[To be continued]
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/5206668/Michael-Grade-at-ITV-it-seemed-like-a-good-idea-at-the-time.html
Michael Grade at ITV: it seemed like a good idea at the time
When Michael Grade returned to his roots at ITV two years ago, it was widely seen as a coup for the commercial broadcaster to have stolen such a charismatic and powerful force from the BBC.
By Rowena Mason
Last Updated: 11:34AM BST 23 Apr 2009
ITV executive chairman Michael Grade
"It is an extraordinary blow," said John Whittingdale, chairman of the Commons Culture Committee, at the time.
But even this veteran media executive has struggled to turn around the sick man of broadcasting, ITV. He may have successfully brought big shows with big audiences such as X Factor and Britain's Got Talent, as well as developing the company's
Related Articles
ITV's Michael Grade finally takes note of critical reviews
ITV chairman Michael Grade to give up day-to-day role
Ten Years on, the man who reinvented TV talent shows
ITV launches first advertising campaign for ITV1
ITV in talks over cash call
However, the broadcaster has been bogged down with colossal debts and a burdensome pension fund deficit, leading many to question whether the Mr Grade – a programming man at heart – has made bold enough business decisions.
The industry expected him to work miracles when he arrived at ITV in January 2007, as arguably the most experienced television executive and brilliant editorial director in the country.
He was born in London in 1943, the son of the Jewish theatrical agent Leslie Grade – a booker of stars such as Bob Hope and Doris Day – and a nephew of the great impresarios Lew Grade and Bernard Delfont.
It was clear that Mr Grade was destined for a life in the entertainment business, but on leaving Stowe School, he opted instead to train as a journalist, becoming a sports reporter on the Daily Mirror in 1964.
A decade later, Mr Grade became deputy controller of entertainment at London Weekend Television, where he developed his trademark eccentricities: big cigars, red socks, fluorescent braces. He also became friends with John Birt and Greg Dyke, both later to become BBC director-general and fellow high-flyers with whom he later fell out.
As director of programmes, Mr Grade commissioned the series Mind Your Language, The Professionals and the long-running arts programme The South Bank Show.
After a stint at the BBC, first as controller of BBC1 and then director of programmes in the heyday of Doctor Who and Blackadder, he returned to commercial television with a move to Channel 4 as chief executive in 1988.
There he cemented his reputation as a razzle-dazzle entertainment man, building the new station's audience and earning a name for broadcasting low-brow shows.
He made a surprise move to the BBC in 2004, in the wake of the Hutton inquiry, taking his "dream job" as the chairman of the board of governors.
Two years later, he shocked his employers by making a return to ITV as both chairman and chief executive, replacing Sir Peter Burt and Charles Allen, with the aim of restoring some of the commercial channel's faded entertainment glory.
The title of Mr Grade's autobiography, It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time, has never seemed more appropriate for his tough tenure at the helm of ITV.
KHOODEELAAR! contextual action commentary on the crass stupidity as exhibited by the London Daily Telegraph, typifying the crassness and ignorance of the rest of the ‘British’ ‘mainstream’ ‘media’ about democracy and accountability via, about and in the ‘British’ ‘Parliament’-1
This commentary is about John Whittingdale.
And about Michael Grade
And about ITV
and about the status each has been given in a piece today by the London daily telegraph.
First and foremost is the role ascribed to John Whittingdale. His most ‘glorious’; achievement is linked with his role as one of the political bag carriers for Maggie Thatcher before he got into Parliament following her departure from the address in Downing Street.
Whittingdale has held all the Right wing bag carrier positions that could be found in the occupation camps set up during Thatcher's years in office. The one we are focussing on is a comparatively minor one. Yet it should have been the more important in truth. But truth and objective far less universal criteria do not apply either to the UK Parliament or to the media. Hence the lack of accountability. And the absence of democracy. And the zero presence of justice or fairness.
Whittingdale features in a piece devoted to the further promotion of the image of Michael Grade in the Telegraph.
Whittingdale appears in that reference to have been a fan of Michael Grade’s.
That would not be surprising, given that he has been a fan of anyone with any exhibited authoritarian streak and holding any position of power.
He is reported as follows by the TELEGRAPH today:
“
"It is an extraordinary blow," said John Whittingdale, chairman of the Commons Culture Committee, at the time.”
The allegedly extraordinary blow was about Michael Grade’s leaving his then latest BBC post in favour of the ITV company.
How was it a blow at all?
The Telegraph does not say.
[To be continued]
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/5206668/Michael-Grade-at-ITV-it-seemed-like-a-good-idea-at-the-time.html
Michael Grade at ITV: it seemed like a good idea at the time
When Michael Grade returned to his roots at ITV two years ago, it was widely seen as a coup for the commercial broadcaster to have stolen such a charismatic and powerful force from the BBC.
By Rowena Mason
Last Updated: 11:34AM BST 23 Apr 2009
ITV executive chairman Michael Grade
"It is an extraordinary blow," said John Whittingdale, chairman of the Commons Culture Committee, at the time.
But even this veteran media executive has struggled to turn around the sick man of broadcasting, ITV. He may have successfully brought big shows with big audiences such as X Factor and Britain's Got Talent, as well as developing the company's
Related Articles
ITV's Michael Grade finally takes note of critical reviews
ITV chairman Michael Grade to give up day-to-day role
Ten Years on, the man who reinvented TV talent shows
ITV launches first advertising campaign for ITV1
ITV in talks over cash call
However, the broadcaster has been bogged down with colossal debts and a burdensome pension fund deficit, leading many to question whether the Mr Grade – a programming man at heart – has made bold enough business decisions.
The industry expected him to work miracles when he arrived at ITV in January 2007, as arguably the most experienced television executive and brilliant editorial director in the country.
He was born in London in 1943, the son of the Jewish theatrical agent Leslie Grade – a booker of stars such as Bob Hope and Doris Day – and a nephew of the great impresarios Lew Grade and Bernard Delfont.
It was clear that Mr Grade was destined for a life in the entertainment business, but on leaving Stowe School, he opted instead to train as a journalist, becoming a sports reporter on the Daily Mirror in 1964.
A decade later, Mr Grade became deputy controller of entertainment at London Weekend Television, where he developed his trademark eccentricities: big cigars, red socks, fluorescent braces. He also became friends with John Birt and Greg Dyke, both later to become BBC director-general and fellow high-flyers with whom he later fell out.
As director of programmes, Mr Grade commissioned the series Mind Your Language, The Professionals and the long-running arts programme The South Bank Show.
After a stint at the BBC, first as controller of BBC1 and then director of programmes in the heyday of Doctor Who and Blackadder, he returned to commercial television with a move to Channel 4 as chief executive in 1988.
There he cemented his reputation as a razzle-dazzle entertainment man, building the new station's audience and earning a name for broadcasting low-brow shows.
He made a surprise move to the BBC in 2004, in the wake of the Hutton inquiry, taking his "dream job" as the chairman of the board of governors.
Two years later, he shocked his employers by making a return to ITV as both chairman and chief executive, replacing Sir Peter Burt and Charles Allen, with the aim of restoring some of the commercial channel's faded entertainment glory.
The title of Mr Grade's autobiography, It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time, has never seemed more appropriate for his tough tenure at the helm of ITV.
KHOODEELAAR! commentary follows about the shamelessness of some MPs occupying positions in allegedly auditing select Committees-1
Michael Grade at ITV: it seemed like a good idea at the time
When Michael Grade returned to his roots at ITV two years ago, it was widely seen as a coup for the commercial broadcaster to have stolen such a charismatic and powerful force from the BBC.
By Rowena Mason
Last Updated: 11:34AM BST 23 Apr 2009
ITV executive chairman Michael Grade
"It is an extraordinary blow," said John Whittingdale, chairman of the Commons Culture Committee, at the time.
But even this veteran media executive has struggled to turn around the sick man of broadcasting, ITV. He may have successfully brought big shows with big audiences such as X Factor and Britain's Got Talent, as well as developing the company's
Related Articles
ITV struggles to make the Grade as cost cuts unveiled
Michael Grade might have more fun in Hell's Kitchen after his ITV horror show
ITV suffers placement blow
ITV proposes merger with Channel 4 and Five
BBC governors to be stripped of their powers
However, the broadcaster has been bogged down with colossal debts and a burdensome pension fund deficit, leading many to question whether the Mr Grade – a programming man at heart – has made bold enough business decisions.
The industry expected him to work miracles when he arrived at ITV in January 2007, as arguably the most experienced television executive and brilliant editorial director in the country.
He was born in London in 1943, the son of the Jewish theatrical agent Leslie Grade – a booker of stars such as Bob Hope and Doris Day – and a nephew of the great impresarios Lew Grade and Bernard Delfont.
It was clear that Mr Grade was destined for a life in the entertainment business, but on leaving Stowe School, he opted instead to train as a journalist, becoming a sports reporter on the Daily Mirror in 1964.
A decade later, Mr Grade became deputy controller of entertainment at London Weekend Television, where he developed his trademark eccentricities: big cigars, red socks, fluorescent braces. He also became friends with John Birt and Greg Dyke, both later to become BBC director-general and fellow high-flyers with whom he later fell out.
As director of programmes, Mr Grade commissioned the series Mind Your Language, The Professionals and the long-running arts programme The South Bank Show.
After a stint at the BBC, first as controller of BBC1 and then director of programmes in the heyday of Doctor Who and Blackadder, he returned to commercial television with a move to Channel 4 as chief executive in 1988.
There he cemented his reputation as a razzle-dazzle entertainment man, building the new station's audience and earning a name for broadcasting low-brow shows.
He made a surprise move to the BBC in 2004, in the wake of the Hutton inquiry, taking his "dream job" as the chairman of the board of governors.
Two years later, he shocked his employers by making a return to ITV as both chairman and chief executive, replacing Sir Peter Burt and Charles Allen, with the aim of restoring some of the commercial channel's faded entertainment glory.
The title of Mr Grade's autobiography, It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time, has never seemed more appropriate for his tough tenure at the helm of ITV.
When Michael Grade returned to his roots at ITV two years ago, it was widely seen as a coup for the commercial broadcaster to have stolen such a charismatic and powerful force from the BBC.
By Rowena Mason
Last Updated: 11:34AM BST 23 Apr 2009
ITV executive chairman Michael Grade
"It is an extraordinary blow," said John Whittingdale, chairman of the Commons Culture Committee, at the time.
But even this veteran media executive has struggled to turn around the sick man of broadcasting, ITV. He may have successfully brought big shows with big audiences such as X Factor and Britain's Got Talent, as well as developing the company's
Related Articles
ITV struggles to make the Grade as cost cuts unveiled
Michael Grade might have more fun in Hell's Kitchen after his ITV horror show
ITV suffers placement blow
ITV proposes merger with Channel 4 and Five
BBC governors to be stripped of their powers
However, the broadcaster has been bogged down with colossal debts and a burdensome pension fund deficit, leading many to question whether the Mr Grade – a programming man at heart – has made bold enough business decisions.
The industry expected him to work miracles when he arrived at ITV in January 2007, as arguably the most experienced television executive and brilliant editorial director in the country.
He was born in London in 1943, the son of the Jewish theatrical agent Leslie Grade – a booker of stars such as Bob Hope and Doris Day – and a nephew of the great impresarios Lew Grade and Bernard Delfont.
It was clear that Mr Grade was destined for a life in the entertainment business, but on leaving Stowe School, he opted instead to train as a journalist, becoming a sports reporter on the Daily Mirror in 1964.
A decade later, Mr Grade became deputy controller of entertainment at London Weekend Television, where he developed his trademark eccentricities: big cigars, red socks, fluorescent braces. He also became friends with John Birt and Greg Dyke, both later to become BBC director-general and fellow high-flyers with whom he later fell out.
As director of programmes, Mr Grade commissioned the series Mind Your Language, The Professionals and the long-running arts programme The South Bank Show.
After a stint at the BBC, first as controller of BBC1 and then director of programmes in the heyday of Doctor Who and Blackadder, he returned to commercial television with a move to Channel 4 as chief executive in 1988.
There he cemented his reputation as a razzle-dazzle entertainment man, building the new station's audience and earning a name for broadcasting low-brow shows.
He made a surprise move to the BBC in 2004, in the wake of the Hutton inquiry, taking his "dream job" as the chairman of the board of governors.
Two years later, he shocked his employers by making a return to ITV as both chairman and chief executive, replacing Sir Peter Burt and Charles Allen, with the aim of restoring some of the commercial channel's faded entertainment glory.
The title of Mr Grade's autobiography, It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time, has never seemed more appropriate for his tough tenure at the helm of ITV.
KHOODEELAAR! evidential comment on the Rupert Murdoch SKY role in suppressing the truth about UK politics..[1]
2350 Hrs GMT London Wednesday 22 Aproil 2009:
KHOODEELAAR! evidential comment on the Rupert Murdoch SKY role in suppressing the truth about UK politics..[1]
Dragon Paphitis: I'd Fire Alistair Darling
9:29pm UK, Wednesday April 22, 2009
Leading retail entrepreneur Theo Paphitis has said he would sack Alistair Darling if he worked for him.
Dragons' Den Star: You're fired Mr Chancellor
In response to one of the bleakest Budgets in living memory the Dragons' Den star told Sky's Jeff Randall that he would fire the chancellor for getting his financial predictions so badly wrong:
"If Alistair Darling was my Finance Director and made those sort of predictions and got every single one wrong every time. Would he still be in a job?
O'Neill backs Treasury forecasts
"He would not. You've got to get close to your predictions. He's got every single one wrong. So why should we start believing him now?"
But the outspoken chief economist of banking giant Goldman Sachs has backed Mr Darling.
Jim O'Neill said he thinks the Treasury's forecasts are credible.
"We think the growth side of it is fine actually. I'm very much in the 'green shoots' camp and I wouldn't be surprised if the near-term economic outlook isn't as bad as the government's now assuming.
Theo Paphitis: 'I'd Sack Darling'
"We wouldn't have any real quibble with the path of their forecasts over the next couple of years."
The comments came after a stark Budget statement in which the Chancellor confirmed that the UK was in the grip of the deepest recession since the Second World War.
He was forced to admit that the economy is set to shrink by 3.5% in 2009 - more than double his previous forecast.
At the same time the International Monetary Fund's forecast for the current year was even more pessimistic estimating a 4.1% contraction.
BookmarkCommentPrint
Register/Log-in to track story
MORE ON THIS STORY: BUDGET 2009
GALLERY
Apr 22,2009
Budget 2009: The Key Points
VIDEO
3:55
Apr 22,2009
Budget 2009: Darling's £700bn Debt
VIDEO
2:28
Apr 22,2009
How Does The Budget Affect You?
VIDEO
2:42
Apr 22,2009
Budget: Nothing Like It For 60 Years
VIDEO
Apr 22,2009
Budget 2009: Help For Housing Market?
VIDEO
Apr 22,2009
Tax Rise 'Good For Switzerland'
VIDEO
Apr 22,2009
Budget 2009: Boozers Targeted?
VIDEO
Apr 22,2009
Budget 2009: Scrap Bonus Tempting?
VIDEO
Apr 22,2009
Budget 2009: Small Business Measures
Apr 22,2009
VIDEO: Budget 2009: Darling Up Against IMF
Apr 22,2009
Labour Breaks Manifesto Promise
Apr 22,2009
VIDEO: Budget 2009: Mandelson Comments
Apr 22,2009
VIDEO: Rich Taxed To Pay Off Debt
Apr 22,2009
VIDEO: 'Government Of The Living Dead'
Apr 22,2009
KHOODEELAAR! evidential comment on the Rupert Murdoch SKY role in suppressing the truth about UK politics..[1]
Dragon Paphitis: I'd Fire Alistair Darling
9:29pm UK, Wednesday April 22, 2009
Leading retail entrepreneur Theo Paphitis has said he would sack Alistair Darling if he worked for him.
Dragons' Den Star: You're fired Mr Chancellor
In response to one of the bleakest Budgets in living memory the Dragons' Den star told Sky's Jeff Randall that he would fire the chancellor for getting his financial predictions so badly wrong:
"If Alistair Darling was my Finance Director and made those sort of predictions and got every single one wrong every time. Would he still be in a job?
O'Neill backs Treasury forecasts
"He would not. You've got to get close to your predictions. He's got every single one wrong. So why should we start believing him now?"
But the outspoken chief economist of banking giant Goldman Sachs has backed Mr Darling.
Jim O'Neill said he thinks the Treasury's forecasts are credible.
"We think the growth side of it is fine actually. I'm very much in the 'green shoots' camp and I wouldn't be surprised if the near-term economic outlook isn't as bad as the government's now assuming.
Theo Paphitis: 'I'd Sack Darling'
"We wouldn't have any real quibble with the path of their forecasts over the next couple of years."
The comments came after a stark Budget statement in which the Chancellor confirmed that the UK was in the grip of the deepest recession since the Second World War.
He was forced to admit that the economy is set to shrink by 3.5% in 2009 - more than double his previous forecast.
At the same time the International Monetary Fund's forecast for the current year was even more pessimistic estimating a 4.1% contraction.
BookmarkCommentPrint
Register/Log-in to track story
MORE ON THIS STORY: BUDGET 2009
GALLERY
Apr 22,2009
Budget 2009: The Key Points
VIDEO
3:55
Apr 22,2009
Budget 2009: Darling's £700bn Debt
VIDEO
2:28
Apr 22,2009
How Does The Budget Affect You?
VIDEO
2:42
Apr 22,2009
Budget: Nothing Like It For 60 Years
VIDEO
Apr 22,2009
Budget 2009: Help For Housing Market?
VIDEO
Apr 22,2009
Tax Rise 'Good For Switzerland'
VIDEO
Apr 22,2009
Budget 2009: Boozers Targeted?
VIDEO
Apr 22,2009
Budget 2009: Scrap Bonus Tempting?
VIDEO
Apr 22,2009
Budget 2009: Small Business Measures
Apr 22,2009
VIDEO: Budget 2009: Darling Up Against IMF
Apr 22,2009
Labour Breaks Manifesto Promise
Apr 22,2009
VIDEO: Budget 2009: Mandelson Comments
Apr 22,2009
VIDEO: Rich Taxed To Pay Off Debt
Apr 22,2009
VIDEO: 'Government Of The Living Dead'
Apr 22,2009
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
KHOODEELAAR! publishing live commentary on Budget LIVE on twitter
1150 Hrs GMT London
Wednesday 22 April 2009
KHOODEELAAR! publishing live commentary on Budget LIVE on twitter
Wednesday 22 April 2009
KHOODEELAAR! publishing live commentary on Budget LIVE on twitter
KHOODEELAAR! evidential note on Crossrail-scam-peddler Alistair Darling's multiple holes of failures....22.04.2009
0920 Hrs GMT
London Wednesday 22 April 2009
KHOODEELAAR! evidential note on Crossrail-scam-peddler Alistair Darling's multiple holes of failures....22.04.2009
Where Khoodeelaar! leads, the Daily Telegraph and the Tories can only follow... And that is not to speak of tim Willcox of BBC News Channel..
They were 'convinced' that the real central core problem was best expressed in one word: hole!
Will IMPRUDENT Brown let incredible Alistair to learn the lesson and confess to having it wrong and drop CRASSrail wasteful;l debtsful hole, and make amends in today’s Budget?
[To be continued]
Alistair Darling and Gordon Brown vanish down budget black hole
Alistair Darling and Gordon Brown were spotted vanishing down a black hole outside the Treasury in a tongue-in-cheek depiction of the country's finances.
By Sarah Knapton
Last Updated: 9:28AM BST 22 Apr 2009
The Chancellor will admit that the Government is likely to lose about £60 billion from the rescue of British banks including RBS, Lloyds and Northern Rock Photo: PA
The chalk-drawn street art was commissioned by the Conservative party ahead of the budget on Wednesday and featured caricatures of the Prime Minister and Chancellor disappearing down a cavernous gap in the pavement followed by Mr Darling's red box.
Putting the finishing touches to the design were artists Max Lowry and Joe Hill working for Street Advertising Services.
Related Articles
Budget 2009 live blog: the latest news, comments and analysis
Labour's Watergate leaves trust and dignity in the gutter
Budget 2009: Gordon Brown need plot a path to political recovery
Here are just a few things Alistair Darling should do in his Budget
Mortgage rescue support scheme launched
The stunt was designed to highlight what the Tories say is a "black hole" in the country's finances created by Labour's unprecedented levels of borrowing.
Shadow treasury spokesman, David Gauke said: "It's a great drawing and it makes the very good point that there is a black hole in the public finances that Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling are disappearing into. We just hope they don't take the rest of the country with them."
He said that the Party was "expecting that the Government is going to announce that the UK is borrowing more than almost any other major economy in the world. We are borrowing far too much, it is unsustainable.
"What we hope is that the Government will today hold up its hands and say that what we have at the moment is not something that can be sustained and that there is a clear route out, but what we fear is more gimmicks and more borrowing."
He said: "We need to see what the Government announces so we have got a clearer picture of the state of the economy."
He admitted that the party was worried that they would be handed a shaky economy if they took power at the next election.
He said: "Compared to the golden legacy that Gordon Brown inherited when he became chancellor it looks like this Government is going to leave the country in a complete mess."
London Wednesday 22 April 2009
KHOODEELAAR! evidential note on Crossrail-scam-peddler Alistair Darling's multiple holes of failures....22.04.2009
Where Khoodeelaar! leads, the Daily Telegraph and the Tories can only follow... And that is not to speak of tim Willcox of BBC News Channel..
They were 'convinced' that the real central core problem was best expressed in one word: hole!
Will IMPRUDENT Brown let incredible Alistair to learn the lesson and confess to having it wrong and drop CRASSrail wasteful;l debtsful hole, and make amends in today’s Budget?
[To be continued]
Alistair Darling and Gordon Brown vanish down budget black hole
Alistair Darling and Gordon Brown were spotted vanishing down a black hole outside the Treasury in a tongue-in-cheek depiction of the country's finances.
By Sarah Knapton
Last Updated: 9:28AM BST 22 Apr 2009
The Chancellor will admit that the Government is likely to lose about £60 billion from the rescue of British banks including RBS, Lloyds and Northern Rock Photo: PA
The chalk-drawn street art was commissioned by the Conservative party ahead of the budget on Wednesday and featured caricatures of the Prime Minister and Chancellor disappearing down a cavernous gap in the pavement followed by Mr Darling's red box.
Putting the finishing touches to the design were artists Max Lowry and Joe Hill working for Street Advertising Services.
Related Articles
Budget 2009 live blog: the latest news, comments and analysis
Labour's Watergate leaves trust and dignity in the gutter
Budget 2009: Gordon Brown need plot a path to political recovery
Here are just a few things Alistair Darling should do in his Budget
Mortgage rescue support scheme launched
The stunt was designed to highlight what the Tories say is a "black hole" in the country's finances created by Labour's unprecedented levels of borrowing.
Shadow treasury spokesman, David Gauke said: "It's a great drawing and it makes the very good point that there is a black hole in the public finances that Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling are disappearing into. We just hope they don't take the rest of the country with them."
He said that the Party was "expecting that the Government is going to announce that the UK is borrowing more than almost any other major economy in the world. We are borrowing far too much, it is unsustainable.
"What we hope is that the Government will today hold up its hands and say that what we have at the moment is not something that can be sustained and that there is a clear route out, but what we fear is more gimmicks and more borrowing."
He said: "We need to see what the Government announces so we have got a clearer picture of the state of the economy."
He admitted that the party was worried that they would be handed a shaky economy if they took power at the next election.
He said: "Compared to the golden legacy that Gordon Brown inherited when he became chancellor it looks like this Government is going to leave the country in a complete mess."
KHOODEELAAR! evidential note on the crass confession by the CRASSRAIL-peddlers at the GUARDIAN, London
0748 Hrs GMT London Wednesday 22 April 2009
CRASS role as peddler of lying CRASSrail scam, by the Guardian and Dan Milmo.. It admits that CRASSRAIL is NOT essentially about anything to do with transport for the people of London. It says as follows
“
This month Network Rail embarked on a five-year £35bn spending programme including the construction of Crossrail, which will connect Canary Wharf to Heathrow, and an overhaul of the Thameslink rail route through central London.
“
"
Government could boost rail work and target fare dodgers in £250m package
Dan Milmo
The Guardian, Monday 13 April 2009
Article history
The government is considering a £250m stimulus package for the railways aimed at boosting revenues and passenger numbers.
It is understood that Network Rail, the owner of Britain's rail infrastructure, has been asked to select projects that can be brought forward at a cost to the taxpayer of between £200m and £250m. The government has ruled out giving money to train operators struggling with expensive franchise contracts, but they are expected to benefit from the expenditure. The package, if agreed, could be timed to coincide with the budget later this month.
The measures are expected to increase train operator revenues by clamping down on fare dodgers, and increase passenger numbers by making rail travel more attractive for less frequent train users. Network Rail is considering investing the money in improving station access, which train operators believe will boost off-peak travel by attracting the elderly and mothers with young children.
Train operators are keen to sell more off-peak tickets because they are contracted to run a high number of services during quiet times of day, when there is less demand from commuters.
Network Rail is also considering bringing forward investment in ticket barriers. Fare dodging is thought to cost the industry 5% of its annual revenues, or about £270m, and the transport secretary, Geoff Hoon, has asked train operators to propose gating schemes. Lord Adonis, the rail minister, told the Guardian last month that such a scheme would be popular. "There is wide support from passengers for gating because they don't like huge amounts of people not paying for fares that they then have to subsidise." Station car parks would also benefit from the programme.
The potential investment was welcomed by environmental and public transport groups, who have written to the chancellor, Alistair Darling, to request a local transport stimulus in the budget. "We welcome this and it will encourage people to use trains rather than cars," said Stephen Joseph, executive director of the Campaign for Better Transport.
This month Network Rail embarked on a five-year £35bn spending programme including the construction of Crossrail, which will connect Canary Wharf to Heathrow, and an overhaul of the Thameslink rail route through central London."
CRASS role as peddler of lying CRASSrail scam, by the Guardian and Dan Milmo.. It admits that CRASSRAIL is NOT essentially about anything to do with transport for the people of London. It says as follows
“
This month Network Rail embarked on a five-year £35bn spending programme including the construction of Crossrail, which will connect Canary Wharf to Heathrow, and an overhaul of the Thameslink rail route through central London.
“
"
Government could boost rail work and target fare dodgers in £250m package
Dan Milmo
The Guardian, Monday 13 April 2009
Article history
The government is considering a £250m stimulus package for the railways aimed at boosting revenues and passenger numbers.
It is understood that Network Rail, the owner of Britain's rail infrastructure, has been asked to select projects that can be brought forward at a cost to the taxpayer of between £200m and £250m. The government has ruled out giving money to train operators struggling with expensive franchise contracts, but they are expected to benefit from the expenditure. The package, if agreed, could be timed to coincide with the budget later this month.
The measures are expected to increase train operator revenues by clamping down on fare dodgers, and increase passenger numbers by making rail travel more attractive for less frequent train users. Network Rail is considering investing the money in improving station access, which train operators believe will boost off-peak travel by attracting the elderly and mothers with young children.
Train operators are keen to sell more off-peak tickets because they are contracted to run a high number of services during quiet times of day, when there is less demand from commuters.
Network Rail is also considering bringing forward investment in ticket barriers. Fare dodging is thought to cost the industry 5% of its annual revenues, or about £270m, and the transport secretary, Geoff Hoon, has asked train operators to propose gating schemes. Lord Adonis, the rail minister, told the Guardian last month that such a scheme would be popular. "There is wide support from passengers for gating because they don't like huge amounts of people not paying for fares that they then have to subsidise." Station car parks would also benefit from the programme.
The potential investment was welcomed by environmental and public transport groups, who have written to the chancellor, Alistair Darling, to request a local transport stimulus in the budget. "We welcome this and it will encourage people to use trains rather than cars," said Stephen Joseph, executive director of the Campaign for Better Transport.
This month Network Rail embarked on a five-year £35bn spending programme including the construction of Crossrail, which will connect Canary Wharf to Heathrow, and an overhaul of the Thameslink rail route through central London."
KHOODEELAAR! evidential note on the crass effects of Crossrail - They want a Wales-CrAss-rail because London has Billions spent on CrAssrail!
0728 Hrs GMT
London Wednesday 22 April 2009
KHOODEELAAR! evidential note on the crass effects of Crossrail - They want a Wales-CrAss-rail because London has Billions spent on CrAssrail!
How is that significant?
Because, as Khoodeelaar! has been pointing out since 2004, the CRASSLY conceived Crossrail is NOT a scheme to meet an urgent need. It is to abuse an existing need and to serve other purposes other than that need..
Hence we point out again that the Wales online item does not say that there is a NEED for Wales Crossrail . It says they are spending £Billions on Crossrail in London and if they can do that then they can also let us have some of the same type of funds in Wales....
That is what KHOODEELAAR! calls CRASS EFFECTS of Crossrail
[To be continued]
--------
From the webs site of Wales online
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2009/04/20/labour-minister-opposes-royal-mint-privatisation-91466-23422333/
Labour minister opposes Royal Mint privatisation
Apr 20 2009 by David Williamson, Western Mail
ONE of the most senior Labour politicians in Wales last night condemned any suggestion that the Royal Mint should be privatised in this week’s Budget.
Chancellor Alistair Darling is understood to be considering selling off the Royal Mint, based in Llantrisant, and the Land Registry, which has operations in Swansea.
Pontypridd AM Jane Davidson – who is also Environment Minister in the Assembly Government – said: “I can see absolutely no need for the Mint to go into the private sector because it’s running at a profit. It’s the most efficient it’s ever been.
“The workforce has been slimmed down twice in the 10 years I’ve been an AM.”
There has been past speculation that the Royal Mint could be privatised, but it is now looking increasingly likely this will be announced in Mr Darling’s statement on Wednesday.
Gerry Grimstone, chairman of Standard Life and a former Treasury official who handled privatisations in the Thatcher Government, was appointed last year to review assets which could be sold off.
But Ms Davidson said: “I have never believed one should go into ideological mode, that you have competition for the sake of it. It seems entirely wrong if something is working.”
Other assets which could be heading for privatisation include London’s Covent Garden fruit market and the Queen Elizabeth II conference centre.
The Chancellor is expected to announce that borrowing for this financial year will total £160bn – 35% more than forecast in November.
Yesterday, in a YouTube video message, Mr Darling acknowledged there had been a “huge downturn” but insisted the “underlying strengths” of British industry would help the nation take advantage when the global economy emerged from recession.
New privatisations will be a further test for Labour’s relationship with the trade union movement.
David Prentis, general secretary of Unison, is due to say today that the Government is losing the trust of public sector workers “in their droves”.
Mr Prentis will tell the 1,000 delegates at the union’s health conference in Harrogate that “fundamental flaws” in private finance initiative school and hospital building projects had “come home to roost” and have had to be bailed out.
“Big business will only take the profit, but won’t shoulder the risk, while ordinary workers, expecting to put in a fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay, are rewarded with threats of job cuts, low or no pay and privatisation.”
Shadow Chancellor George Osborne said the Budget would bring a “day of reckoning” for Labour and called for spending plans to be scrapped.
He refused to rule out tax rises under a Conservative government to bring debt down, but said the focus of his efforts was on public spending “restraint”.
He said: “Indeed, I think on Wednesday Alistair Darling can make a start by making it clear the spending plans already pencilled in by the Labour Party – a 1.1% increase in spending in future years – is already unrealistic and that number needs to come down.
Meanwhile, Plaid Cymru have called for an All Wales Rail Network to be announced as part of a “People’s Budget”.
The party’s Westminster leader Elfyn Llwyd demanded a fiscal stimulus that would “massively improve” the public transport network in Wales – including the creation of a railway line linking North and South Wales without needing to cross the border into England.
He said: “The UK Government is spending billions on developing public transport in London through Crossrail and we in Wales should be given the money to develop a similar cross-Wales plan.
“The plans would also include the re-opening of the West Wales line, once again linking Carmarthen with Aberystwyth so that we no longer face the ridiculous situation of going from Swansea, Cardiff or Newport up to Shrewsbury so that we can reach West Wales.”
Plaid will announce further details of its Budget proposals today.
It claims it would be funded by ending “tax loopholes that allow extra pension relief for higher-rate taxpayers”.
Phil Silverthorne, executive director of training agency A4e Wales, said: “In the last recession that hit in the late 1980s, early 1990s, there was an enterprise allowance scheme that was set up to help people start up a new business. Today there are the tax credits available, but these are only there if you have a family,” he said.
“There needs to be a huge stimulus that will kick-start business start-ups and encourage people to begin spending so that businesses can begin to grow once again and start employing.”
London Wednesday 22 April 2009
KHOODEELAAR! evidential note on the crass effects of Crossrail - They want a Wales-CrAss-rail because London has Billions spent on CrAssrail!
How is that significant?
Because, as Khoodeelaar! has been pointing out since 2004, the CRASSLY conceived Crossrail is NOT a scheme to meet an urgent need. It is to abuse an existing need and to serve other purposes other than that need..
Hence we point out again that the Wales online item does not say that there is a NEED for Wales Crossrail . It says they are spending £Billions on Crossrail in London and if they can do that then they can also let us have some of the same type of funds in Wales....
That is what KHOODEELAAR! calls CRASS EFFECTS of Crossrail
[To be continued]
--------
From the webs site of Wales online
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2009/04/20/labour-minister-opposes-royal-mint-privatisation-91466-23422333/
Labour minister opposes Royal Mint privatisation
Apr 20 2009 by David Williamson, Western Mail
ONE of the most senior Labour politicians in Wales last night condemned any suggestion that the Royal Mint should be privatised in this week’s Budget.
Chancellor Alistair Darling is understood to be considering selling off the Royal Mint, based in Llantrisant, and the Land Registry, which has operations in Swansea.
Pontypridd AM Jane Davidson – who is also Environment Minister in the Assembly Government – said: “I can see absolutely no need for the Mint to go into the private sector because it’s running at a profit. It’s the most efficient it’s ever been.
“The workforce has been slimmed down twice in the 10 years I’ve been an AM.”
There has been past speculation that the Royal Mint could be privatised, but it is now looking increasingly likely this will be announced in Mr Darling’s statement on Wednesday.
Gerry Grimstone, chairman of Standard Life and a former Treasury official who handled privatisations in the Thatcher Government, was appointed last year to review assets which could be sold off.
But Ms Davidson said: “I have never believed one should go into ideological mode, that you have competition for the sake of it. It seems entirely wrong if something is working.”
Other assets which could be heading for privatisation include London’s Covent Garden fruit market and the Queen Elizabeth II conference centre.
The Chancellor is expected to announce that borrowing for this financial year will total £160bn – 35% more than forecast in November.
Yesterday, in a YouTube video message, Mr Darling acknowledged there had been a “huge downturn” but insisted the “underlying strengths” of British industry would help the nation take advantage when the global economy emerged from recession.
New privatisations will be a further test for Labour’s relationship with the trade union movement.
David Prentis, general secretary of Unison, is due to say today that the Government is losing the trust of public sector workers “in their droves”.
Mr Prentis will tell the 1,000 delegates at the union’s health conference in Harrogate that “fundamental flaws” in private finance initiative school and hospital building projects had “come home to roost” and have had to be bailed out.
“Big business will only take the profit, but won’t shoulder the risk, while ordinary workers, expecting to put in a fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay, are rewarded with threats of job cuts, low or no pay and privatisation.”
Shadow Chancellor George Osborne said the Budget would bring a “day of reckoning” for Labour and called for spending plans to be scrapped.
He refused to rule out tax rises under a Conservative government to bring debt down, but said the focus of his efforts was on public spending “restraint”.
He said: “Indeed, I think on Wednesday Alistair Darling can make a start by making it clear the spending plans already pencilled in by the Labour Party – a 1.1% increase in spending in future years – is already unrealistic and that number needs to come down.
Meanwhile, Plaid Cymru have called for an All Wales Rail Network to be announced as part of a “People’s Budget”.
The party’s Westminster leader Elfyn Llwyd demanded a fiscal stimulus that would “massively improve” the public transport network in Wales – including the creation of a railway line linking North and South Wales without needing to cross the border into England.
He said: “The UK Government is spending billions on developing public transport in London through Crossrail and we in Wales should be given the money to develop a similar cross-Wales plan.
“The plans would also include the re-opening of the West Wales line, once again linking Carmarthen with Aberystwyth so that we no longer face the ridiculous situation of going from Swansea, Cardiff or Newport up to Shrewsbury so that we can reach West Wales.”
Plaid will announce further details of its Budget proposals today.
It claims it would be funded by ending “tax loopholes that allow extra pension relief for higher-rate taxpayers”.
Phil Silverthorne, executive director of training agency A4e Wales, said: “In the last recession that hit in the late 1980s, early 1990s, there was an enterprise allowance scheme that was set up to help people start up a new business. Today there are the tax credits available, but these are only there if you have a family,” he said.
“There needs to be a huge stimulus that will kick-start business start-ups and encourage people to begin spending so that businesses can begin to grow once again and start employing.”
KHOODEELAAR! evidential note on the reported new pasture for Derek Conway, MP!!! on a day like this! And 'Cherie Blair's half sister'!!!
0708 Hrs GMT London Wednesday 22 April 2009
KHOODEELAAR! evidential note on the reported new pasture for Derek Conway, MP!!! on a day like this!
A day when EVEN the most immoral of the ‘British press’ is able to credibly deride and denounce the greed of British MPs!
The report as carried in the ‘gossip’ column of the still publishing London daily Independent is full of clues and ironies about the brazenness of those in Britain who trade IN THE NAME of other people....
Derek Conway is also a new arrival at a particular location along with the strangest of ‘relatives’ [not Derek Conway's. On this occasion, although he too has created a sort of a record by his OWN RELATIVE values trade], Lauren Booth, whose ‘blood, family and feud’ links vis a vis Tony Blair have ensured that she has successfully got herself into a business and enterprise status that she would never have had......And those cheques from the London Daily Mail media group have always been useful.....
It is very odd that Lauren Booth keeps on appearing on the oddest of places and each time she is given a description not based on her originality or contribution but on her alleged blood and family links with Tony Blair, one way or another...
As far as our researches show, she has not made a headline by PROTESTING against, let alone DISOWNING, those links. Not yet. May be after THIS, she will....
We campaign sometimes in rhetorical hope...
From the web site of the London daily the Independent:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/pandora/pandora-tony-lets-his-star-shine-in-hollywood-1672114.html
Conway's latest wheeze? Working for Tehran
News of a new departure for Derek Conway, poster boy for expense-fiddling MPs around the nation. We hear that he has recently joined Press TV, an English-language "news" channel funded by the Iranian government. In doing so Conway – who was last year ejected from the Conservative Party after placing family members on the House of Commons payroll – finds himself in the illustrious company of George Galloway, who hosts his own weekly show, and Lauren Booth, Cherie's younger half-sister and occasional contributor to the station. Quite what role Conway is to fulfil, we're not yet sure, though it seems safe to assume that his dandyish son Henry – "blond, bouncy and one for the boys" – won't be helping out around the office this time.
[To be continued]
KHOODEELAAR! evidential note on the reported new pasture for Derek Conway, MP!!! on a day like this!
A day when EVEN the most immoral of the ‘British press’ is able to credibly deride and denounce the greed of British MPs!
The report as carried in the ‘gossip’ column of the still publishing London daily Independent is full of clues and ironies about the brazenness of those in Britain who trade IN THE NAME of other people....
Derek Conway is also a new arrival at a particular location along with the strangest of ‘relatives’ [not Derek Conway's. On this occasion, although he too has created a sort of a record by his OWN RELATIVE values trade], Lauren Booth, whose ‘blood, family and feud’ links vis a vis Tony Blair have ensured that she has successfully got herself into a business and enterprise status that she would never have had......And those cheques from the London Daily Mail media group have always been useful.....
It is very odd that Lauren Booth keeps on appearing on the oddest of places and each time she is given a description not based on her originality or contribution but on her alleged blood and family links with Tony Blair, one way or another...
As far as our researches show, she has not made a headline by PROTESTING against, let alone DISOWNING, those links. Not yet. May be after THIS, she will....
We campaign sometimes in rhetorical hope...
From the web site of the London daily the Independent:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/pandora/pandora-tony-lets-his-star-shine-in-hollywood-1672114.html
Conway's latest wheeze? Working for Tehran
News of a new departure for Derek Conway, poster boy for expense-fiddling MPs around the nation. We hear that he has recently joined Press TV, an English-language "news" channel funded by the Iranian government. In doing so Conway – who was last year ejected from the Conservative Party after placing family members on the House of Commons payroll – finds himself in the illustrious company of George Galloway, who hosts his own weekly show, and Lauren Booth, Cherie's younger half-sister and occasional contributor to the station. Quite what role Conway is to fulfil, we're not yet sure, though it seems safe to assume that his dandyish son Henry – "blond, bouncy and one for the boys" – won't be helping out around the office this time.
[To be continued]
KHOODEELAAR! action flashback and update on the LYING corrupt 'local' paper the 'East London Idiotiser' -
From the KHOODEELAAR! Organiser Muhammad Haque's diagnostic communication sent to Malcolm Starbrook, ‘editor of the ‘East London Idiotiser’ on 12 February 2008:
We are running in April 2009 the KHOODEELAAR! diagnosis of the ‘East London Idiotiser’ as made in February 2008, because, as we had accurately diagnosed then, the Idiotiser was a persistently faking, lying organ that was operating a fake outfit .. which was more aligned to the Crossrail hole scam-inviting cabal on the Tower Hamlets Council than all the Idiotiser’s accumulated statements of denial would suggest. The statements of denial meaning that the Idiotiser was somewhat opposed to the Council’s conduct.
[To be continued]
“
Khoodeelaar! Complaints [latest] against the “ELA” -
Part 1 of the substantive response to Mr Starbrook – 1
as at 1035 Hrs GMT Monday 11 February 2008
This is being sent despite our previous emails saying
that a longer amount of time would be needed for our
reply to your e-mail in view of the large number of
documentary materials that we have had to create and
obtain concerning the conduct of the ‘ELA’.
1. The attached e-mail was sent to your reporter [and
or ‘deputy editor’ and or ‘news editor,’ and or foc
and or ‘chief reporter’] Mr Ted Jeory dated 12
December 2007, and is self-explanatory. It was sent in
good faith and in direct response to Mr Ted Jeory’s
invitation to us to the effect that a right of reply
was available to us as an option.
2. The ‘right of reply’ was not allowed to us in
print. That was typical conduct.
3. In the actual presentation of the campaign demands
and position to the ‘full council’ on 28 November
2007, I covered a wide range of key issues. Those are
far more important than the word ‘disruption’ denotes.
4. Did that presentation occur in ‘big’ sentences too?
Or did I use an alien language there as well?
5. This is a reference to racist bias prejudice and
ignorance. If it is not racist bias then I want to
know what it is.
6. Given that Mr Ted Jeory sat literally within inches
from the spot occupied by six other Khoodeeaar!
Campaign members who were near me as I spoke, what
could have been the explanation for reducing all of
that to a simple concept of disruption?
7. The work created by Khoodeelaar! over the past 4
years plus in defence of the community in the East End
against the agenda that Crossrail hole plot typifies,
is VERY unique. NO session of the Tower Hamlets
Council , whether as ‘full council ’ or as
‘committee’ has come to match, let alone supersede far
less surpass [as judged objectivity] that work in any
significant way.. Yet ‘reading’ the ‘coverage’ in the
‘ELA’ it would be impossible to even imagine that that
has been the case. The ‘ELA’ policy is demonstrably to
side with the Tower Hamlets Council’s pro-Crossrail
hole plot controlling clique.
8. The space given to the Tower Hamlets Council’s
alleged campaign against the Crossrail hole plot is
unjustified and it is irresponsible. The facts are
that the controlling clique continues to back the
fundamentally flawed scheme. That is not the position
of any ‘campaigner against the same scheme’ on the
facts, there has been no campaign by the Tower Hamlets
Council if there were then we would not have to have
been doing 4 years of hard work.
9. On every count, we have been and are continuing to
be the campaigners aghast the Crossrail hole. And the
majority of the energy of our campaign has been
devoted to countering the behaviour f the Tower
Hamlets Council . Yet the ‘ELA’ keeps finding excuses
to paint the Tower Hamlets Council as a campaigner.
This conduct is dishonest And a lie. And it must not
be repeated. If it is repeated then there cannot be
any other basis for doing it other than that the ‘ELA’
is biased and prejudiced against us and in favour of
the wrong-doing clique.
10. Khoodeelaar! has been requested by hundreds of
people from Stepney through Whitechapel to Brick Lane
to represent their opposition to the Crossrail hole
plot to the House of Lords . That we are doing. Yet
the ‘ELA’ has neither the space nor the inclination to
report this.
11. The allegedly 2 page spread that the ‘ELA’ carried
in 2006 was full of factual errors, inaccuracies and
fabrications. Despite our pointing this out in great
detail soon afterwards, the errors have been allowed
to stay uncorrected. As has the Khoodeelaar! Campaign
being put on the side as an occasional thing.
12. No-one would know by reading the ‘ELA’ that we
are directly auditing and dealing with all published
and publicized components of the Crossrail plot scheme
on a daily basis. If nut on an hourly basis during
some parts of every week!
13. Strangely, [1] there appear to be some
mysteriously persistent and large space being
allocated to characters that do nit really warrant the
plugs. Perhaps the ‘decision-makers’ on the ELA are
too preoccupied with finding excuses to plugs these
spurious elements to be able to report the campaign
against the Crossrail hole attacks on the East End of
London…
14. How many other campaigners have taken their
demands or arguments to the legislative upper chamber
of the UK Parliament from the East End of London apart
from Khoodeelaar! and our associated campaigners?
15. Strangely [2] , some dubious and totally
unrepresentative elements keep being featured in the
‘ELA’ as if they speak for the community on the
issues concerned.
16. There are several hundred other items that we
shall be referring to in due course. Those will
include precise factual items that the ‘ELA’ has been
getting wrong despite being given the correct facts,
the correct context, history, reference and despite
being very clearly and repeatedly told not to get the
stuff so wrong..
“
=======
ffice of Fair Trading probe into council newspapers on the rates
20 April 2009
By Malcolm Starbrook
THE Office of Fair Trading is looking at the effects on Britain’s struggling local press by town halls running their own free newspapers out of council tax.
It is part of a review into press ownership and follows a consultation paper in which the competition watchdog invited the regional publishing industry to submit evidence about the public sector media.
The OFT has held meetings with the Newspaper Society and the newly formed Local Media Alliance which have both raised fears about the impact town halls are having on the already-fragile regional media.
RISING PRESSURE
Publishers are under increasing pressure from public sector bodies developing their own media outlets such as newspapers and online TV channels paid for out of council tax, it has been told.
The local authorities that submitted a response to the OFT investigation argued that their own communications were important to ensure accountability.
Some said it was important to make a distinction between reducing their ad costs in local newspapers and directly competing for advertising revenue in the open market.
BATTLEGROUND
The situation in East London is becoming more of a battleground.
Barking & Dagenham council is to launch a newspaper paid for by local taxes which is to carry council advertising rather than the authority placing ads in the local press as it has always done traditionally for the past 90 years. Neighbouring Newham is now considering launching its own newspaper.
Both follow the example of Tower Hamlets which has been running its weekly East End Life launched in direct competition with the long-established East London Advertiser which marked its 122nd anniversary in November. It is paid for out of town hall coffers—both the printing and its massive distribution to nearly every property in the East End.
BIASED
The Advertiser has been running its own campaign with Government ministers, now backed by Opposition local councillors this week.
Both Conservative and Respect Opposition groups at Tower Hamlets have complained that the Labour-controlled East End Life ignored their alternative budget proposals. They claim it is biased while only giving coverage to Labour’s budget—which is one of the few in London to rise this year.
+++
Open letter to MP Denis MacShane, from retired Australian newspaper correspondent Leo Chapman now living in London.
We are running in April 2009 the KHOODEELAAR! diagnosis of the ‘East London Idiotiser’ as made in February 2008, because, as we had accurately diagnosed then, the Idiotiser was a persistently faking, lying organ that was operating a fake outfit .. which was more aligned to the Crossrail hole scam-inviting cabal on the Tower Hamlets Council than all the Idiotiser’s accumulated statements of denial would suggest. The statements of denial meaning that the Idiotiser was somewhat opposed to the Council’s conduct.
[To be continued]
“
Khoodeelaar! Complaints [latest] against the “ELA” -
Part 1 of the substantive response to Mr Starbrook – 1
as at 1035 Hrs GMT Monday 11 February 2008
This is being sent despite our previous emails saying
that a longer amount of time would be needed for our
reply to your e-mail in view of the large number of
documentary materials that we have had to create and
obtain concerning the conduct of the ‘ELA’.
1. The attached e-mail was sent to your reporter [and
or ‘deputy editor’ and or ‘news editor,’ and or foc
and or ‘chief reporter’] Mr Ted Jeory dated 12
December 2007, and is self-explanatory. It was sent in
good faith and in direct response to Mr Ted Jeory’s
invitation to us to the effect that a right of reply
was available to us as an option.
2. The ‘right of reply’ was not allowed to us in
print. That was typical conduct.
3. In the actual presentation of the campaign demands
and position to the ‘full council’ on 28 November
2007, I covered a wide range of key issues. Those are
far more important than the word ‘disruption’ denotes.
4. Did that presentation occur in ‘big’ sentences too?
Or did I use an alien language there as well?
5. This is a reference to racist bias prejudice and
ignorance. If it is not racist bias then I want to
know what it is.
6. Given that Mr Ted Jeory sat literally within inches
from the spot occupied by six other Khoodeeaar!
Campaign members who were near me as I spoke, what
could have been the explanation for reducing all of
that to a simple concept of disruption?
7. The work created by Khoodeelaar! over the past 4
years plus in defence of the community in the East End
against the agenda that Crossrail hole plot typifies,
is VERY unique. NO session of the Tower Hamlets
Council , whether as ‘full council ’ or as
‘committee’ has come to match, let alone supersede far
less surpass [as judged objectivity] that work in any
significant way.. Yet ‘reading’ the ‘coverage’ in the
‘ELA’ it would be impossible to even imagine that that
has been the case. The ‘ELA’ policy is demonstrably to
side with the Tower Hamlets Council’s pro-Crossrail
hole plot controlling clique.
8. The space given to the Tower Hamlets Council’s
alleged campaign against the Crossrail hole plot is
unjustified and it is irresponsible. The facts are
that the controlling clique continues to back the
fundamentally flawed scheme. That is not the position
of any ‘campaigner against the same scheme’ on the
facts, there has been no campaign by the Tower Hamlets
Council if there were then we would not have to have
been doing 4 years of hard work.
9. On every count, we have been and are continuing to
be the campaigners aghast the Crossrail hole. And the
majority of the energy of our campaign has been
devoted to countering the behaviour f the Tower
Hamlets Council . Yet the ‘ELA’ keeps finding excuses
to paint the Tower Hamlets Council as a campaigner.
This conduct is dishonest And a lie. And it must not
be repeated. If it is repeated then there cannot be
any other basis for doing it other than that the ‘ELA’
is biased and prejudiced against us and in favour of
the wrong-doing clique.
10. Khoodeelaar! has been requested by hundreds of
people from Stepney through Whitechapel to Brick Lane
to represent their opposition to the Crossrail hole
plot to the House of Lords . That we are doing. Yet
the ‘ELA’ has neither the space nor the inclination to
report this.
11. The allegedly 2 page spread that the ‘ELA’ carried
in 2006 was full of factual errors, inaccuracies and
fabrications. Despite our pointing this out in great
detail soon afterwards, the errors have been allowed
to stay uncorrected. As has the Khoodeelaar! Campaign
being put on the side as an occasional thing.
12. No-one would know by reading the ‘ELA’ that we
are directly auditing and dealing with all published
and publicized components of the Crossrail plot scheme
on a daily basis. If nut on an hourly basis during
some parts of every week!
13. Strangely, [1] there appear to be some
mysteriously persistent and large space being
allocated to characters that do nit really warrant the
plugs. Perhaps the ‘decision-makers’ on the ELA are
too preoccupied with finding excuses to plugs these
spurious elements to be able to report the campaign
against the Crossrail hole attacks on the East End of
London…
14. How many other campaigners have taken their
demands or arguments to the legislative upper chamber
of the UK Parliament from the East End of London apart
from Khoodeelaar! and our associated campaigners?
15. Strangely [2] , some dubious and totally
unrepresentative elements keep being featured in the
‘ELA’ as if they speak for the community on the
issues concerned.
16. There are several hundred other items that we
shall be referring to in due course. Those will
include precise factual items that the ‘ELA’ has been
getting wrong despite being given the correct facts,
the correct context, history, reference and despite
being very clearly and repeatedly told not to get the
stuff so wrong..
“
=======
ffice of Fair Trading probe into council newspapers on the rates
20 April 2009
By Malcolm Starbrook
THE Office of Fair Trading is looking at the effects on Britain’s struggling local press by town halls running their own free newspapers out of council tax.
It is part of a review into press ownership and follows a consultation paper in which the competition watchdog invited the regional publishing industry to submit evidence about the public sector media.
The OFT has held meetings with the Newspaper Society and the newly formed Local Media Alliance which have both raised fears about the impact town halls are having on the already-fragile regional media.
RISING PRESSURE
Publishers are under increasing pressure from public sector bodies developing their own media outlets such as newspapers and online TV channels paid for out of council tax, it has been told.
The local authorities that submitted a response to the OFT investigation argued that their own communications were important to ensure accountability.
Some said it was important to make a distinction between reducing their ad costs in local newspapers and directly competing for advertising revenue in the open market.
BATTLEGROUND
The situation in East London is becoming more of a battleground.
Barking & Dagenham council is to launch a newspaper paid for by local taxes which is to carry council advertising rather than the authority placing ads in the local press as it has always done traditionally for the past 90 years. Neighbouring Newham is now considering launching its own newspaper.
Both follow the example of Tower Hamlets which has been running its weekly East End Life launched in direct competition with the long-established East London Advertiser which marked its 122nd anniversary in November. It is paid for out of town hall coffers—both the printing and its massive distribution to nearly every property in the East End.
BIASED
The Advertiser has been running its own campaign with Government ministers, now backed by Opposition local councillors this week.
Both Conservative and Respect Opposition groups at Tower Hamlets have complained that the Labour-controlled East End Life ignored their alternative budget proposals. They claim it is biased while only giving coverage to Labour’s budget—which is one of the few in London to rise this year.
+++
Open letter to MP Denis MacShane, from retired Australian newspaper correspondent Leo Chapman now living in London.