2300 Hrs GMT London Tuesday 24 March 2009:
Just how far down the normalization of racist regime road has the BBC descended? If the evidence witnessed at 2227 Hrs GMT today is anything to go by then the answer must be TOO FAR. Two of the BBC news channel’ fronters, Huw Edwards and Chris Ekin were peddling some of the routine front pages from the State-approved, sate-listed ‘mainstream’ London newspapers. The front page of the Daily Telegraph came first. For the second time in less than 40 minutes on the same BBC TV news channel, the picture of France’s latest ‘diversity’ Minister was the one that attracted the eyes... The BBC pair ‘joked’ racistly, pretending to be ignorant of what the post was about.… Until 2255 when the ‘guest reviewer’ David Davis spelt out the 'news' aspect of the item on the front page of the DAILY TELEGRAPH but found that Chris Ekin was still ‘joking’.....
[To be continued]
33rd year AADHIKAR
0225 GMT Thursday 06 June 2013
AADHIKAR Media Foundation Editor © Muhammad Haque
Founding News Editor
Shah M Azizul Haque
AADHIKAR Media Foundation established with the publication of AADHIKAR the weekly on Monday 19 December 1980 from London E1 UK.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
KHOODEELAAR! noting [3] evidential item on the shallowness of French Presidential use of power... Ethnic surrogacy
2340 Hrs GMT London Tuesday 24 March 2009: Just how far down the normalization of racist regime road has the BBC descended? If the evidence witnessed at 2227 Hrs GMT today is anything to go by then the answer must be TOO FAR. Two of the BBC news channel’ fronters, Huw Edwards and Chris Ekin were peddling some of the routine front pages from the State-approved, sate-listed ‘mainstream’ London newspapers. The front page of the Daily Telegraph came first. For the second time in less than 40 minutes on the same BBC TV news channel, the picture of France’s latest ‘diversity’ Minister was the one that attracted the eyes... The BBC pair ‘joked’ racistly, pretending to be ignorant of what the post was about.… Until 2255 when the ‘guest reviewer’ David Davis spelt out the 'news' aspect of the item on the front page of the DAILY TELEGRAPH but found that Chris Ekin was still ‘joking’.....[To be continued]
KHOODEELAAR! noting [2] evidential item on the shallowness of French Presidential use of power... Ethnic surrogacy
2230 Hrs GMT London Tuesday 24 March 2009:
On the day that UK’s Gordon Brown staged an apparently successful sermon from Strasbourg and made repeated references to the word ‘vah-loos’, millions of people across ‘Western Europe’ - OK, across ALL EUROPE, ‘One Europe’ as Brown persistently claimed in his spiel-experienced violations of their human rights due to racism. But Gordon Brown spoke a script that was conceived of by those who lived in a state of denial about the true world. And those who were in denial about their role in the perpetration and in the perpetuation of racist injustices in the world. Instead they made believe and faked a false vision of the word.. A world populated by ethnic surrogates and diversity stooges placed in positions of token power whence they utter and deliver violations against people in whose name they are staged and rewarded.…[To be continued]
On the day that UK’s Gordon Brown staged an apparently successful sermon from Strasbourg and made repeated references to the word ‘vah-loos’, millions of people across ‘Western Europe’ - OK, across ALL EUROPE, ‘One Europe’ as Brown persistently claimed in his spiel-experienced violations of their human rights due to racism. But Gordon Brown spoke a script that was conceived of by those who lived in a state of denial about the true world. And those who were in denial about their role in the perpetration and in the perpetuation of racist injustices in the world. Instead they made believe and faked a false vision of the word.. A world populated by ethnic surrogates and diversity stooges placed in positions of token power whence they utter and deliver violations against people in whose name they are staged and rewarded.…[To be continued]
KHOODEELAAR! noting [2] evidential item on the shallowness of French Presidential use of power... Ethnic surrogacy
2230 Hrs GMT London Tuesday 24 March 2009:
On the day that UK’s Gordon Brown staged an apparently successful sermon from Strasbourg and made repeated references to the word ‘vah-loos’, millions of people across ‘Western Europe’ - OK, across ALL EUROPE, ‘One Europe’ as Brown persistently claimed in his spiel-experienced violations of their human rights due to racism. But Gordon Brown spoke a script that was conceived of by those who lived in a state of denial about the true world. And those who were in denial about their role in the perpetration and in the perpetuation of racist injustices in the world. Instead they made believe and faked a false vision of the word.. A world populated by ethnic surrogates and diversity stooges placed in positions of token power whence they utter and deliver violations against people in whose name they are staged and rewarded.…[To be continued]
On the day that UK’s Gordon Brown staged an apparently successful sermon from Strasbourg and made repeated references to the word ‘vah-loos’, millions of people across ‘Western Europe’ - OK, across ALL EUROPE, ‘One Europe’ as Brown persistently claimed in his spiel-experienced violations of their human rights due to racism. But Gordon Brown spoke a script that was conceived of by those who lived in a state of denial about the true world. And those who were in denial about their role in the perpetration and in the perpetuation of racist injustices in the world. Instead they made believe and faked a false vision of the word.. A world populated by ethnic surrogates and diversity stooges placed in positions of token power whence they utter and deliver violations against people in whose name they are staged and rewarded.…[To be continued]
KHOODEELAAR! noting evidential item on the shallowness of French Presidential use of power... Ethnic surrogacy
2210 Hrs GMT London Tuesday 24 March 2009:
KHOODEELAAR! noting evidential item on the shallowness of French Presidential use of power: ’Ethnic surrogacy. Far from democracy. Far from accountability [to be continued]
KHOODEELAAR! noting evidential item on the shallowness of French Presidential use of power: ’Ethnic surrogacy. Far from democracy. Far from accountability [to be continued]
KHOODEELAAR! TOLD YOU SO! That the 'mainstream' media coverage of 'London mayor' was corrupt and that Crossrail costs and wastes are being concealed..
2150 [2145] Hrs GMT London Tuesday 24 March 2009: KHOODEELAAR! No to "Crossrail scam .." CAMPAIGN TOLD YOU SO!
That Crossrail was the product of a secret society with ‘influence’ over al the ‘mainstream’ media and decision-makers....
That can be the only reason why there is the irrational, illogical silence on Crossrail among the ‘mainstream’..
They are silent even on a day when they are being ‘otherwise’ ‘critical’ of Boris Johnson.. Compared to the sums involved in the ‘job cuts at the GLA’ coverage, the costs of crassly conceived Crossrail are phenomenal...
And yet they do not make the correlation between the costs of Crossrail and the costs of job losses by the GLA which is the same body that ‘controls’ - or rather ought to control Transport for London...
[To be continued]
AADHIKARonline TEXTS only references to items of 'news' as collected from GOOGE at 2200 GMT 24 March 2009
Up to 100 job cuts at GLA
Local Government Chronicle - 7 hours ago
Unison has attacked a restructure plan by Boris Johnson that it warns will axe up to 100 jobs in the Greater London Assembly. The London Mayor's office has ...
Union warns over City Hall job cuts The Press Association
City Hall job cuts expected MayorWatch
all 8 news articles »
BBC News
Transport for London May Face Strike Over Job Cuts
Bloomberg - Mar 23, 2009
The union opposes Mayor Boris Johnson’s plan, announced in January, to cut around 1000 positions and trim spending to reduce a deficit in Transport for ...
Tube faces stoppages as staff vote on strike This is London
London Underground workers to vote on strike action InTheNews.co.uk
Job losses spark London Underground strike ballot Rye and Battle Today
all 67 news articles »
On 45p tax, Boris Johnson is right and David Cameron is wrong
Telegraph.co.uk - Mar 21, 2009
The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said that a 45p band was "not economically sensible". He is dead right. It will raise little – £2 billion, ...
Fired Doctor of Derivatives Waits to Cry as Finance Jobs Vanish
Bloomberg - 13 hours ago
The job cuts began as the markets turned in mid-2007. Merrill Lynch Chief Executive Officer Stanley O’Neal and Citigroup CEO Charles Prince were ousted ...
This is London
London's £10 billion pensions timebomb
This is London - 12 hours ago
Mayor Boris Johnson said: “We need serious pension reform in local government and we need people to be reassured about financial security in their ...
LITTLEJOHN Backs The Hindus
FansOnLine.net - 13 hours ago
Boris Johnson's decision to flick two fingers at the diversity nazis and celebrate St George's Day is long overdue. For too long, any manifestation of ...
Johnson vows to stop funding Muslim group with links to ...
guardian.co.uk - Mar 13, 2009
Boris Johnson today said he would cut funding to a Muslim advisory body that works with the police following a row over its links with a controversial ...
guardian.co.uk
Recession is no "phoney war"
The Wharf - Mar 5, 2009
By John Hill on March 5, 2009 11:35 AM | As Boris Johnson prepared for his first business Q&A last week, The Wharf talked to London Chamber of Commerce and ...
Send us your questions for London Mayor Boris Johnson Elmbridge Guardian
all 186 news articles »
Workers' Liberty
Amnesty for migrants?
Workers' Liberty - Mar 11, 2009
A debate over an amnesty or regularisation for so-called “illegal immigrants” has restarted with the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, pushing hard for the ...
This is London
You’ve brought the Tube to its knees, Gordon. Now take the blame
This is London - Mar 17, 200
That Crossrail was the product of a secret society with ‘influence’ over al the ‘mainstream’ media and decision-makers....
That can be the only reason why there is the irrational, illogical silence on Crossrail among the ‘mainstream’..
They are silent even on a day when they are being ‘otherwise’ ‘critical’ of Boris Johnson.. Compared to the sums involved in the ‘job cuts at the GLA’ coverage, the costs of crassly conceived Crossrail are phenomenal...
And yet they do not make the correlation between the costs of Crossrail and the costs of job losses by the GLA which is the same body that ‘controls’ - or rather ought to control Transport for London...
[To be continued]
AADHIKARonline TEXTS only references to items of 'news' as collected from GOOGE at 2200 GMT 24 March 2009
Up to 100 job cuts at GLA
Local Government Chronicle - 7 hours ago
Unison has attacked a restructure plan by Boris Johnson that it warns will axe up to 100 jobs in the Greater London Assembly. The London Mayor's office has ...
Union warns over City Hall job cuts The Press Association
City Hall job cuts expected MayorWatch
all 8 news articles »
BBC News
Transport for London May Face Strike Over Job Cuts
Bloomberg - Mar 23, 2009
The union opposes Mayor Boris Johnson’s plan, announced in January, to cut around 1000 positions and trim spending to reduce a deficit in Transport for ...
Tube faces stoppages as staff vote on strike This is London
London Underground workers to vote on strike action InTheNews.co.uk
Job losses spark London Underground strike ballot Rye and Battle Today
all 67 news articles »
On 45p tax, Boris Johnson is right and David Cameron is wrong
Telegraph.co.uk - Mar 21, 2009
The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said that a 45p band was "not economically sensible". He is dead right. It will raise little – £2 billion, ...
Fired Doctor of Derivatives Waits to Cry as Finance Jobs Vanish
Bloomberg - 13 hours ago
The job cuts began as the markets turned in mid-2007. Merrill Lynch Chief Executive Officer Stanley O’Neal and Citigroup CEO Charles Prince were ousted ...
This is London
London's £10 billion pensions timebomb
This is London - 12 hours ago
Mayor Boris Johnson said: “We need serious pension reform in local government and we need people to be reassured about financial security in their ...
LITTLEJOHN Backs The Hindus
FansOnLine.net - 13 hours ago
Boris Johnson's decision to flick two fingers at the diversity nazis and celebrate St George's Day is long overdue. For too long, any manifestation of ...
Johnson vows to stop funding Muslim group with links to ...
guardian.co.uk - Mar 13, 2009
Boris Johnson today said he would cut funding to a Muslim advisory body that works with the police following a row over its links with a controversial ...
guardian.co.uk
Recession is no "phoney war"
The Wharf - Mar 5, 2009
By John Hill on March 5, 2009 11:35 AM | As Boris Johnson prepared for his first business Q&A last week, The Wharf talked to London Chamber of Commerce and ...
Send us your questions for London Mayor Boris Johnson Elmbridge Guardian
all 186 news articles »
Workers' Liberty
Amnesty for migrants?
Workers' Liberty - Mar 11, 2009
A debate over an amnesty or regularisation for so-called “illegal immigrants” has restarted with the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, pushing hard for the ...
This is London
You’ve brought the Tube to its knees, Gordon. Now take the blame
This is London - Mar 17, 200
KHOODEELAAR! TOLD YOU SO! that the BBC was lying about the economy and only telling the truth partially and opportunistically...
1855 Hrs GMT London Tuesday 24 March 2009:
It has taken the BBC online almost the whole working day today to work out whether it would be profitable for them to tell the truth about the fallacies of Gordon Brown’s boasts about the economy...The Gordon Brown fallacies were dealt a specially planned blow by Mervyn King the Bank of England Governor who addressed both MPs and Peers [separately] during the day. He also, incidentally, had an audience with Brenda at Buckingham Palace down the road from Westminster .... The BBC decided that it would be profitable for them to let on that Mervyn king had warned Brown against indulging in another ‘spending splurge’. Just.. After David Cameron came on and said that it would be OK. In effect that is what the Cameron sound byte meant for Mark Thompson and his inner circle ...They had been on their toes since CAMERON ET ON THAT the Tries would freeze the BBC licence fee. As things are looking [at least on the day] almost safe for a Cameron ‘election, the BBC would be unwise to ignore that. Hence the ‘neutrality’ of Mark Thompson shown in a display of bias for the truth...Just..[To be continued]
It has taken the BBC online almost the whole working day today to work out whether it would be profitable for them to tell the truth about the fallacies of Gordon Brown’s boasts about the economy...The Gordon Brown fallacies were dealt a specially planned blow by Mervyn King the Bank of England Governor who addressed both MPs and Peers [separately] during the day. He also, incidentally, had an audience with Brenda at Buckingham Palace down the road from Westminster .... The BBC decided that it would be profitable for them to let on that Mervyn king had warned Brown against indulging in another ‘spending splurge’. Just.. After David Cameron came on and said that it would be OK. In effect that is what the Cameron sound byte meant for Mark Thompson and his inner circle ...They had been on their toes since CAMERON ET ON THAT the Tries would freeze the BBC licence fee. As things are looking [at least on the day] almost safe for a Cameron ‘election, the BBC would be unwise to ignore that. Hence the ‘neutrality’ of Mark Thompson shown in a display of bias for the truth...Just..[To be continued]
KHOODEELAAR! TOLD YOU SO! reiterating the need to have a morally active Parliament - as opposed to a stooged one
1515 [1458] Hrs GMT London Tuesday 24 March 2009: KHOODEELAAR! evidential first comment on Gordon Brown’s heavily scripted spiel delivered at Strasbourg in the past 30 minutes. It was not original. And in relation to one f the key parts in its - the claim that he was advocating against protectionism, the idea was most openly stated by Rupert Murdoch, of all people, only days before the 2008 US Presidential Election..1428 [1420] Hrs GMT London Tuesday 24 March 2009 KHOODEELAAR! TOLD YOU SO!
That lack of democracy, ethicality, accountability, transparency dominates the UK Parliament, which is a big turn off.. And the irrelevance of ‘Parliament’ to real life became most clear during the rubber-stamping stages of the Big Business CRASSrail scam the ‘Crossrail Bill’ [February 2005 to July 2008]. There were the ritualistic displays of ‘debates’ but they were in fact debasing stunts.. One such DEBASE waS STAGED on 19 July 2005. MP after stooged MP uttered braying allegiance to their whips vied with one another for attention as the most loyal supplicant to the deity of bureaucratic approval by the Blaired regime ...One recorded exception was marked in context and to d with the electoral considerations attaching to the situation in the Bethnal green and Bow Parliamentary constituency and the 'local Borough Council-inked' at the time ... Now that Dawn ‘Brent South’ ‘Black Female’ MP and a ‘whip’ in the cause of Gordon Brown, is in the ‘news’, KHOODEELAAR! asks: what would Dawn Butler have done had she been a whip in July 2005? Would she have whipped the fellow Party MPs to stay in line? Or would she have let them tell the truth about the crassness and the utter, the sheer, the blatant corruption that is the Crossrail agenda? Would Dawn Butler - frequently over-plugged by pro-racist agencies as ‘the third black woman to be elected MP’ in Britain - know the difference between stooging, stooges, touts, time-servers, racism, empire, ethics, surrogacy and brainwashing and their opposites as conceivably personified in any MP in the current or the contemporary batch of MPs and would she be able to identify with the people and the communities in inner city London in and in the rest of society whose rights are violated by Big Business, Military Industrial Complex? As a former ‘adviser’ to Ken Livingstone, what term , word, concept would Dawn Butler contribute to the cause of democracy and accountability in the context of Livingstone's role as a tout for Big Business Crossrail scam ? [To be continued]
.
[To be continued]
That lack of democracy, ethicality, accountability, transparency dominates the UK Parliament, which is a big turn off.. And the irrelevance of ‘Parliament’ to real life became most clear during the rubber-stamping stages of the Big Business CRASSrail scam the ‘Crossrail Bill’ [February 2005 to July 2008]. There were the ritualistic displays of ‘debates’ but they were in fact debasing stunts.. One such DEBASE waS STAGED on 19 July 2005. MP after stooged MP uttered braying allegiance to their whips vied with one another for attention as the most loyal supplicant to the deity of bureaucratic approval by the Blaired regime ...One recorded exception was marked in context and to d with the electoral considerations attaching to the situation in the Bethnal green and Bow Parliamentary constituency and the 'local Borough Council-inked' at the time ... Now that Dawn ‘Brent South’ ‘Black Female’ MP and a ‘whip’ in the cause of Gordon Brown, is in the ‘news’, KHOODEELAAR! asks: what would Dawn Butler have done had she been a whip in July 2005? Would she have whipped the fellow Party MPs to stay in line? Or would she have let them tell the truth about the crassness and the utter, the sheer, the blatant corruption that is the Crossrail agenda? Would Dawn Butler - frequently over-plugged by pro-racist agencies as ‘the third black woman to be elected MP’ in Britain - know the difference between stooging, stooges, touts, time-servers, racism, empire, ethics, surrogacy and brainwashing and their opposites as conceivably personified in any MP in the current or the contemporary batch of MPs and would she be able to identify with the people and the communities in inner city London in and in the rest of society whose rights are violated by Big Business, Military Industrial Complex? As a former ‘adviser’ to Ken Livingstone, what term , word, concept would Dawn Butler contribute to the cause of democracy and accountability in the context of Livingstone's role as a tout for Big Business Crossrail scam ? [To be continued]
.
[To be continued]
KHOODEELAAR! TOLD YOU SO about Crossrail scam-inviter Blaired London local Councils bankrupting the local communities ..
1040 Hrs GMT London Tuesday 24 March 2009: KHOODEELAAR! TOLD YOU SO about Crossrail scam-inviter Blaired London local Councils bankrupting the local communities ...[To be continued]
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http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23666142-details/London%27s+10+billion+pensions+timebomb/article.do
"
London's £10 billion pensions timebomb
Jonathan Prynn and Katharine Barney
24.03.09
Look here too
Anger over massive pensions gulf between local authority bosses and ordinary workers
Commentary: Sums for local councils don't add up ... but reform could benefit taxpayers and staff
A PENSION funding shortfall of £10billion threatens local government services in London, the Evening Standard reveals today.
A detailed investigation of council finances shows for the first time how all 33 local authorities now have deficits in their staff pension funds.
But while the funds have shrunk, the retirement benefits due to be paid to local government's highest paid workers have never been more generous. At least seven current chief executives are heading for final salary pensions of at least £100,000 a year.
Experts warn that the scale of the underfunding, equivalent to more than £3,000 for every council tax paying household in the capital, makes sharp increases in council tax or cuts in services all but inevitable. Among key findings of the Standard's analysis are:
* The biggest black holes are at the Olympic borough of Newham, which has a deficit of £428.3million in its scheme, and Croydon, which has a £411.8million shortfall.
* The strain is being increased by large numbers of staff taking early retirement on generous terms because of ill-health. At Greenwich last year almost half the retirements were premature.
* Council contributions levels are having to be massively increased. In the most extreme cases they are being forced to contribute up to 40 per cent of employee salaries.
* The total deficit is more than the 33 councils' combined annual spending on education and social services.
Mayor Boris Johnson said: “We need serious pension reform in local government and we need people to be reassured about financial security in their retirement.”
The pension crisis has been caused by the escalating cost of funding “copper bottomed” final salary pension schemes still provided, unlike most companies, by councils and other public sector employers such as Transport for London.
But it has been made far worse by the collapse in financial markets which has wiped billions of pounds off the value of council pension fund contributions invested in the City.
The average local authority pension is just £4,000 a year because many council workers are on low pay, are only part-time or have breaks in their service, but even this would need a pot of around £80,000 to fund. However, there are growing concerns about senior local government executives on salaries of more than £100,000 who will retire on expensive pensions.
Independent pensions consultant John Ralfe, said: “The councils' approach seems to be, Let's close our eyes and keep our fingers crossed'. The scale of these deficits can only be paid off through higher contributions from the local authorities and that means either reduced services or higher levels of local or government tax. That won't happen any time soon, they will fudge it and fiddle it, and that is storing up problems for our children and grandchildren.”
The Standard looked at the latest published accounts of all 33 boroughs, Transport for London and the London Pension Fund Authority. This runs a £3.2 billion fund and looks after the pension schemes of London bodies such as the Greater London Authority, and former employees of the defunct GLC and ILEA.
Most of the accounts covered the financial year up to the end of last March. At that point the deficits of the council schemes amounted to £6.52 billion, according to official accounting rule governing pension funding, knowns as FRS17. The other bodies added a further £1.51 billion, making a total shortfall of £8.03 billion.
However, most of the councils have invested around 70 per cent to 75 per cent of their funds in shares. The financial crisis has wiped almost one third from the value of the FTSE-100. That means the funds' assets are worth less, bringing the total shortfall to at least £10 billion.
Some critics say that the crisis is now so bad that it is time for root and branch reform to avoid “pension apartheid” with private sector employees struggling to fund their own pensions while paying for the guaranteed retirement incomes of London's 760,000 public sector employees through their taxes.
Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: “This huge deficit is hanging over Londoners, and it is going to take decades to pay off. These pensions must be reformed to make them more affordable. It's utterly unfair that London's taxpayers are being landed with a huge bill for generous public sector pensions while they cannot afford pensions for their own retirement.”
Councils and their advisers say it is still possible to close the gaps by increasing the level of contributions over decades.
A spokesman for London Councils, the body that represents local government in the capital, said: “Prudent financial management means that local authority fund managers will have spread risk across a range of investments — not all of which will have been linked to the market. This helps shield the fund from the vagaries of the market.”
The Evening Standard's analysis of council pension fund accounts shows how efforts to return them to health have been hampered by the number of staff retiring in their fifties on full pensions.
Council staff are entitled to an immediate full pension if they are found to be “permanently unfit” with no chance of finding another job.
At Greenwich almost half the 484 retirements in the 2007/2008 financial year were early because of ill health, redundancy or efficiency drives.
A report into the Greenwich scheme from actuary firm Barnett Waddington said that “the costs of the early retirements were met via additional employers' contributions”.
While most workers in the private sector get their pensions topped up by employer contributions typically in the six to 12 per cent of salary range, public sector contributions tend to be much higher, in some cases as high as 40 per cent.
"
---
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23666142-details/London%27s+10+billion+pensions+timebomb/article.do
"
London's £10 billion pensions timebomb
Jonathan Prynn and Katharine Barney
24.03.09
Look here too
Anger over massive pensions gulf between local authority bosses and ordinary workers
Commentary: Sums for local councils don't add up ... but reform could benefit taxpayers and staff
A PENSION funding shortfall of £10billion threatens local government services in London, the Evening Standard reveals today.
A detailed investigation of council finances shows for the first time how all 33 local authorities now have deficits in their staff pension funds.
But while the funds have shrunk, the retirement benefits due to be paid to local government's highest paid workers have never been more generous. At least seven current chief executives are heading for final salary pensions of at least £100,000 a year.
Experts warn that the scale of the underfunding, equivalent to more than £3,000 for every council tax paying household in the capital, makes sharp increases in council tax or cuts in services all but inevitable. Among key findings of the Standard's analysis are:
* The biggest black holes are at the Olympic borough of Newham, which has a deficit of £428.3million in its scheme, and Croydon, which has a £411.8million shortfall.
* The strain is being increased by large numbers of staff taking early retirement on generous terms because of ill-health. At Greenwich last year almost half the retirements were premature.
* Council contributions levels are having to be massively increased. In the most extreme cases they are being forced to contribute up to 40 per cent of employee salaries.
* The total deficit is more than the 33 councils' combined annual spending on education and social services.
Mayor Boris Johnson said: “We need serious pension reform in local government and we need people to be reassured about financial security in their retirement.”
The pension crisis has been caused by the escalating cost of funding “copper bottomed” final salary pension schemes still provided, unlike most companies, by councils and other public sector employers such as Transport for London.
But it has been made far worse by the collapse in financial markets which has wiped billions of pounds off the value of council pension fund contributions invested in the City.
The average local authority pension is just £4,000 a year because many council workers are on low pay, are only part-time or have breaks in their service, but even this would need a pot of around £80,000 to fund. However, there are growing concerns about senior local government executives on salaries of more than £100,000 who will retire on expensive pensions.
Independent pensions consultant John Ralfe, said: “The councils' approach seems to be, Let's close our eyes and keep our fingers crossed'. The scale of these deficits can only be paid off through higher contributions from the local authorities and that means either reduced services or higher levels of local or government tax. That won't happen any time soon, they will fudge it and fiddle it, and that is storing up problems for our children and grandchildren.”
The Standard looked at the latest published accounts of all 33 boroughs, Transport for London and the London Pension Fund Authority. This runs a £3.2 billion fund and looks after the pension schemes of London bodies such as the Greater London Authority, and former employees of the defunct GLC and ILEA.
Most of the accounts covered the financial year up to the end of last March. At that point the deficits of the council schemes amounted to £6.52 billion, according to official accounting rule governing pension funding, knowns as FRS17. The other bodies added a further £1.51 billion, making a total shortfall of £8.03 billion.
However, most of the councils have invested around 70 per cent to 75 per cent of their funds in shares. The financial crisis has wiped almost one third from the value of the FTSE-100. That means the funds' assets are worth less, bringing the total shortfall to at least £10 billion.
Some critics say that the crisis is now so bad that it is time for root and branch reform to avoid “pension apartheid” with private sector employees struggling to fund their own pensions while paying for the guaranteed retirement incomes of London's 760,000 public sector employees through their taxes.
Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: “This huge deficit is hanging over Londoners, and it is going to take decades to pay off. These pensions must be reformed to make them more affordable. It's utterly unfair that London's taxpayers are being landed with a huge bill for generous public sector pensions while they cannot afford pensions for their own retirement.”
Councils and their advisers say it is still possible to close the gaps by increasing the level of contributions over decades.
A spokesman for London Councils, the body that represents local government in the capital, said: “Prudent financial management means that local authority fund managers will have spread risk across a range of investments — not all of which will have been linked to the market. This helps shield the fund from the vagaries of the market.”
The Evening Standard's analysis of council pension fund accounts shows how efforts to return them to health have been hampered by the number of staff retiring in their fifties on full pensions.
Council staff are entitled to an immediate full pension if they are found to be “permanently unfit” with no chance of finding another job.
At Greenwich almost half the 484 retirements in the 2007/2008 financial year were early because of ill health, redundancy or efficiency drives.
A report into the Greenwich scheme from actuary firm Barnett Waddington said that “the costs of the early retirements were met via additional employers' contributions”.
While most workers in the private sector get their pensions topped up by employer contributions typically in the six to 12 per cent of salary range, public sector contributions tend to be much higher, in some cases as high as 40 per cent.
"
KHOODEELAAR! TOLD YOU SO! That Blaired cliques on the ‘local’ Councils in London that were going OTT in ‘INVITING’ CRASSrail scam were unaccountable..
1015 Hrs GMT London Tuesday 24 March 2009:
KHOODEELAAR! TOLD YOU SO! That the Blaired cliques on the ‘local’ Councils in London that were going OTT in ‘INVITING’ CRASSrail scam were unaccountable, undemocratic and corrupt beyond description.. that they were bankrupting local communities because they were being shielded by the Blairing regime to act as stooges for Big Business crass rail agenda ... Now even the Big Business peddling EVENING nostandards STANDARD admits that the London Councils’ finances and their conduct have caused the onset of a situation approaching a financial and almost certain and particular communities and locations-linked social nightmare.…
[To be continued]
London's £10 billion pensions timebomb
Jonathan Prynn and Katharine Barney
24.03.09
Look here too
Anger over massive pensions gulf between local authority bosses and ordinary workers
Commentary: Sums for local councils don't add up ... but reform could benefit taxpayers and staff
A PENSION funding shortfall of £10billion threatens local government services in London, the Evening Standard reveals today.
A detailed investigation of council finances shows for the first time how all 33 local authorities now have deficits in their staff pension funds.
But while the funds have shrunk, the retirement benefits due to be paid to local government's highest paid workers have never been more generous. At least seven current chief executives are heading for final salary pensions of at least £100,000 a year.
Experts warn that the scale of the underfunding, equivalent to more than £3,000 for every council tax paying household in the capital, makes sharp increases in council tax or cuts in services all but inevitable. Among key findings of the Standard's analysis are:
* The biggest black holes are at the Olympic borough of Newham, which has a deficit of £428.3million in its scheme, and Croydon, which has a £411.8million shortfall.
* The strain is being increased by large numbers of staff taking early retirement on generous terms because of ill-health. At Greenwich last year almost half the retirements were premature.
* Council contributions levels are having to be massively increased. In the most extreme cases they are being forced to contribute up to 40 per cent of employee salaries.
* The total deficit is more than the 33 councils' combined annual spending on education and social services.
Mayor Boris Johnson said: “We need serious pension reform in local government and we need people to be reassured about financial security in their retirement.”
The pension crisis has been caused by the escalating cost of funding “copper bottomed” final salary pension schemes still provided, unlike most companies, by councils and other public sector employers such as Transport for London.
But it has been made far worse by the collapse in financial markets which has wiped billions of pounds off the value of council pension fund contributions invested in the City.
The average local authority pension is just £4,000 a year because many council workers are on low pay, are only part-time or have breaks in their service, but even this would need a pot of around £80,000 to fund. However, there are growing concerns about senior local government executives on salaries of more than £100,000 who will retire on expensive pensions.
Independent pensions consultant John Ralfe, said: “The councils' approach seems to be, Let's close our eyes and keep our fingers crossed'. The scale of these deficits can only be paid off through higher contributions from the local authorities and that means either reduced services or higher levels of local or government tax. That won't happen any time soon, they will fudge it and fiddle it, and that is storing up problems for our children and grandchildren.”
The Standard looked at the latest published accounts of all 33 boroughs, Transport for London and the London Pension Fund Authority. This runs a £3.2 billion fund and looks after the pension schemes of London bodies such as the Greater London Authority, and former employees of the defunct GLC and ILEA.
Most of the accounts covered the financial year up to the end of last March. At that point the deficits of the council schemes amounted to £6.52 billion, according to official accounting rule governing pension funding, knowns as FRS17. The other bodies added a further £1.51 billion, making a total shortfall of £8.03 billion.
However, most of the councils have invested around 70 per cent to 75 per cent of their funds in shares. The financial crisis has wiped almost one third from the value of the FTSE-100. That means the funds' assets are worth less, bringing the total shortfall to at least £10 billion.
Some critics say that the crisis is now so bad that it is time for root and branch reform to avoid “pension apartheid” with private sector employees struggling to fund their own pensions while paying for the guaranteed retirement incomes of London's 760,000 public sector employees through their taxes.
Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: “This huge deficit is hanging over Londoners, and it is going to take decades to pay off. These pensions must be reformed to make them more affordable. It's utterly unfair that London's taxpayers are being landed with a huge bill for generous public sector pensions while they cannot afford pensions for their own retirement.”
Councils and their advisers say it is still possible to close the gaps by increasing the level of contributions over decades.
A spokesman for London Councils, the body that represents local government in the capital, said: “Prudent financial management means that local authority fund managers will have spread risk across a range of investments — not all of which will have been linked to the market. This helps shield the fund from the vagaries of the market.”
The Evening Standard's analysis of council pension fund accounts shows how efforts to return them to health have been hampered by the number of staff retiring in their fifties on full pensions.
Council staff are entitled to an immediate full pension if they are found to be “permanently unfit” with no chance of finding another job.
At Greenwich almost half the 484 retirements in the 2007/2008 financial year were early because of ill health, redundancy or efficiency drives.
A report into the Greenwich scheme from actuary firm Barnett Waddington said that “the costs of the early retirements were met via additional employers' contributions”.
While most workers in the private sector get their pensions topped up by employer contributions typically in the six to 12 per cent of salary range, public sector contributions tend to be much higher, in some cases as high as 40 per cent.
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KHOODEELAAR! TOLD YOU SO! That the Blaired cliques on the ‘local’ Councils in London that were going OTT in ‘INVITING’ CRASSrail scam were unaccountable, undemocratic and corrupt beyond description.. that they were bankrupting local communities because they were being shielded by the Blairing regime to act as stooges for Big Business crass rail agenda ... Now even the Big Business peddling EVENING nostandards STANDARD admits that the London Councils’ finances and their conduct have caused the onset of a situation approaching a financial and almost certain and particular communities and locations-linked social nightmare.…
[To be continued]
London's £10 billion pensions timebomb
Jonathan Prynn and Katharine Barney
24.03.09
Look here too
Anger over massive pensions gulf between local authority bosses and ordinary workers
Commentary: Sums for local councils don't add up ... but reform could benefit taxpayers and staff
A PENSION funding shortfall of £10billion threatens local government services in London, the Evening Standard reveals today.
A detailed investigation of council finances shows for the first time how all 33 local authorities now have deficits in their staff pension funds.
But while the funds have shrunk, the retirement benefits due to be paid to local government's highest paid workers have never been more generous. At least seven current chief executives are heading for final salary pensions of at least £100,000 a year.
Experts warn that the scale of the underfunding, equivalent to more than £3,000 for every council tax paying household in the capital, makes sharp increases in council tax or cuts in services all but inevitable. Among key findings of the Standard's analysis are:
* The biggest black holes are at the Olympic borough of Newham, which has a deficit of £428.3million in its scheme, and Croydon, which has a £411.8million shortfall.
* The strain is being increased by large numbers of staff taking early retirement on generous terms because of ill-health. At Greenwich last year almost half the retirements were premature.
* Council contributions levels are having to be massively increased. In the most extreme cases they are being forced to contribute up to 40 per cent of employee salaries.
* The total deficit is more than the 33 councils' combined annual spending on education and social services.
Mayor Boris Johnson said: “We need serious pension reform in local government and we need people to be reassured about financial security in their retirement.”
The pension crisis has been caused by the escalating cost of funding “copper bottomed” final salary pension schemes still provided, unlike most companies, by councils and other public sector employers such as Transport for London.
But it has been made far worse by the collapse in financial markets which has wiped billions of pounds off the value of council pension fund contributions invested in the City.
The average local authority pension is just £4,000 a year because many council workers are on low pay, are only part-time or have breaks in their service, but even this would need a pot of around £80,000 to fund. However, there are growing concerns about senior local government executives on salaries of more than £100,000 who will retire on expensive pensions.
Independent pensions consultant John Ralfe, said: “The councils' approach seems to be, Let's close our eyes and keep our fingers crossed'. The scale of these deficits can only be paid off through higher contributions from the local authorities and that means either reduced services or higher levels of local or government tax. That won't happen any time soon, they will fudge it and fiddle it, and that is storing up problems for our children and grandchildren.”
The Standard looked at the latest published accounts of all 33 boroughs, Transport for London and the London Pension Fund Authority. This runs a £3.2 billion fund and looks after the pension schemes of London bodies such as the Greater London Authority, and former employees of the defunct GLC and ILEA.
Most of the accounts covered the financial year up to the end of last March. At that point the deficits of the council schemes amounted to £6.52 billion, according to official accounting rule governing pension funding, knowns as FRS17. The other bodies added a further £1.51 billion, making a total shortfall of £8.03 billion.
However, most of the councils have invested around 70 per cent to 75 per cent of their funds in shares. The financial crisis has wiped almost one third from the value of the FTSE-100. That means the funds' assets are worth less, bringing the total shortfall to at least £10 billion.
Some critics say that the crisis is now so bad that it is time for root and branch reform to avoid “pension apartheid” with private sector employees struggling to fund their own pensions while paying for the guaranteed retirement incomes of London's 760,000 public sector employees through their taxes.
Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: “This huge deficit is hanging over Londoners, and it is going to take decades to pay off. These pensions must be reformed to make them more affordable. It's utterly unfair that London's taxpayers are being landed with a huge bill for generous public sector pensions while they cannot afford pensions for their own retirement.”
Councils and their advisers say it is still possible to close the gaps by increasing the level of contributions over decades.
A spokesman for London Councils, the body that represents local government in the capital, said: “Prudent financial management means that local authority fund managers will have spread risk across a range of investments — not all of which will have been linked to the market. This helps shield the fund from the vagaries of the market.”
The Evening Standard's analysis of council pension fund accounts shows how efforts to return them to health have been hampered by the number of staff retiring in their fifties on full pensions.
Council staff are entitled to an immediate full pension if they are found to be “permanently unfit” with no chance of finding another job.
At Greenwich almost half the 484 retirements in the 2007/2008 financial year were early because of ill health, redundancy or efficiency drives.
A report into the Greenwich scheme from actuary firm Barnett Waddington said that “the costs of the early retirements were met via additional employers' contributions”.
While most workers in the private sector get their pensions topped up by employer contributions typically in the six to 12 per cent of salary range, public sector contributions tend to be much higher, in some cases as high as 40 per cent.
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KHOODEELAAR! evidential note and commentary on Ken Livingstone's crass role as a faker pretending to be a mate of genuine campaigners...
0955 Hrs GMT London Sunday 22 March 2009:
KHOODEELAAR! TOLD YOU SO! That Crossrail was crass. That it was crassly conceived. And crassly peddled. That the crass peddlers of CRASSrail as typified by Ken Livingstone's conduct, showed that the scam was based on lies. That CRASSRAIL was a scam cooked up by unreliable careerists...That Livingstone lacked ethical accountability, democratic compatibility.. In other words, Livingstone's conduct was inconsistent with integrity.... How? The aNSWER IS NOW provided BY Livingstone , staging a double twist of the facts as part of his craving for the post in the name of the people.. Last week Livingstone was reported as having been caught travelling on a train without a ticket.. This week, he is staging a ‘comeback’ by posing as a ‘mate’ of ‘fare-dodgers’!
[To be continued]
KHOODEELAAR! TOLD YOU SO! That Crossrail was crass. That it was crassly conceived. And crassly peddled. That the crass peddlers of CRASSrail as typified by Ken Livingstone's conduct, showed that the scam was based on lies. That CRASSRAIL was a scam cooked up by unreliable careerists...That Livingstone lacked ethical accountability, democratic compatibility.. In other words, Livingstone's conduct was inconsistent with integrity.... How? The aNSWER IS NOW provided BY Livingstone , staging a double twist of the facts as part of his craving for the post in the name of the people.. Last week Livingstone was reported as having been caught travelling on a train without a ticket.. This week, he is staging a ‘comeback’ by posing as a ‘mate’ of ‘fare-dodgers’!
[To be continued]
KHOODEELAAR! No to "Crossrail scam" CAMPAIGN noting the evidence of the mainstream media FAILING to focus on the real deficit of UK Parliament:
0235 Hrs GMT London Tuesday 24 March 2009:
KHOODEELAAR! No to "Crossrail scam" CAMPAIGN noting the evidence of the mainstream media FAILING to focus on the real deficit of UK Parliament: their omission of all references to MPs’ duty to hold the executive to account across the board and at all times....
[To be continued]
KHOODEELAAR! No to "Crossrail scam" CAMPAIGN noting the evidence of the mainstream media FAILING to focus on the real deficit of UK Parliament: their omission of all references to MPs’ duty to hold the executive to account across the board and at all times....
[To be continued]
KHOODEELAAR! TOLD YOU SO! That a truthful, honest, ethical Parliament must be brought about in the UK
2358 Hrs GMT London Monday 23 March 2009: KHOODEELAAR! told you so!
That the No 10 Downing Street [London SW1] propaganda units went on an overdrive during Monday as the ‘fallout’ from the ‘Tony McNulty scandal’ [as the ‘Harrow Observer’ described it after McNulty or even his ‘office’ failed to talk to them on Monday 23 March 2009 ] threatened to overwhelm Brown.…BBC News Channel fronter Sally in the evening was talking to the ‘Standards Commissioner’. Her 'interview' was broadcast AFTER Channel 4 News fronter Jon SLOW Snow had already done a plug for the Standards Commissioner between 1900 - 2000 Hrs GMT. In that Channel 4 News item they said that Brown had already written to the Commissioner. There was no suggestion that the Commissioner had not received the alleged letter from Gordon Brown. But talking to the BBC News Channel’s Sally, the Commissioner ‘let slip’ that he had yet to receive the letter. That prompted Sally to wonder interrogatively! Which the Commissioner replied to by confirming that he had indeed not received the Brown letter but had got a gist of it! Sally was too BBC-programmed to pursue the aspect any further with the ‘Standards Commissioner’. But the exchange proved one thing: that Number 10 Downing Street were caught almost unprepared by the McNulty ‘scandal’. They decided to bring the scandal to a close. At least for the time being. So they were issuing contradictory signals to the media. Which explains the contradictions evident between the Channel 4 News package and the BBC News Channel treatment of the Gordon Brown segment, in the McNulty ’Scandal-Saga’. This came about as different staffers were making up ‘policy positions’ as they fielded ,media inquiries aND RESPONDED To the media onslaught of the McNulty scandal [HARROW OBSERVER]. This also shows that the claims eventually contained in the ‘letter’ as ‘exhibited’ in the Nick Robinson package carried in the 10 O'clock bulletin had not been well-credited. What this means is that Brown REACTED to the scandal of MPs dominating the two days of political news at home. This is the opposite of Brown’s having a demonstrable record of being committed to cleaning up Parliament.... The BBC’s political Editor Nick Robinson’s suggestion that Brown had a different ethical policy distinguished from the scandals-hit MPs, is not substantiated by the evidence...[To be continued]
That the No 10 Downing Street [London SW1] propaganda units went on an overdrive during Monday as the ‘fallout’ from the ‘Tony McNulty scandal’ [as the ‘Harrow Observer’ described it after McNulty or even his ‘office’ failed to talk to them on Monday 23 March 2009 ] threatened to overwhelm Brown.…BBC News Channel fronter Sally in the evening was talking to the ‘Standards Commissioner’. Her 'interview' was broadcast AFTER Channel 4 News fronter Jon SLOW Snow had already done a plug for the Standards Commissioner between 1900 - 2000 Hrs GMT. In that Channel 4 News item they said that Brown had already written to the Commissioner. There was no suggestion that the Commissioner had not received the alleged letter from Gordon Brown. But talking to the BBC News Channel’s Sally, the Commissioner ‘let slip’ that he had yet to receive the letter. That prompted Sally to wonder interrogatively! Which the Commissioner replied to by confirming that he had indeed not received the Brown letter but had got a gist of it! Sally was too BBC-programmed to pursue the aspect any further with the ‘Standards Commissioner’. But the exchange proved one thing: that Number 10 Downing Street were caught almost unprepared by the McNulty ‘scandal’. They decided to bring the scandal to a close. At least for the time being. So they were issuing contradictory signals to the media. Which explains the contradictions evident between the Channel 4 News package and the BBC News Channel treatment of the Gordon Brown segment, in the McNulty ’Scandal-Saga’. This came about as different staffers were making up ‘policy positions’ as they fielded ,media inquiries aND RESPONDED To the media onslaught of the McNulty scandal [HARROW OBSERVER]. This also shows that the claims eventually contained in the ‘letter’ as ‘exhibited’ in the Nick Robinson package carried in the 10 O'clock bulletin had not been well-credited. What this means is that Brown REACTED to the scandal of MPs dominating the two days of political news at home. This is the opposite of Brown’s having a demonstrable record of being committed to cleaning up Parliament.... The BBC’s political Editor Nick Robinson’s suggestion that Brown had a different ethical policy distinguished from the scandals-hit MPs, is not substantiated by the evidence...[To be continued]