Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Khoodeelaar! Told you so! Only in our last substantive commentary published on the internet in the last hour so. Now, we bring further evidence of the idiocy of euro tunnel. They are caught out with their appallingly low ‘profit’ this year. And they say they are ready to harvest the economic boom,… wait for it........the wonderful boom is to be brought to them by the 2012 games ! Given that they are uttering that idiocy on or about 9 MARCH 2010, two years and a few months before the 2012 Games Hosting takes place, how is that utterance a sane one? It isn’t! Nor is any of the hype about the games. [to be continued]

1808 Hrs GMT

London

Tuesday

09 March 2010

Editor © Muhammad Haque

Khoodeelaar! Told you so! Only in our last substantive commentary published on the internet in the last hour so. Now, we bring further evidence of the idiocy of euro tunnel. They are caught out with their appallingly low ‘profit’ this year. And they say they are ready to harvest the economic boom,… wait for it........the wonderful boom is to be brought to them by the 2012 games ! Given that they are uttering that idiocy on or about 9 MARCH 2010, two years and a few months before the 2012 Games Hosting takes place, how is that utterance a sane one? It isn’t! Nor is any of the hype about the games. [to be continued]

From the web site of the London

EVENING STANDARD:

accessed appx 1750 GMT 09 March 2010

"Eurotunnel profits crash to just £1.3m thanks to snow chaos

Lucy Tobin

09.03.10

Eurotunnel's profit plummeted 96% last year as it felt the impact of the winter's freezing weather and a fire in 2008.

But the Channel Tunnel operator was upbeat about the future, as it is expects to cash in on the London Olympics in 2012.

The company — which manages the tunnel and carries car and coach passengers and freight lorries in its shuttle services — made a €1.4 million (£1.3 million) net profit in 2009, down from €34 million the previous year.

Revenue was hit by a slump in freight traffic — down by a fifth because of the recession — and the fire in the tunnel in September 2008 cut capacity until February.

Eurostar trains struggled to run in the wintry weather in December, when “fluffy” snow caused them to break down. Shields fitted to the trains to stop snow getting into the electrics failed.

Eurotunnel's chairman and chief executive, Jacques Gounon, said the fire, which destroyed an entire shuttle, cost €250 million, but he was optimistic.

“Passenger numbers stayed robust last year, and we hope the hauliers side will return by the end of this year,” he said. “The positive impact of the Olympics will start to kick in, and we hope economic recovery will continue.”

Gounon said he felt vindicated in avoiding price cuts last year “because the service justified the cost” but had a warning for fares: “The ferry operators are now offering crazy prices to try to attract our customers.

“However, we're not worried, they can't do it in the long term. We will not increase prices this year — the economic environment does not allow it.”

Gounon was “very cautious” about the year ahead but said: “I do believe that the hauliers are coming back, and we will have a better year than the difficult 2009.”

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KHOODEELAAR! TOLD the Tower Hamlets Council controlling clique so in 2007 at the 'formal' meeting of the 'Full Council' when 'Councillor Bill Turner' asked the question and then failed to acknowledge or reply to the many follow-up answers and materials that we subsequently published. To show that the 2012 Games hosting was a callous, crass act. That it meant NOTHING of substance to the ordinary people in the East End of London borough of Tower Hamlets. We have been saying it for ages, at least since before the OTT-hyped ‘bid’ that was spectacularly snatched by the ‘de facto’ relocation of the HQ of the UK Government to Singapore for the duration of the Bid CULT-religious-ceremony that the Games Hosting was not going to benefit ordinary people.

1658 Hrs GMT

London

Tuesday

09 March 2010

Editor © Muhammad Haque

KHOODEELAAR! TOLD the Tower Hamlets Council controlling clique so in 2007 at the 'formal' meeting of the 'Full Council' when 'Councillor Bill Turner' asked the question and then failed to acknowledge or reply to the many follow-up answers and materials that we subsequently published. To show that the 2012 Games hosting was a callous, crass act. That it meant NOTHING of substance to the ordinary people in the East End of London borough of Tower Hamlets. We have been saying it for ages, at least since before the OTT-hyped ‘bid’ that was spectacularly snatched by the ‘de facto’ relocation of the HQ of the UK Government to Singapore for the duration of the Bid CULT-religious-ceremony that the Games Hosting was not going to benefit ordinary people. We have also said that the adventure would cost the ordinary public disproportionate sums of money. That it was a diversionary from the actual day-to-day needs and services that were failing to be delivered. That the OTT-hyped 2012 Games Hosting in the name of London was nothing whatever to do with the ordinary lives, the ordinary needs, the ordinary ‘aspirations’ [there IS a word! My my my! There is even a word called ‘aspiration’ emanating from the ‘inner city’ ‘most deprived borough in the country’] of the ordinary people who live in and battle in the East End of London. Battle for rights that are most of the times beyond our reach. Due to individual and institutional ignorance, obduracy and corruption by and via and in then name of the ‘elected local councils’ and their likes. Like the regional London Assembly and the hocus pocus representatives on it in the name of the area that includes the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. And in Parliament. And in the actual departments of Government that are forever allocating funds to sets of corrupt individual and outfits in the name of regeneration in the ‘deprived’ areas. We shall examine the latest evidence of those degeneration funding in a series of updater commentary in the very near future. . That the 2012 Games Hosting stunt was part and parcel of the Big Biz touting stooging role played by the likes of the fake progressive Ken Livingstone. That in the period since that particular evidential and ethical, moral, democratic disengagement between Khoodeelaar! and the likes of the time-servers on the ‘local’ ‘elected’ Tower Hamlets Council, NEW evidence has come to light reinforcing our thesis, our diagnosis and our conclusion. That like the wasteful Crossrail, the 2012 games Hosting is an economic irrelevance to the ordinary people and our lives in the East End of London. And that is a kind statement. If we were to be blunt the commentary would read indeed very differently.

[To be continued]

from the London EVENING STANDARD web site 09 March 2010:

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard-sport/interviews/article-23813274-the-big-interview-kate-hoey.do

The big interview: Kate Hoey

Mihir Bose Kate Hoey

09.03.10

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Kate Hoey loves her football. A founder member of the London Northern Ireland supporters' club, the 63-year-old Labour MP for Vauxhall has spent a lifetime working in and around the national game.

She was employed as an educational advisor by Arsenal for four years before entering Parliament in 1985 and has also worked at Chelsea, Tottenham, Queens Park Rangers and Brentford.
And yet football has inflicted the most grievous wounds on Hoey during her political career. In 1995, after Arsenal boss George Graham was found to have taken a £425,000 bung from agent Rune Hauge following the acquisition of John Jensen and Pal Lydersen, Hoey incurred the wrath of the game by initiating a debate in the House of Commons.
“I introduced a 10-minute rule bill to set up an independent football compliance authority,” she tells me. “Football laughed it out of court. Now bungs are back in the news and many people are articulating my views.”
In her brief, but remarkable two-year tenure as sports minister, football was always an issue.
The day she was appointed in 1999 the Football Association announced Manchester United would be allowed to withdraw from the FA Cup to play in the FIFA World Club Championship — a strategy designed to help England win the right to stage the 2006 World Cup.
She adds: “I was told by Alistair Campbell [Tony Blair's director of communications and strategy] not to say anything about it. Then I was told by Anji Hunter [director of government relations] that I must say something.
“Two people in Downing Street saying two different things. So I told BBC Radio 5Live it was a pity Manchester United have been allowed to opt out of the oldest cup competition.
“The Mirror newspaper made me a heroine but The Sun said I should be sacked. Downing Street was in awe of football. People like Alistair were obsessed by it. Football could do no wrong. Officials would get access to the Prime Minister easily. My protests that special favours should not be given to football were not liked. I was seen as part of the awkward squad.
“They did not see sport as other than a great opportunity for a photo call, Tony heading the ball in a training session at Newcastle United. No real understanding of the importance of sport, the role that sport can play in saving money in health, cutting crime.”
Now football is causing another headache as Hoey wrestles with her role as sports commissioner charged with delivering London's grass-roots 2012 legacy for Mayor Boris Johnson.
The head of the Government's legacy company, Baroness Margaret Ford, is talking to West Ham about taking over the tenancy of the Olympic Stadium and Hoey, who has no control over what happens to the arena, has some advice.
“I will be opposed to the stadium just being handed over to a football club,” she insists. “I'm very happy for West Ham, or even better for Leyton Orient to be there. But I would like to have local community use of the stadium. Football stadiums are busier on non-match days in Europe. During the day nothing happens at Wembley. I'm aware somebody has to keep their eye on football or the public purse will get literally screwed.”
Hoey accepts the concept of legacy was brilliantly articulated by Lord Coe in Singapore, when London beat Paris, but her doubts centre on the failure properly to define the term.
“I think there has been a government failure on legacy,” she says. “They have not said what they mean. Some people within government have taken their eye of the ball because they are concentrating on the Olympic Park and have forgotten the promises made in Singapore.”
Hoey then reveals that Coe now wishes he had never made such a big issue about what followed the Games.
“Two years ago I spoke to Seb about legacy. He said, Kate, I wish I had never used the word legacy'.”
Hoey's doubts about that issue were confirmed in December when the Office for Government Commerce presented ministers with a secret report. The contents, which have since been revealed by me in the Standard, warned ministers there is “a natural level of concern and perception that little is being done and that the legacy is at risk”.
The only legacy document singled out for praise by the officials was the one prepared by Hoey's team called A Sporting Future for London. This document, backed by £30million investment is, says Hoey, meant to bring coherence to the fragmented landscape of the capital's sport.
“London has too many organisations, too many agendas,” she says. “Every one of London's 33 boroughs does different things. For the first time, we are trying to get joined-up sports organisations. By the end of 2012 we shall see a step change, more accessible facilities, a lot more people involved in coaching and facilitating others to get involved.
“The Olympics may be going on in east London but what about kids living on a Dollis Hill estate or Mrs Bloggs and her family in Kingston? We are trying to make a difference to them all.”
But will the Olympic Park be used 90 per cent of the time for the community after 2012 as Johnson has said? Hoey accepts that is a wish, not a promise.
“I cannot guarantee that London's Olympic Park will not become like Athens [mothballed and hardly used]. The Park is not my responsibility.”
What she can influence is how much money is spent on the 2012 Olympics in what are financially tough times.
During our hour-long working lunch in her House of Commons office there is only half a ham sandwich on the table to eat. It is an appropriately frugal meal in keeping with the Olympic message from Johnson's office.
“Boris has made it very clear that we do not want an extravagant Games. Yes, extravagant sporting venues, the best training facilities for the athletes and the best Olympic Village, but the special privileges of a huge number of officials should be limited.”
As sports minister Hoey was part of the “Olympic family” during the 2000 Sydney Games and the memory of the extravagance she herself enjoyed still appals her.
“I am against the way I was treated in Sydney. We went everywhere in chauffeur-driven cars. We are talking of a large number of people who come to the Olympics: sport ministers from all the countries, many heads of state and prime ministers. Then you have members of the national Olympic committees and of the international sports federations.”
If pushed she would allow “chauffer-driven cars” but not Olympic lanes. She adds: “Olympic lanes would disrupt the average Londoner's movement and will not be welcome. Officials could take taxis to Kings Cross and then public transport to Stratford.”
On this matter Hoey is in direct conflict with Craig Reedie, the British member on the IOC executive board, who believes the lanes are a must.
He said Londoners must be prepared to put up with a bit of disruption for the smooth running of the Games but Hoey says: “The IOC act as if they are a mini government, a Vatican of sport. The IOC now has status at the United Nations. Why? The time has come for a host city like ours to challenge them.
“This should be about athletes and Olympic ideals. We should not behave as if we were a branch office following orders from the IOC's Lausanne head office. We've got the Olympics, everything is running well ahead of schedule, there is no way the IOC can take the Olympics away from London.”
Another area on which Hoey wants London to stand up to the IOC is the opening ceremony.
“No Londoner wants huge money spent. Other countries may use the opening ceremony to tell their nation's story but everyone knows our history. An opening ceremony that lasts five hours, all that razzmatazz and millions of pounds spent on fireworks, that is really, really silly.”
Hoey was sceptical about London bidding for the Games but is now anxious they make a difference to the city she loves. She says: “The genuine concern I have is: will there be genuine legacy?
“No Olympic city has ever delivered a sustained legacy. We could end up in London with fewer swimming pools for example after the Olympics than before. That will be a disaster. That could happen because local authorities are so badly funded and cannot maintain these facilities.”
While she has hopes the Games can make a long-term difference to London, Hoey has doubts about other parts of Britain.
“The rest of the country was also promised legacy and I have no idea what is happening,” she says. “The Government has not translated what was said in Singapore in a tangible way right around the country. Unless things change I fear a backlash.”

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Kate you have my vote...

- Murph In Kent, UK

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Khoodeelaar! Told you so! At 0830 GMT today, we diagnosed the corrupt UK 'economy' and its corrupt peddlers and symbols - BCC, CBI and IoD to take only three- and said that the 'recovery' was in effect a sham one. Now, less than three hours later, the CBI, IoD and BCC-peddling Daily Telegraph web site echoes in effect what we had said. But will the Boris Johnson-peddling Daily Telegraph ever admit the truth and actually agree with us and say that Crossrail is crass and that it must be scrapped together with everything else that is just as MIC and just as CRASS?

1145 Hrs GMT

London

Tuesday

09 March 2010

Editor © Muhammad Haque

Khoodeelaar! Told you so! At 0830 GMT today, we diagnosed the corrupt UK 'economy' and its corrupt peddlers and symbols - BCC, CBI and IoD to take only three- and said that the 'recovery' was in effect a sham one. Now, less than three hours later, the CBI, IoD and BCC-peddling Daily Telegraph web site echoes in effect what we had said. But will the Boris Johnson-peddling Daily Telegraph ever admit the truth and actually agree with us and say that Crossrail is crass and that it must be scrapped together with everything else that is just as MIC and just as CRASS?

[To be continued]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/7404682/UK-exports-plunge-threatening-hopes-of-economic-uplift.html

UK exports plunge, threatening hopes of economic uplift

UK exports suffered their biggest fall in more than three years during January, dashing hopes that trade would help lift the flagging economy.

Published: 10:39AM GMT 09 Mar 2010

Exports fell by £1.4 billion, or 6.9%, to £19.5 billion compared with December in the largest month-on-month fall since July 2006, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The trade deficit widened to its biggest since August 2008, despite economists' predictions that it would narrow.

While the ONS has no hard data yet on the impact of the winter weather on exports, some analysts speculated that snow-bound manufacturers struggled to get their goods to ports.

JP Morgan economist Malcolm Barr said: ''It is plausible that the snow disruption was more of a constraint on the ability to get UK exports to airports and the dockside than it was on receiving imports.''

Exports to the US were the biggest casualty over the month, with a £500 million slide.

The overall decline far outstripped a 1.6% decline in imports - leaving the UK's goods trade gap with the rest of the world widening from £7 billion to £8 billion in January.

This is the biggest in a year and a half and undermines hopes that a weaker pound will boost exports and help rebalance the economy.

The pound came under further pressure today, falling below 1.50 US dollars as ratings agency Fitch also reiterated its concerns over the UK's public finances and called for tougher action on the deficit at a London conference.

Experts warned the poor trade figures would continue to act as a drag on recovery during the first quarter of 2010, having knocked off 0.2 percentage points from the UK's 0.3% growth in the final three months of 2009.

Vicky Redwood of Capital Economics said: ''There is clearly a big question mark over whether any improvement in net trade will come through quickly or strongly enough to offset the weakness in domestic demand.''

The British Chambers of Commerce also warned that the Government needed to do more to support trade after a survey of 250 exporting businesses which found that one in eight had experienced problems securing access to trade finance over the past year.

David Frost, director-general of the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), said: ''If the Government is serious about encouraging British exports as a driver of employment, economic growth and prosperity, it must resolve blockages in the finance that underpins UK global trade.

''Our exporters need to be able to compete more effectively with rivals on the continent and further afield, who are currently better supported during difficult economic environments or in riskier foreign markets.