KHOODEELAAR! told him so! Now 'Crossrail Bill'-promoter Darling confesses! But still faking it as he does...

2355 GMT London Monday 2 March 2009

AADHIKARonline quoting from the DAILY TELEGRAPH web site:

Alistair Darling: We made mistakes on the economy
Ministers must have the "humility" to admit that mistakes have been made by the Government in the lead up to the financial crisis, Chancellor Alistair Darling admits.

By Mary Riddell, Robert Winnett and Andrew Porter
Last Updated: 10:43PM GMT 02 Mar 2009

Mr Darling appears to accept some of the criticism for the first time. Photo: REUTERS
In an interview with The Daily Telegraph he concedes that there are a “lot of lessons” for the Government to learn from the events that led to the downturn and concludes that the regulation of banks has been a failure.
It is the first significant admission of responsibility from a senior government figure for the current economic crisis, partly blamed on ministers allowing the financial markets to run out of control for much of the past decade.
Ed Balls, Mr Brown’s former economic adviser who is now a Cabinet minister, also conceded that financial regulation should have been tougher.
However, he pointed out that the Conservatives had also pushed for lighter regulation of the banks.
The Chancellor’s forthright comments will put pressure on Gordon Brown to offer an apology for his role in the financial meltdown during a visit to Washington this week.
During his time at the Treasury, Mr Brown established many of the regulatory rules now under scrutiny. President Obama has already expressed regret for the decisions made over the past decade. However, the Prime Minister has repeatedly blamed global forces for the problems.
Only last week, the head of the Government’s financial watchdog said regulators had been under political pressure not to stop banks’ reckless lending.
In the interview, Mr Darling appears to blame the crisis on the bonus culture for encouraging bankers to take risks. But he admits that the Government played a part in allowing it to develop.
“There are a lot of lessons to be learnt by regulators, governments, all of us,” he says.
“The key thing that went wrong was that a culture was allowed to develop over the last 15 years or so where the relationship between what people did and what they got went way out of alignment, especially at the top end.
“If there is a fault, it is our collective responsibility. All of us have to have the humility to accept that over the last few years, things got out of alignment.”
Ministers have been reluctant to accept responsibility for the crisis.
However, in the interview Mr Darling appears to accept some of the criticism for the first time.
He says: “There are some very hard questions to be asked about the regulatory model we have operated for the last few years.
“The model of us saying to them [the banks] ‘you say it’s OK to us and we’ll go along with it’ has failed. You should regulate according to risk ... financial services have to be properly run and supervised.”
Although Mr Darling believes that bank directors must be the first line of defence against poor or reckless decisions he accepts that there is a greater role for the Government to intervene earlier if internal control fails in future.
In the interview, Mr Darling also effectively rules out introducing new legislation to recover Sir Fred Goodwin’s £693,000-a-year pension.
He says the Government is seeking legal advice but he appears to concede that the money paid to the former chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland may not be recoverable. Mr Darling also tells of tensions with Mr Brown.
He says this is “healthy” but indicates that the Treasury is urging caution.
He also says he is looking at helping elderly savers in next month’s Budget.
The interview comes as an opinion poll shows the Tories are now more trusted by voters than the Government to run the economy.
The ComRes poll for The Independent finds 35 per cent now trust the Conservatives to steer the country through the recession, with 28 per cent putting their faith in Mr Brown and Mr Darling.

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KHOODEELAAR! told them so! Now NETWORK RAIL chair needs 'Crossrail like a hole in the head'!

0725 [0625] GMT London Monday 2 March 2009: KHOODEELAAR! TOLD THEM SO! For five years and a month. 24.7. On the internet. In print. On the ‘phone. And UNDER constant and increasing surveillance … we have told the Brown-fronted Blaired regime that Crossrail was crass. That the concept of Crossrail was not justified by the costs of Crossrail. That the evidence of transport needs, both existing and foreseeable, did not warrant the costly, the wasteful, the diversionary Crossrail...That the EXISTING London transport infrastructure - representing more than 90% of needs and capacity in context, deserves to be paid attention. And the public funds being wasted on Crossrail should be used prudently by being spent n making the existing provisions better....KHOODEELAAR! No to “crassly conceived, crassly-peddled, wasteful, diversionary, obsolete Crossrail hole scam and agenda...” CAMPAIGN TOLD YOU SO! We told the then UK finance minister Gordon Brown so. We told the then UK ‘Transport t minister’ Alistair Darling [who formally put the ‘Crossrail Bill’ in the UK House of Commons in February 2005] so.. We WARNED Alistair Darling in 2004 of the adverse and the serious economic and other undesirable, costly effects and consequences of the Government's backing for a scam that was NOT the product of reasonable and rational and real demand in the UK economy We spelt it all out during 2004. We have been spelling it out as the crass scam dressed up as 'The Crossrail Bill' has been pushed through the stooged 'committees' and 'sessions' and ‘procedures’ of the formal Houses of the UK Parliament.…. And while we have been doing so, the Guardian and similarly dishonestly programmed other parts of the ‘mainstream’ ‘British media outlets’ have been peddling Crossrail.… At no time have they admitted the truth of the wastefulness of Crossrail. The Guardian is oriented in a way that twists the truth.. So when the truth hits it - as truth tends to do often later than it should, but inevitably- the Guardian tends to bend the truth. As it has just done today, Monday 2 March 2009.… Today is the day after the 3rd anniversary.… of the particular Khoodeelaar! democratic action against the Crassrail hole/s-inviting role played by the corrupt clique concerned in Tower Hamlets ' the local, inner city, most deprived Borough..' Council... In today’s [Monday 2 March 2009] report, the London GUARDIAN misrepresents the admission by the chair of NETWORK RAIL that Crossrail is not wanted... KHOODEELAAR! will be commenting further on that admission and also on the role of the Guardian in trying to still present Crossrail as a positive thing...[To be continued]

AADHIKARonline quoting the GUARDIAN report in full as published on heir web site this morning:


Network Rail tries to hush up damning report on line delays
Nicholas Watt, chief political correspondent
The Guardian, Monday 2 March 2009
Article history
A damning indictment of Network Rail, which stands accused of tolerating "systematic weaknesses" after the west coast mainline was severely disrupted last year, is laid bare in a secret report that the not-for-profit company is seeking to suppress.

The report by PricewaterhouseCoopers, which has been passed to the Guardian, reveals that Network Rail regarded the disruption as a "trivial" matter that should not have led to a fine. Network Rail has gone to extraordinary lengths to suppress the report, which was commissioned after a vote at its AGM last year amid fears that it had become unaccountable. To deter leaks, numbered copies of the report were sent to its members, who act as proxy shareholders, with a warning that it was confidential.

But the Guardian can reveal the report's key findings:

• The Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) had deep concerns about the disruption to the west coast mainline service over the 2008 new year. Thousands of passengers were stranded, prompting a £14m fine on Network Rail by the ORR. The ORR told the report's authors: "We have concerns as to the inconsistency of the Network Rail Board's response to some of the regulatory interventions, specifically the 2007-08 new year overruns, where they responded on one level to disagree that there had been a breach, on another level that it had been a trivial breach and that even if there was a breach that a fine was inappropriate ... They took a whole series of positions."

• Sir Ian McAllister, chairman of Network Rail, is deeply sceptical about the £16bn Crossrail project, a scheme to link east and west London. One unnamed senior figure told the report's authors: "The chairman told me that he needs Crossrail like a hole in the head."

• Network Rail has packed its board with second-rate non-executive directors. The report says: "They are perceived to be weak and ineffective at carrying out their role of challenging the board."

Network Rail, whose £20bn debts are guaranteed by the taxpayer, is highly sensitive about the report. Stuart McVernon, its head of public affairs, warned members who were sent copies: "We and the members' review group would like to remind all members that ... the report is still being distributed as a confidential report and is individually numbered accordingly."

The report was commissioned after Network Rail's 101 members won a resolution at last July's AGM to undertake a review of its corporate governance.

A spokesman for Network Rail said: "Network Rail welcomes the Members Review Group's suggestions on further developments to Network Rail's corporate governance and its membership. The company will now work closely with its members in considering the way forward including reaching a common understanding of the detail of the proposals and the level of support for them."

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