Monday, February 15, 2010

KHOODEELAAR! No to “Big Business agenda Crossrail scam” CAMPAIGN is vindicated again by MPs! Oops!

2340 GMT
London
Monday
15 February 2010

Editor © Muhammad Haque


    KHOODEELAAR!  No to “Big Business agenda Crossrail scam” CAMPAIGN is vindicated again by MPs! Oops! MPs are not that clued up. But they do catch up, especially as elections loom! Hence the UK House of Commons [undemocratic and stooged] Transport Committee opines today that CROSSRAIL [amongst other similar wasteful scams] is being used to HIJACK rail funding that should be given to other UK regions!!!! Surprise indeed! Where had these “Transport Committee” MPs been during the years [February 2005-July 2008 when the ‘Crossrail Bill’ was on the ‘table’ in the Houses of Commons/Peers] and Khoodeelaar! Campaign against the CrossRail Bill? was focussing on that ‘Bill’?  We had already built up evidential  framework against CrossRail scam even before the MIC plot was drafted into a formal [hybrid] Crossrail Bill. Between February 2005 and July 2008 we mounted specific part of the campaign, which showed detailed evidence of the crassness of the Crossrail hole Bill.

    [To be continued]


    London must not be allowed to hijack rail funding, say MPs

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    By Vivienne Russell

    15 February 2010

    High-profile rail projects in the capital should not detract from investment in the wider rail network, MPs have said.

    A report published today by the Commons transport select committee noted that much of Network Rail’s current £35bn investment programme, which runs up to 2014, is to be spent on increasing capacity in London, specifically through the Thameslink and Crossrail schemes.

    The MPs warn that investment opportunities post-2014 are likely to be more limited and tough decisions will have to be made about priorities.

    The committee says one such priority should be addressing capacity constraints at the Manchester Hub. This is the main rail bottleneck in the north of England and affects the operation of freight and passenger services across the whole northern region, including Liverpool, Leeds and Newcastle.

    Further electrification of the network, particularly the Midland Mainline – which links London to Sheffield – should also be prioritised, the committee says. Only 40% of the network is currently electrified.

    Launching the report, committee chair Louise Ellman said ‘It’s paramount we do not deprive future generations of a lasting legacy of good transport services. Investment made now or in the near future should reflect the long-term needs of the economy and society.’

    A Department for Transport spokesman said: ‘We are pleased that the committee has recognised the government’s commitment to investing in the railways, and that such investment represents good value for money.’

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    KHOODEELAAR! No to “Big Business agenda Crossrail scam” CAMPAIGN reminding UK finance front man in the Blaired regime of our advice to him back in February 2004 at the start of the campaign against Big Business agenda Crossrail HOLES scam that he [Alistair Darling] was then facilitating from the UK Daft [DfT]…. DO NOT TELL LIES, Alistair. Be that lie your own confection, be that lie the expression of the agenda of your controllers in the MIC [=Military Industrial Complex]. It is a lie to say that Alistair Darling is not going to do a pre-election ‘giveaway’ spin in his ‘budget’. It is a ‘giveaway’ to say that he is going to be ‘strict’ and be careful about reducing the UK deficit. This IS THE GIVEAWAY! The environment of ordinary public opinion in the UK [and in the rest of ‘the West’] is so overwhelmingly AGAINST callous wasteful ‘debt-creating’ indulgence and corrupting, bribing expenditure that anything else would be instantly seen as an additionally irresponsible wasteful indulgence. Darling HAS to say that he is on the side of those who want a responsible approach to public finance and borrowing. He has already sought to paint himself as being ‘not like the Greeks’ in a little noticed staged fakery. He is not like the Greeks. But he is worse. How? Because the Greeks are seen for what mess they have created in their own economic management. Darling is still allowed to claim that he is less chaotic. Less contradictory. He is not. Look at the length of time that the Big Bankers will take to repay the UK public the £Billions they have been given. Look at the mess that is transport expenditure and management. There is no truthful auditing of the private companies that have got most of the public transport money! Look at the nearly £2Billion already spent under cover of Crossrail. [To be continued]

    1950 GMT
    London
    Monday
    15 February 2010


    Editor © Muhammad Haque

    KHOODEELAAR!  No to “Big Business agenda Crossrail scam” CAMPAIGN reminding UK finance front man in the Blaired regime of our advice to him back in February 2004 at the start of the campaign against Big Business agenda Crossrail HOLES scam that he [Alistair Darling] was then facilitating from the UK Daft [DfT]…. DO NOT TELL LIES, Alistair.

     Be that lie your own confection, be that lie the expression of the agenda of your controllers in the MIC [=Military Industrial Complex]. It is a lie to say that Alistair Darling is not going to do a pre-election ‘giveaway’ spin in his ‘budget’. It is a ‘giveaway’ to say that he is going to be ‘strict’ and be careful about reducing the UK deficit. This IS THE GIVEAWAY! The environment of ordinary public opinion in the UK [and in the rest of ‘the West’] is so overwhelmingly AGAINST callous wasteful ‘debt-creating’ indulgence and corrupting, bribing expenditure that anything else would be instantly seen as an additionally irresponsible wasteful indulgence. Darling HAS to say that he is on the side of those who want a responsible approach to public finance and borrowing. He has already sought to paint himself as being ‘not like the Greeks’ in a little noticed staged fakery. He is not like the Greeks. 
    But he is worse. 

    How? 
    Because the Greeks are seen for what mess they have created in their own economic management. Darling is still allowed to claim that he is less chaotic. Less contradictory. He is not. Look at the length of time that the Big Bankers will take to repay the UK public the £Billions they have been given. 

    Look at the mess that is transport expenditure and management. There is no truthful auditing of the private companies that have got most of the public transport money! Look at the nearly £2Billion already spent under cover of Crossrail.

     [To be continued] 


    Alistair Darling rules out giveaway Budget to focus on deficit

    Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling

    Paul Waugh, Deputy Political EditorPaul Waugh, Deputy Political Editor
    15.02.10

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    Chancellor Alistair Darling today signalled he would not use the Budget for pre-election “giveaways” as he vowed to use any new cash on cutting Britain's deficit.
    In a rebuff to pressure from Gordon Brown, Mr Darling said he would “go further” in slashing the £178billion public debt if there were better than expected unemployment figures or economic growth.
    The Prime Minister has been pushing for any windfall to be directed towards fresh spending that could deepen the political “dividing lines” with the Tories, Labour MPs have claimed. But Mr Darling wants to stand firm in focusing on the deficit.
    The Chancellor also rejected calls from 20 leading economists for him to start cutting spending in 2010/11 as advocated by the Conservatives.
    In plans set out in the pre-Budget report last year, he aims to cut the deficit in half over four years, but will wait until 2011/12 to start on deep cuts.
    He told Radio 4's Today programme: “My view and my judgment is that halving the deficit over four year period, the structural deficit coming down by two thirds, is the right [course].”
    Crucially, he then added: “If the forecasts turn out to be better than I think at the moment, then of course we can go further.”
    Mr Darling said that “getting the deficit down is not negotiable”, adding: “Gordon and I are at one that the priority at the Budget will be to ensure that we do everything we can to get growth, which brings jobs, which brings opportunity.”

    The Treasury and No10 reject reports of rows over the Budget, with one insider claiming that relations were “markedly improved” when compared to the run-up to the pre-Budget report.
    But allies of Mr Darling were irritated when Mr Brown told the Financial Times last week that the Chancellor may be able to increase spending in some areas if debt interest and benefit spending were lower than expected because unemployment was not as high as forecast.
    “Alistair's immediate priority is to maintain the stability of the economy,” one aide said.
    The 20 economists warned yesterday that there was a risk of a loss of investor confidence in the UK if the Treasury could not get its deficit down quicker than under Treasury plans.#
    Today, Mr Darling said that the economists had themselves conceded that timing of deficit-cutting measures should be “sensitive to developments in the economy”. If the recovery stalled, then more spending could be needed, he hinted.
    The Chancellor added that growth in Germany was flat and was contracting in Italy andSpain, a clear warning that the UK too could fall back into recession if it choked off the recovery this year.
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      KHOODEELAAR! No to “Crossrail Big Business agenda scam” CAMPAIGN told the "EVENING STANDARD" so! That the crassly conceived Big Business agenda scam Crossrail was a DIVERSION of resources from urgent needs on the EXISTING London underground networks. Now, the 'EVENING STANDARD' confesses. And Dick Murray, who used to be the title's 'transport editor’, has resurfaced online with an ‘exclusive’ ‘revelation’ of high incidence of London underground train drivers driving dangerously.... What is needed then is the scrapping of Crossrail and the addressing of the many emergencies and dangerous states that are literally rendering the tube system unsafe….ODEELAAR! No to “Crossrail Big Business agenda scam” CAMPAIGN told the "EVENING STANDARD" so! That the crassly conceived Big Business agenda scam Crossrail was a DIVERSION of resources from urgent needs on the EXISTIUNG London underground networks. Now, the 'EVENING SRTANDARX" confesses. And Dick Murray, who used to be the title's 'transport editor’, has resurfaced online with an ‘exclusive’ ‘revelation’ of high incidence of London underground train drivers driving dangerously.... What is needed then is the scrapping of Crossrail and the addressing of the many emergencies and dangerous states that are literally rendering the tube system unsafe….[To be continued]



      1200 Hrs GMT
      London
      Monday
      15 February 2010

      Editor © Muhammad Haque

      KHOODEELAAR!  No to “Crossrail Big Business agenda scam” CAMPAIGN told the "EVENING STANDARD" so! That the crassly conceived Big Business agenda scam Crossrail was a DIVERSION of resources from urgent needs on the EXISTING London underground networks. Now, the 'EVENING STANDARD' confesses. And Dick Murray, who used to be the title's 'transport editor’, has resurfaced online with an ‘exclusive’ ‘revelation’ of high incidence of London underground train drivers driving dangerously.... What is needed then is the scrapping of Crossrail and the addressing of the many emergencies and dangerous states that are literally rendering the tube system unsafe….

      [To be continued]





      Tube drivers pass 54 red lights in month as blunders are revealed
      Dick Murray
      15.02.10

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      Tube drivers went through red lights 54 times in four weeks, the Standard reveals today.
      There were 128 other incidents on the network serious enough to require an official report and further investigation in the month ending 30 January, bringing the total to 182.

In one, a train struck a ladder which had been left suspended above the track by sub-contractors. In another, a train overshot the platform because of too much grease on the lines.
      Apart from the potentially disastrous red light blunders, faulty signals, power failures and staff shortages led to delays on a daily basis.
      Confidential documents seen by the Standard show there were 187 hours and 35 minutes of recorded disruption on the Tube in the four weeks but the real total is thought to be much higher.
      It is not known whether the figure of 182 incidents shows an increase or decrease from previous months. Included in the total are the 54 times trains passed red lights.
      On one occasion at London Bridge on the Northern line during the rush hour, a train overshot the platform and the red light by two carriage lengths. This was due to a track mounted grease dispenser spurting out too much grease.
      A “wrong signal” sent 100 passengers on the Jubilee line to Neasden train depot instead of Neasden station. Passengers on the Northern line at Kennington were taken off into sidings. This was because the carriages had not been inspected properly to check there was nobody still on board when the train reached the end of is journey.
      There were massive delays on the Circle line last month when a train struck an object at Aldgate. LU said at the time it had hit some scaffolding left by contractors.
      What actually happened was that sub-contractors had, without authority, attached a ladder to the underside of girders above the track. The driver “reported a loud bang as train left Aldgate.” The result was six hours of delays.

A Victoria line train was damaged at Northumberland Park depot when it “collided with closed shutter doors of the train shed”. The train was empty save for the driver, who was not hurt.
      There were 20 signal failures which resulted in delays of more than 18 hours. Twelve power failures caused delays of more than 16 hours.
      London Underground says “safety is paramount” and the network has a system which brakes trains automatically if a signal is passed at red. The company said record amounts of money is being invested. Some of the delays are caused by situations out of the Tube's control, such as suicides, a power failure from national grid supplies and flooding.
      A London Underground spokesman said: "Safety is our top priority and London Underground has worked hard to successfully reduce signals passed at danger (SPADs) in recent years.
      "Tube engineering protects against accidents which could result from a train passing a red signal. In such an instance, the automatic brake system will operate, stopping the train. SPADs as a result of driver error remain on the decrease, but cold and wet weather at this time of year causes an increase in signal malfunctions which also cause trains to stop, and these also register as a SPAD."
      He added: “We have seen a number of incidents in which stations have flooded from a water mains, and we work closely with Thames Water o ensure these have as little impact as possible on passenger service. Similarly, the winter months bring some increase in station power loss when the electricity network is under great demand, and we continue to work with power providers to make sure supply to stations is given the correct priority.”


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      KHOODEELAAR! No to “Crossrail Big Business agenda scam” CAMPAIGN told UK Lib Dems MP Norman Baker so. But Baker is continuing to talk 'safe' rather than the truth on transport. This is in contrast to his clearly pro-truthful stance on the HUTTON farce, say. Baker is being typically woolly and unchallenging on CRASSrail.

      0658 GMT
      London
      Monday
      15 February 2010

      Editor © Muhammad Haque

      KHOODEELAAR!  No to “Crossrail Big Business agenda scam” CAMPAIGN told UK Lib Dems MP Norman Baker so. But Baker is continuing to talk 'safe' rather than the truth on transport. This is in contrast to his clearly pro-truthful stance on the HUTTON farce, say. Baker is being typically woolly and unchallenging on CRASSrail.

      From the web site of the YORKSHIRE POST:


        Call to delay Crossrail in favour of fast trains

        Published Date: 20 January 2010
        By Jonathan Reed Political Editor
        MINISTERS have been urged to put London's £16bn Crossrail scheme on hold and press ahead with a high-speed rail line to Yorkshire if transport spending is squeezed.
        The Government's approval for Crossrail has angered many northern MPs who complain that Yorkshire has received a raw deal on transport spending.

        But with all three major parties now backing a high-speed line – estimated to be worth billions to the
         region's economy by slashing journey times – MPs are keen to ensure that takes priority when the next government faces tough decisions over public spending.

        Selby MP John Grogan told a Westminster debate: "If it is a case of putting Crossrail on hold and saving £5bn, that would be well worth doing if it meant that Leeds got its high-speed rail link."

        Leeds West MP John Battle: "If there is pressure on budgets, Leeds should come before Crossrail. It should take top priority; otherwise Leeds is cut off."

        The pair spoke out in a debate on the Leeds economy secured by former minister Mr Battle, in which he called for the Government to give extra support to boost skills and public transport.

        Outgoing Elmet MP Colin Burgon complained that despite Leeds's financial services boom over the past decade, thousands of young people have been left out of work and education.

        He complained of a "tightening" of social mobility which meant young people growing up in Gipton, like he did, would be unlikely to follow in his footsteps.

        He warned parts of the city had been "cut off the map of economic development" in the boom years and called for a strategy to bring "green collar" jobs into the city as the UK embraces new technologies.

        Ministers were also told by Pudsey MP Paul Truswell of manufacturing's importance to Leeds.



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        KHOODEELAAR! No to “Crossrail Big Business agenda scam” CAMPAIGN told UK LIb Dems MP Norman Baker so. But Baker is continuing to talk 'safe' rather than the truth on transport. This is in contrast to his clearly pro-truthful stance on the HUTTON farce, say. Baker is being typically woolly and unchallenging on CRASSrail.

        From the web site of the
        SOUTHERN DAILY ECHO
        Monday 15 February 2010



        Call to take transport cash from the south

        6:10am Monday 15th February 2010

          AN INFLUENTIAL Commons committee dominated by northern MPs has called for transport funding to be sucked away from the South and pumped into other parts of the UK.
          The all-party Transport Select Committee, in a report published today, warns of a growing "disparity" between spending in London and the South East and spending in other regions, and argues that after 2014 a larger share of cash must be sent up north in line with the Government's "regional economic and social objectives".
          The report, Priorities for Investment in the Railways, welcomes the scale of the £35 billion rail investment programme for the period 2009-2014, which includes cash for a freight rail link in Southampton.
          However, the committee notes that "much of [the investment] is to be spent on increasing capacity in London, through projects such as Thameslink and Crossrail".
          It states: "Projects to enhance capacity elsewhere on the network, particularly in the North, are long overdue, and the balance between investment in the South East and elsewhere needs to be realigned."
          Failure to change the current formula that directs more cash where there are more passengers, and a greater forecast demand for rail services, will create a "vicious cycle of demand-led investment"
          in which the "disparity" between spending in London and the South East and other regions will increase.
          Just one of the transport committee's 11 members represents a constituency in the South East - David Wilshire in Spelthorne, Surrey - with the majority representing constituencies in north England.
          South East Minister Jonathan Shaw said by setting "one region against another" the committee had misunderstood the nature of transport investment, which often benefited the whole country.
          He cited the example of investment in freight rail in Southampton, which will help boost business in Birmingham with the same rail link.
          Mr Shaw said: "It's important to remember that transport links run across all regions. To try to talk about one region against another misses the point about the importance of transport investment to the UK economy as a whole. It's not about winners and losers."
          Norman Baker, the Lib Dem transport spokesman, said: "There is a need for investment in the North but there is also a need for investment in the South. It is vital at this difficult time that we continue to have rail investment in both regions."


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            KHOODEELAAR! TOLD THE FT SO! Years later, the FT is almost catching up, with a little help from the ‘Transport committee’ in the UK House of Commons. The FT is reporting today that the MPs' "committee argues that the £3.5bn Thameslink project to create an improved north-south link across London and likely future investment in the £16bn east-west Crossrail scheme could create a "vicious circle". The investment in London would create further demand there, forcing future spending to concentrate on alleviating overcrowding in London" [To be continued]

            0630 GMT 
            London 
            Monday 
            15 February 2010. 
            Editor © Muhammad Haque.  


            KHOODEELAAR! TOLD THE FT SO! Years later, the FT is almost catching up, with a little help from the ‘Transport committee’ in the UK House of Commons. The FT is reporting today that the MPs' "committee argues that the £3.5bn Thameslink project to create an improved north-south link across London and likely future investment in the £16bn east-west Crossrail scheme could create a "vicious circle". The investment in London would create further demand there, forcing future spending to concentrate on alleviating overcrowding in London"  
            [To be continued]


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