Venezualan aid for London
Can you believe this? Venezuala has signed an agreement to subsidise the fuel bill for London buses by up to £16m a year to fund cheap travel for the poor. Ken says the 20% discount will fund half price fares for 250,000 Londoners on income support. In return, Ken's transport chief, Peter Hendy, will set up an office in Caracas to impart his traffic management expertise. They'll look forward to congestion charges there then.
posted by Whispering Walls at 9:51 am
10 Comments:
Ah,, Whisperer, so sceptical for one so young. It was a 'two-way street'.
They will in return be giving us the benefit of their experience in how to run a big city.
Full details below..
http://www.guardian.co.uk/oil/story/0,,2017233,00.html?gusrc=ticker-103704
I'm afraid I am sceptical as Chavez encouraged Bolivia to expropriate BP's assets and Venezuala is considering the same action which, if it happened, would mean that BP's shareholders would be subsidising Ken's transport plans. This furthers the "Axis of Good's" 21st century socialism.
Much as I hate the idea of BP's assets being 'expropriated', I do find it a tad difficult to have too much sympathy after their oilfield blowout in the States for which they have admitted 'moral responsibility', for not having spent enough on 'care and maintenance'.
Although that handy legal phrase [nicked from Dow Chemical, to get away from the ongoing Union Carbide liability for Bhopal] means that it won't actually amount to taking full responsibility for the flak that has arisen from the deaths of their workers. But then, I don't know what Amnesty International's view is on Venezuela - many of these Latin American countries have a fairly fluid approach to human rights. And we're not just talking about the right to opt out of school uniform here..Heigh - ho.
That said, BP are not in the ExxonMobil league of evil-doers.
And at least they don't kill their opponents, like Shell do, so that is at least something.
Of course, rumours that Ken is going to hire Cubans to advise on improving health care in the capital are purely rumours...
Of course, Bath has its own solution to traffic - it enforces 'Park and Ride' and ensures that only a limited number of parking places are available. Slightly different approach in Bristol - they simply ensure that an ongoing [job-creation] scheme of roadworks for which there is no target date for completion, slows down traffic to such an extent that it acts as a natural ceiling to car volumes...
Anyway, on a lighter note - have just seen news that Heather Mills McCartney has been signed up for the American version of Strictly Come Dancing...Hmmm...
Sorry, but just doing some blue-sky thinking here. Might it not make sense if Ken could enter some sort of 'exclusive supply agreement' for Colombian cocaine ??
Cut out those expensive, dangerous criminal middle-men. Less crime on the streets of London, and his chums in the media, showbiz and those vital middle-class voters get a 'fairtrade' drug supply.
Everyone's a winner - I think I'll drop a line to 'City Hall' now...
What is so silly about this is the fact that the fares for ordinary Londoners who are not on income support will go up even more. The Venezuelan's are only giving a fuel discount meaning they not paying for the "team of officials" to go on a holiday to a very beautiful country. At least while they are on holiday they will not be able to think of ways to further disrupt travel.
Furthermore, in yesterdays Telegraph, there are proposals to give Livingstone control of the suburban rail in the Capital. This would give a uniform fare system and allow people to use Oyster Pre-pay on railway which presently you infuriatingly can't. However the proposals would allow Livingstone to set fares outside of the London travel card zone to places such as: Epsom, Windsor, St Albans and Welwyn Garden City. This means that people who do not have a say in making sure Livingstone is never elected again will have their fares and railway services controlled by him.
Sorry to prattle on, but do try and get to see 'Last King of Scotland' if you get the chance. A little gruesome in parts, but it wouldn't really be telling the truth about Uganda under Idi Amin if it was too sanitised.
[Sorry, that sounds rather silly as the film is based on a novel but I think you get my drift. Fictional characters have been created to tell the history of the time]
I was reminded of this by the above post, as Amin [an early exponent of spin and news management] announced that he was sending aid to Britain to help us through a difficult winter..
Just to please WW I thought some input from the Highlands would be in order. Did you see the Telegraph headline:
"Primates seek parallel church."
Have a think about that one.
I have just deleted my ideas about which would be Roman and which would go to chapel.
Mr Masterson - can you not see, young man, that this is part of a greater 'game plan' ?? When Ken starts to have 'charging' for the trains coming into London ? As the 'home counties' train reach the borders of London, it will stop, and passengers will have to throw out their loose change into those rather clever 'coin bins' such as they have on the Severn Bridge.
When Ken has judged they have paid enough, up will go the barriers, and through will go the 7.27 from Brighton...
By the way, Steve Norris said last night he wouldn't rule out keeping the cheap Venezuelan fuel, and only half-jokingly went on to say that if he could get a good deal on the Cuban cigars....
You couldn't make that one up, could you?!
Winchester - maybe you could 'have a word' with Mr Hendy 'virtually, via his 'MySpace' page..
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23385558-details/Your+bus+is+late+Have+a+go+at+the+TfL+boss+on+his+MySpace+website/article.do
[I am not making this up..]
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