A year of Mayor Johnson- verdicts please

[littlebabyjesus]

The bus shut-down on snowday was an operator by operator decision that had nothing to do with TfL 'central control' or the mayor's ofice.

That's not what Ken said. I don't know whether or not I believe him, but Ken said that with the weather forecast that they had, he would have planned for it.

 

[bemused]

Link?

The bottom line is that this was a deal that was good for London, and that the democratically elected leader of Venezuela thought was good for Caracas. And that Boris lied through his teeth about why he scrapped it.

I read it in a paper but some googling has this:

London received a payment equivalent to 20 per cent of the price of fuel for the capital’s bus fleet. This saving was passed on to income support recipients - some of the poorest households in London - in the form of reduced bus fares.

http://www.mayorwatch.co.uk/assembly-investigate-axing-of-venezuela-oil-deal/20085081

The idea that there was a distribution system in place to ship diesel from Venezuelan oil facilities seems over the top when they can just sell the oil on the market and give London the value of the oil. What he scraped was a consultancy contract, I assume he hired additional consultants to give this advice?

Hasn't he honoured the fare cuts anyway?

 

[littlebabyjesus]

So how was scrapping the consultancy contract good for London? London lost money when this deal was scrapped. If he is honouring the fare cut for the unemployed, the lost money will simply have to be made up elsewhere – in the 10 per cent rise in general fares that has just happened, for instance.

BTW the only consultants he needed over scrapping the deal were the consultants he uses to help him plan his career. For a potential Tory leader to be hobnobbing with Chávez was considered to be unwelcome.

When he said he had done it for the sake of poor Venezuelans, I finally came down on the 'he's an utter cunt' side of the argument.

 

[Crispy]

To be fair, TfL's budget has become very tight due to having to take on the collapse of Metronet. Which is all Gordon Brown's fault for pushing PPP on the tube

 

[littlebabyjesus]

To be fair, TfL's budget has become very tight due to having to take on the collapse of Metronet. Which is all Gordon Brown's fault for pushing PPP on the tube

Yes it is. Citydreams would know a load more, but I know that there was a shortfall to be made up when Boris came in. Just makes scrapping the Venezuela deal even more mad.

 

[_float_]

Please explain why we need a 'mayors plan for healthy eating?'

Because BoJo could do with losing some weight?

 

[bemused]

No. Read my post. Did I talk about that? No. I talked about the need for an integrated London-wide transport policy.

Why does a Mayors office need to do this? Why can't the local councils vote for a chairman of TfL? My local democracy is pretty much now none existent because of the creation of these pseudo elected bodies that can overrule and direct local councils how to act.

I'm much rather I voted in a local council and that council then run local affairs and work with bodies like the Met., TfL etc to coordinate where required.

It's the detachment of my vote from my reality which makes me despair about politics.

 

[bemused]

So how was scrapping the consultancy contract good for London?

Because I assume he was hiring 'experts' to deliver this, since when have local Governments been professional services companies? I wonder if Boris offered to sell 'expertise' on a services basis to say Shell people would think that was good for London?

It was a political contract started for political means and ended for political means.

 

[bemused]

But what about the process dude(tte), the process.

Problem is Blair was such a dick I don't care about process. Wrong I know.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Because I assume he was hiring 'experts' to deliver this, since when have local Governments been professional services companies? I wonder if Boris offered to sell 'expertise' on a services basis to say Shell people would think that was good for London?

It was a political contract started for political means and ended for political means.

It was one city transport authority sending its experts to help sort out the transport of another city. A very proper sharing of expertise. Why political?

 

[_float_]

When he said he had done it for the sake of poor Venezuelans, I finally came down on the 'he's an utter cunt' side of the argument.

Why should people in the UK take money away from a comparatively poor country like Venezuela?

Venezuela GDP per capita (adjusted for purchasing power parity): c. £9,000
UK GDP per capita (adjusted for purchasing power parity): c. £23,000

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Why should people in the UK take money away from a comparatively poor country like Venezuela?

Venezuela GDP per capita (adjusted for purchasing power parity): c. £9,000
UK GDP per capita (adjusted for purchasing power parity): c. £23,000

Eh?

The government of Venezuela (voted in overwhelmingly by the poor of the country) thought this was a good deal – trading a valuable commodity for expertise. Are you saying that you know better what is good for poor Venezuelans than they know themselves?

That is a total misrepresentation of the deal.

 

[bemused]

It was one city transport authority sending its experts to help sort out the transport of another city. A very proper sharing of expertise. Why political?

They weren't helping for free they were being paid I assume that TfL staff aren't all sitting in their offices surfing the web with spare time on their hands so people had to be employed to do this work. You saying that it wasn't signed for political reasons?

 

[littlebabyjesus]

They weren't helping for free they were being paid I assume that TfL staff aren't all sitting in their offices surfing the web with spare time on their hands so people had to be employed to do this work. You saying that it wasn't signed for political reasons?

I'm saying that it was a deal that was good for London and that the Venezuelan government considered was good for Venezuela. Yes they were paid. Hence it was good for London.

 

[bemused]

I'm saying that it was a deal that was good for London and that the Venezuelan government considered was good for Venezuela. Yes they were paid. Hence it was good for London.

What was the margin on the deal then?

 

[littlebabyjesus]

What was the margin on the deal then?

Dunno. I know it was worth a few million quid to London, and that Venezuela received the services of tfl experts in return. It was good for London, which is why Boris had to come out with his disingenuous 'we shouldn't take money from the poor Venezuelans' line, which, unfortunately, some people appear to have swallowed.

 

[bemused]

Dunno. I know it was worth a few million quid to London, and that Venezuela received the services of tfl experts in return. It was good for London, which is why Boris had to come out with his disingenuous 'we shouldn't take money from the poor Venezuelans' line, which, unfortunately, some people appear to have swallowed.

If know one knows how much profit was in it for us how do we known if it was lucrative or not? Spin on spin.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

If know one knows how much profit was in it for us how do we known if it was lucrative or not? Spin on spin.

I didn't say no-one knows. I said that I didn't know. It's a matter of public record how much the deal was worth.

 

[_pH_]

BoJo's just been on BBC London news talking about how he's going to deal with roadworks causing congestion........despite the fact that legislation already exists to address this.

 

[bemused]

I didn't say no-one knows. I said that I didn't know. It's a matter of public record how much the deal was worth.

Why isn't a matter of public record how much we made out of it?

I've never seen (and I admit never really looked) a break down of this amazingly good value deal. Which was spun as barrels of oil arriving at bus stations and then turned out to be a credit exchange system.

If someone can point out how much money London got from this contract and the cost of servicing it to us was I'd be grateful.

 

[bemused]

BoJo's just been on BBC London news talking about how he's going to deal with roadworks causing congestion........despite the fact that legislation already exists to address this.

He's going to do a snow dance every morning, I've heard.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Why isn't a matter of public record how much we made out of it?

I've never seen (and I admit never really looked) a break down of this amazingly good value deal. Which was spun as barrels of oil arriving at bus stations and then turned out to be a credit exchange system.

If someone can point out how much money London got from this contract and the cost of servicing it to us was I'd be grateful.

I don't have a total breakdown, and I can't be arsed to look, sorry. You'll have to look for it yourself. Citydreams would know. If he looks at this thread, maybe he'll tell you.

 

[bemused]

I don't have a total breakdown, and I can't be arsed to look, sorry. You'll have to look for it yourself. Citydreams would know. If he looks at this thread, maybe he'll tell you.

That would be great. I'm keen to know how amazing this deal is.

They are all devious bastards.

 

[_float_]

The government of Venezuela (voted in overwhelmingly by the poor of the country) thought this was a good deal – trading a valuable commodity for expertise. Are you saying that you know better what is good for poor Venezuelans than they know themselves?

Wow! By this definition everything an elected government does is in 'the best interests of the people'.

Do you apply the same logic to what the US and UK government do? Are you saying that noone can ever criticise anything an elected government does, because the government automatically "knows better"?

FWIW, while there have been some good social programs paid for out of an oil price boom, a vast amount of money has been pissed away, a lot of it for the sake of Chavez's personal political grandstanding and politiking around South America. Crime has increased massively, infrastructure and housing are still in a woeful condition, politics has become more authoritarian and centralised, trades unions have been suppressed, along with the media, the judicary and over levels of government. Now that the oil price boom and good years are over it sems hat a lot of money has disappeared.

I can see how the Cuban-doctors-or-oil deal was useful for normal Venezuelans, but why exactly do they need a bunch of overpaid consultants? The deal was just one of Chavez's political gimmicks. As for his popularity - it will be interesting to see how popular he is without a vast oil slush-fund, if there were better political alternatives to choose from, if he was unable to use nationalised industry, media and armed forces as a party-political platforms.

 

[FridgeMagnet]

He didn't really push Ian Blair out anyway - he just jumped on the bandwagon and made a few comments. Blair was planning to retire quite soon afterwards anyway iirc, and he made himself a complete liability at the time; people were queuing up behind him with knives.

 

[Greenfish]

i haven't really been followin his policy and his actions. but as for london fundementally changing, no, not that I am aware.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Wow! By this definition everything an elected government does is in 'the best interests of the people'.

Do you apply the same logic to what the US and UK government do? Are you saying that noone can ever criticise anything an elected government does, because the government automatically "knows better"?

FWIW, while there have been some good social programs paid for out of an oil price boom, a vast amount of money has been pissed away, a lot of it for the sake of Chavez's personal political grandstanding and politiking around South America. Crime has increased massively, infrastructure and housing are still in a woeful condition, politics has become more authoritarian and centralised, trades unions have been suppressed, along with the media, the judicary and over levels of government. Now that the oil price boom and good years are over it sems hat a lot of money has disappeared.

I can see how the Cuban-doctors-or-oil deal was useful for normal Venezuelans, but why exactly do they need a bunch of overpaid consultants? The deal was just one of Chavez's political gimmicks. As for his popularity - it will be interesting to see how popular he is without a vast oil slush-fund, if there were better political alternatives to choose from, if he was unable to use nationalised industry, media and armed forces as a party-political platforms.

There's no need to lecture me about Chavez. Your first point is hysterical – what I am saying, specifically, is that Johnson claimed to be ending this deal on behalf of poor Venezuelans. If you don't see the massive lie that this is then you are blind.

Your last points simply betray that you don't really understand Venezuela. Much of the media there is owned by the opposition, who spew out a constant drone of lies and misinformation. Does he shut them down and arrest them? No, he goes on the stations the state owns to answer back. Not an ideal situation, but could you imagine the UK government allowing ITV to broadcast anti-government propaganda every night? That is the situation in Venezuela.

I'm not quite sure how many more free and open elections Chavez needs to win before he is accepted as a democrat.


Oh, and why did they want a bunch of consultants? To help them sort out their urban transport, that's why. And choosing consultants from a city that has improved its transport system a very great deal in the past few years is not really that odd.

 

[19sixtysix]

He's scrapped all transport projects that haven't already started construction. eg. Cross-River Tram, East London transit, Greenwich transit, DLR to Dagenham.

You forgot the Crystal Palace Croydon tram extension

 

[skyscraper101]

Let's not also forget the scrapping of the £25 congestion charge for the heavy-polluting vehicles which Ken was going to introduce, leaving yet another shortfall in public transport spending. Nice one, Boris.

 

[lostexpectation]

havn't heard his name mentioned much in relation to g20, his kept his head down.