Canary Wharf And The Olympics

Canary Wharf has been named as one of the top economic drivers under revised (?) government plans for the Thames Gateway project. This will involve the doubling of the workforce by 2026 to 200,000. Currently, very few, but in 20 years... Ruth Kelly, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government and Minister for Women (one of two such Ministers) unveiled plans for the 'dramatic' expansion to create more than 150,000 extra jobs. Confusing: doubling workforce to 200,000 by 2026 and create more than 150,000 extra jobs by when? This project, billed as the largest regeneration project in western Europe (so described presumably by this 'Masters-of-spin-government'), is predicted, by the government, that it could contribute:

£12bn a year TO the UK economy

That sounds rather like a 'maybe could'. Tessa Jowell, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport and Minister for the Olympics is responsible for the Olympic regeneration program and this will cost:

£4.5bn a week FROM the taxpayer

A slight disparity there between £4.5bn a week out and £12bn a year in and this equates to about £0.23bn/week. It will take

considerably

longer than 20 years to pay for the Olympic justification.

More like 40 years

£0.23 x 40 = £9.2bn

And that's according to estimates of March 2007. What does 'to the economy' actually mean? It does involve the difference between spending our money and 'creating' new money though. The Lottery 'loan' wll be paid back so it is alleged, but no mention of any interest or when has been made. Never is a long time. The idea of a loan has only been aired once to my knowledge and this was on BBC's Question Time at Newport (Mike O'Brien, Solicitor General for England and Wales, 15th March 2007).

Honest guv, it'll get paid and the cheque's in the post.

Isn't it one of those strange coincidences that the name O'Brien features in George Orwell's 1984 and the world of Big Brother and thoughtcrime?

Quote:

"Thoughtcrime does not entail death:
thoughtcrime is death."

Another coincidence? The real name of George Orwell was Eric Blair. Animal Farm was another satire.

The cash cow with its changing label lives on. The 30,000 homes already built have been criticised for being of poor quality. According to Richard McCarthy, Director General of Programmes, Policy and Innovation: "Thames Gateway is about bringing benefits for existing residents and creating real growth [what is unreal growth?]. It is an economic project (sic), not just a housing project. We now have a detailed (master) plan which is not just a glossy document [just glossy documents do exist then]. It's about getting people to recognise the scale of what we are doing."

Conditioned to Accept

Anshutz Entertainment Group (AEG) is planning to build a cable car service which would link Canary Wharf South Dock to the AEG-owned The O2 (re-branded millennium dome). The 28 cabins will each carry 24 people and the journey is expected to take around 4 minutes. AEG hope to have it built by 2009. Who pays and when can we expect the announcement of the switch of for a Super Casino to be built? To this huge regeneration area, 40 miles east from the Docklands along the Thames estuary to Southend in Essex and Sheerness in Kent? All this Manchester misdirection. Concentrate all effort to this strategic part of England. It's where the control centre exists: Westminster, allowing everywhere else to disappear. This will centralise business (financial) in the London area. After all, it is only financial business that matters. Money is worshipped.

It's enough to make you
just need to throw up.

Devil's Advocate?