| Topic: | A few corrections to the latest steaming parcel from DG | |
| Posted by: | Thomas Barry | |
| Date/Time: | 01/03/13 15:17:00 |
| "Crossrail is a major infrasatrure project that...is now well underway" Why did the current government very nearly bollox the whole Crossrail timetable up by insisting on their now ruined son-of-PFI before realising that TfL have a point on rolling stock procurement and that it's best left to people who know what the hell they're doing? "I agree with you that it is good that the present Government is moving away from Gordon Brown' ill-conceived and very costly PFI schemes." It isn't, though, they're notably still trying to flog the dead horse on Thameslink and IEP train procurement. This Crossrail decision is forced on them by the sheer impossibility of the original plans, not a change in policy. Oh, and Crossrail was last delayed in 1993, when the Tories were in power, for various reasons (although the actions of some East London Labour politicians at the public inquiry was pretty disgraceful). Face it, the Crossrail being built is (Labour created) TfL's project, championed by (Labour, occasionally) Ken Livingstone and backed by the last Labour government which took the enabling Bill through Parliament in 2007/8. You can't actually rewrite history that blatantly without people noticing, David, given that this thing called 'Google' allows us to find out things like this: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7024935.stm TfL do have one PFI deal for rolling stock, on the Northern Line. It was let in 1996. Who was in power then? http://www.alycidon.com/ALYCIDON%20RAIL/Archive%20misc/Northern%20Line%20-%20Alstom's%20PFI%20success.htm "That will in due course stimulate tax revenues thereby paying the Government back for its investment." That's pure Keynesian thinking, private sector success depends on big state infrastructure projects, not laissez-faire. It's therefore right, of course, but it does beg awkward questions like 'what the hell have the Conservatives been playing at for the last 35 years if this is what they actually think?' P.S. Most of the trumpeted '25% deficit reduction' is accounted for by slashing investment spending. By John Maynard Giles' new maxim George Osborne is ensuring the Government's missing out on future tax revenues, thus making the deficit worse. Are you Paul Krugman in disguise? See here for an explanation of why the deficit cut comes from about the worst possible areas for growth: http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/jonathan-portes/weve-got-the-deficit-down_b_1675269.html |