Two not so random stories, and Brown's moral compass
1) The ludicrous Tessa Jowell insists, through her department, that:
We are very confident that the £9.3 billion funding package is robust and will cover both delivering the venues and facilities for the Games and leave a legacy for London and the UK. There is a substantial contingency within the overall budget to cover against costs rising and we believe that will be sufficient.Is there anyone out there in the real world who believes that there is a cat in hell's chance of the budget sticking at £9.3 billion (which is itself, don't forget, 291% more than the original costing of £2.375 billion)? Do they think we are all idiots? The Olympics is a money pit the like of which makes every other example of government waste look positively parsimonious.
2) Gordon Brown, it seems
has overruled his Cabinet over plans to bail out thousands of pensioners whose employers went bust. Ministers had promised £725million to help more than 125,000 workers whose company pension schemes collapsed. But the Prime Minister has risked a major Cabinet split by vetoing the plan.Welcome to Gordon Brown's moral compass. It's fine to throw an unlimited pot of billions of pounds of our money paying for people to run around in a converted dump. But finding a fraction of that money to do something for 125,000 people who have worked all their lives in good faith and whose companies have gone bust, and who now have no pension, is beyond the pale.
Pierre Mendes-France said that to govern is to chose. We know how Gordon Brown chooses to spend our money.
(UPDATE: Somewhat humiliatingly, my oroginal post had the wrong percentage figure. Duh.)
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Joshua
December 10th, 2007 1:11pmThe economy is about to hit a number of very large icebergs and these lunatics are not just content simply to rearrange the deckchairs but have also decided to set fire to the lifeboats.
Joshua
December 10th, 2007 1:12pmThe economy is about to hit a number of very large icebergs and these lunatics are not just content simply to rearrange the deckchairs but have also decided to set fire to the lifeboats.
Tiberius
December 10th, 2007 9:12pmStephen; they do think we are all idiots.
Terry McCrann
December 11th, 2007 2:37amYour scepticism uis accurate; not so your maths. I suggest we do forget 391% and 'remember' instead 291%
Ed
December 11th, 2007 4:03amHistory will show some impressive statues of Brown and Jowell who had the vision to convert a dump. This selfsame history will have forgotten the 125,000 people who died in poverty. Who needs a moral compass when the direction is clear? Good article Stephen.
SamG
December 11th, 2007 11:57amAnd they guaranteed, in a heartbeat, £29 billion (or whatever the figure is) to prop up a bankrupt bank and save 6000 jobs.
David Gillies
December 13th, 2007 4:03pmA good rule of thumb in costing government projects (especially those under this Labour government) is to take the most eye-watering, colossal sum you could possibly think of, and then double it. I think we'll be lucky, when the downstream costs are taken into account, to see change out of thirty billion quid. It could be more.