By Anna Maxted
|
Occupy London are determined to protest against the City of London Corporation, so today they set up camp on that ugly symbol of elitism and privilege, Hampstead Heath.
Sadly, in another victory for the overarching forces of international capitalism, the park's police escorted them off the premises just after teatime.
I've lived near the Heath all my life and it's one of the most serene and beautiful areas of the capital; one of the few that you don't need money to enjoy. When Karl Marx lived in London, he loved to visit with his family. Kenwood House - part of the estate bestowed to the nation by that privileged toff Lord Iveagh in 1927 - may look tatty on the outside, but if you nip inside (donations are voluntary) you can show your five-year old a Gainsborough.
A privilege to be there: When you're on Hampstead Heath, your status, your bank balance ceases to matter
I was there this morning, beaming at the exquisite views of the City, breathing in the delicious air, marvelling at the gorgeous profusion of green, along with various other capitalist pigs (an old lady on a Zimmer frame, an artist, a young photographer, an elderly man walking his dog, a young couple with a newborn...)
Eventually I spotted the Occupy London set, trudging along the sun-dappled paths, squinting at their maps - though they were hardly obvious: none of the people wandering around the Heath this morning were head-to-toe in Dior.
They set up camp in the Vale of Health (convenient for Hampstead High Street; Starbucks, Tesco Metro and Gap). One doesn't have to eschew all trappings of commercialism to make a huffy point against capitalism - I don't expect them to scrape for nuts and berries and live on rainwater - but this exercise was little more than a hypocritical student jolly.
Trespassers in tents: Will we soon see scenes like this, outside St Paul's last year, on the Heath?
I feel aggrieved at the wretched difference between wealthy and poor - but I feel as aggrieved that these protestors were so witless as to think that they were doing the less privileged a favour by camping out - with their litter, and worse, judging from the mess they made of St Paul's - in the one place that is an oasis of peace, and serenity - and free to those who have everything and nothing alike.
When you're on Hampstead Heath, your status, your bank balance ceases to matter. You feel privileged to be there. You feel rich. Until you chance upon a massive bunch of trespassers in tents, and then the Heath loses its magic, and your carefree ramble becomes yet another irritating, slightly depressing exercise in trying to enjoy London despite it being stuffed full of sociopaths and egotists.
Truly, harassing a bunch of dog walkers is not a valid form of protest against bankers. It was facetious, brattish; bullying. If they wish to get their point across in a democratic manner, they have civilised options - from blogging to, hmm, politics - but they made the laziest, most slovenly choice: to make a nuisance of themselves and inconvenience, oh, just everyone. A minority, imposing their selfish will on the majority, is nothing less than tyranny.
Exquisite views of the City: Misty view over London from Hampstead Heath
They claimed that they wanted to 'reach out to the community about shared concerns'... I can tell you what the community's main concern was today - that a bunch of pseudo-crusties had illegally pitched their luxury tents in a public beauty spot. (Hampstead Heath's by-laws forbid 'the training of whippets,' 'the beating of carpets,' and 'Persons in an Offensive, Filthy Condition.' And no camping, either.)
One of OL's excuses was that fans of the Heath ponds were 'up in arms' about the recent outrageous decision by the City of London to charge a couple of quid for a swim. My husband has swum there for years, occasionally with our 10-year old son, and says that most who use the pond have no objection - if they want a lifeguard, and basic maintenance, they see it makes sense to contribute a little.
As far as I can tell, this protest was a feeble excuse for a spot of glamping. If they are genuinely serious about protesting against capitalism, I suggest they occupy Legoland: nearly 200 on the gate, for a family of five. However, if they prefer to occupy a green space owned by the City of London, why not try West Ham Park? It has all the traditional trappings of privilege (children's playground and so on.) Or are the views not spectacular enough?
Source: www.dailymail.co.uk
London 2012 Olympics will come in under budget, government says - The Guardian
The government has promised the Olympics will come in under budget – at a cost of less than £9bn to taxpayers – but will spend extra money within that on crowd control measures in light of a bigger-than-expected turnout for the jubilee celebrations and the torch relay.
The sports and Olympics minister, Hugh Robertson, admitted that organisers had underestimated by around a third the amount that would be required to pay for signage, stewarding and crowd control measures such as crush barriers and temporary bridges that will ease congestion in Greenwich and Hyde Park.
It is expected that larger than expected crowds could throng the capital in the three days before the opening ceremony as the torch enters central London and will turn out in huge numbers for the marathon and the cycling road race, which finish on the Mall.
"There is a certain amount of this that you assess as the thing develops and these costs emerge. As a government, you're caught here. The first responsibility of a government is the safety and security of its people," he said.
"We have to do everything we can reasonably do to ensure the safety and security of the very many people, judging by the jubilee, who will attend. There is an element of managing success here."
An extra £19m will be added to the budget for crowd-control measures and managing central London, taking it to £76m. Overall, there was an increase of £29m in the money released to Locog over the most recent quarter, including £8m for putting in concessions and toilets around the Olympic venues.
That will take the total that the London organising committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Locog) has received from the public funding package to £736m, including a security budget to cover guards within Olympic venues that almost doubled to £553m.
Robertson said that the crowds who lined the river during the jubliee river pageant despite the inclement weather, estimated at around 1.2 million, and the popularity of the torch relay showed that numbers attending might be even higher than expected.
"We knew this would be the moment when people suddenly got this. But we have been pleasantly surprised by the sheer scale of it. If you consider that the torch is coming down the Thames [on July 27] the capacity for lots and lots of people to come and see it is increased," he said.
The additional investment was an insurance policy to ensure that London could cope with the influx, he said.
"London is going to be the place this summer, if the rain holds off, to come and have a party. It is very difficult to estimate how many people will take the car, the train or the ferry and come here for a party with a rucksack on their back."
Transport for London is planning on the basis that there will be 1 million extra people in the capital, although that could be offset by a decline in non-Olympic tourists.
Critics have claimed that Locog, which has a privately raised budget of £2bn to stage the Games but has now received £736m in public money on top of that, should be subject to greater scrutiny. But the government argues that all the public money that has flowed to the organising committee is either for pre-agreed elements of the budget such as security or is for new tasks that it has taken over from the Olympic Delivery Authority.
With the project 98% complete, there is £476m of contingency funding remaining, and Robertson said he could now be confident that it would come in under £9bn.
The National Audit Office had warned there was a real risk that the budget would be bust, but the Department for Culture and Media and Sport and the Government Olympic Executive have continued to insist that they would come in below £9.3bn.
The original bid estimated the cost of the Games at £2.4bn but didn't include VAT or security costs.
The Labour government, chastened by the experience of the Millennium Dome and Wembley, built in a huge contingency fund of £2.7bn when the current funding package of £9.3bn was set in March 2007. The huge increase was justified on the back of the regeneration of east London and other claimed legacy benefits.
Robertson said that the large contingency was a wise move because it allowed the project to weather the economic downturn, bearing the cost of building the Olympic Village and the International Broadcast Centre from public funds before selling them back to the private sector.
Much of the credit for coming in on time and on budget will go to the Olympic Delivery Authority, which came in more than £500m below its baseline budget through savings made during the construction process. Delivering the venues on time, despite the ongoing debate about the future of the £428m stadium, meant that it avoided the prospect of escalating costs as contractors rushed to finish venues.
Robertson said the publicly funded budget had delivered value for money: "I have been a cheerleader for this process right from the beginning. There was a recognition right from the word go the original figure would have to change dramatically. Everybody's eyes were opened to the possibility that this gave us once we had won the bid."
Attention is now likely to turn to the use of a surplus of more than £400m. Despite lobbying from some sports organisations, Robertson said there was no chance that it would remain within sport and would instead flow back to the Treasury.
But campaigners said that would "verge on money laundering", because lottery money that was partly used to fund the Games was diverted from other causes.
"It will be an utter outrage – and verging on money laundering – if lottery revenues raided by the government to fund the Olympics go back to the Treasury," said Jay Kennedy, the head of policy at the Directory of Social Change.
"This money was taken away from supporting vulnerable people and communities across this country at a time when they needed it most. Government needs to keep its promises and do the right thing – any underspend must be used to refund the Lottery as soon as possible."
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
London 2012 set to be delivered under budget - sportbusiness.com
The figures were released as the government published its final quarterly economic report before the Games commence next month. The anticipated final cost of the Olympic Delivery Authority’s (ODA) construction and transport programme is £6.761 billion – a decrease of £16 million on the previous quarter. Savings made by the ODA up to May 31 this year have now topped the billion pound mark in total, reaching £1.004 billion.
The £9.298 billion budget, which included a £2 billion contingency, was set in 2007 and was almost four times the estimated cost at the time London won the right to stage the Games in 2005. The remaining contingency money is expected to be ploughed back into the UK Treasury’s coffers. Secretary of State for Culture Olympics Media and Sport, Jeremy Hunt, said: “With only 44 days to go before the Olympics it is fantastic news that there is still £476 million of contingency funds left. Britain has proved that not only can we put on a great show for the world to watch like we did with the Jubilee but that we can also deliver big construction projects on time and on budget.”
The Olympic Park and Village were transferred from the ODA to the organising committee (LOCOG) in January, to allow them to prepare the venues for staging the Games. The government said funding made available to LOCOG has increased by £29 million in the quarter, as a result of these transfers from the ODA, and for additional infrastructure works. Additional funding of £19 million has also been made available to improve crowd management and public information in central London and the ‘last mile’ – the distance between transport hubs and Games venues. This will include additional stewards and crowd flow measures.
The remaining balance of contingency within the public sector funding package now stands at £388 million, with an additional £88 million available to the ODA in programme contingency to cover assessed risks - both ahead of the Games and for post-Games work. Minister for Sport and the Olympics, Hugh Robertson, added: “With a matter of weeks to go until London 2012 we are in a strong place. The transformation of the previously contaminated land into the Olympic Park on time and under budget is a great success story for UK plc. I would like to thank all those who have worked so hard to deliver this project in such an exemplary manner. We can now look forward to a summer of sport built upon the firm foundations set down by the ODA, LOCOG and everyone else involved in the project.”
Source: www.sportbusiness.com
Asia Coffee-Choppy London distorts trading, Vietnam at premiums - Reuters
* Vietnamese robustas at premiums to London
* Sumatran beans at premiums of up to $70 despite harvest
* Liffe down 7.5 pct from this year's peak
By Lewa Pardomuan
SINGAPORE, June 14 (Reuters) - Robusta beans in top producer Vietnam were offered at premiums again after sellers held back their stocks and waited for London futures to rebound further, while high prices in Indonesia curbed trading, dealers said on Thursday.
Vietnam's robusta grade 2, 5 percent black and broken was either on par or at premiums of $10 to London's September contract, having been quoted at $20-$30 below Liffe earlier this week and at discounts of $20 last week.
Cherries have begun to appear in coffee trees ahead of the next harvest later this year in Vietnam, but farmers and exporters still hold some quantities of coffee from the previous crop, which they may want to sell when they need extra cash.
Vietnamese beans were last quoted at premiums to London in February.
"I think they will sell the coffee when they want to. It's difficult to say, but I think there are around 300,000 tonnes of coffee left from the last crop," said a dealer in Hong Kong.
"You can find coffee in Vietnam but it's difficult to buy beans in big quantity. Indonesia was very aggressive to sell in the past week, but I think people will still continue to buy Vietnamese beans."
Robusta futures on Liffe edged higher on Wednesday, with September ending up $29, or 1.4 percent, at $2,099 a tonne, but prices were still well below a 8-1/2-month high at $2,269 struck in late May.
Not to be outdone by Vietnam, exporters in second-largest robusta producer Indonesia offered Sumatran grade 4, 80 defect beans at as high as $70 premiums to London futures from discounts of $10 last week.
Vietnam and Indonesia account for nearly a fifth of the global coffee output in the current 2011/2012 crop, according to the International Coffee Organization.
"European roasters are quiet at the moment. We offer beans at $20 to $70 but there are no deals. I heard Nestle was in the market last week to buy around 10,000 tonnes but I am not sure if there were deals," said a dealer in Singapore, referring to the world's biggest food group that makes Nescafe coffee.
"Daily arrivals are steady at around 1,500 to 2,000 tonnes."
The harvest in Indonesia's main producing island of Sumatra started at the end of January and may peak in June, while the next crop in Vietnam is expected to start in October or November in the Central Highlands coffee belt.
WEEKAHEAD
Beans in Vietnam and Indonesia could be offered at premiums next week if London futures stay at the current levels because of pressure from other markets ahead of a make-or-break Greek election.
Coffee output from Vietnam's current 2011/2012 crop would reach 20 million bags, up 2.7 percent from the previous season, the International Coffee Organization said, raising its estimate by around 9 percent from 18.3 million bags previously. (Editing by Ed Lane)
Source: www.reuters.com
Sussex Council rejects Romney Marsh nuclear plans - Kent News
Nuclear disposal facility diagram ( from Nuclear Decommissioning Authority)
Dean Kilpatrick, Reporter
Thursday, June 14, 2012
8:50 AM
Leader of East Sussex County Council raises “serious concerns” about proposed facility
Proposals for a nuclear facility in Romney Marsh have been opposed by neighbouring East Sussex County Council.
Shepway District Council is currently considering plans to build an underground nuclear research and development facility in the marshes.
However, the leader of East Sussex council has raised their concerns about a nuclear site being built close to their border at a council meeting.
Peter Jones, council leader, said: “We have serious concerns about these proposals in a location close to our border.
“We believe the plan doesn’t stack up and has many unknowns including geology, economic benefit, infrastructure and community support.”
Shepway District Council has stated it has “no formal view”, and is asking local people to contribute to the ongoing consultation period.
Source: www.kentnews.co.uk
Witless,lazy,selfish. Says it all.
- Derek Salway, Cardiff,U.K., 14/6/2012 11:55
Report abuse