by John Ward
I was hoping this afternoon to break a story about the bigger picture of Boris Johnson and his intentions. But I still await further confirmation from brave people in other countries, and I’m old and ugly enough now not to go off at half-cock, if you’ll pardon the expression. So instead, tonight I present a taster based on widely reported business and banking news – in an effort to show that Boris the Spider is a much bigger symbol of all that’s perverted in the World…and not merely a bumbling stooge toeing the NATO line on the Skripal Affair.
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Multinational takeovers, banking mendacity, misleading Annual Reports and shady characters have always been a part of “business”. But as the 21st century proceeds with little or no caution towards 2020 (minus only the vision) the impunity of corporates and their allies in politics, the media and the military are all too clear.
There follows a brief summary of the business “news” from last weekend.
Barclays Bank has finally settled with the US Government on a $2bn fine for its disgraceful activities leading up to the financial crisis in 2007/8. Commentators had expected a $6bn sum to be the order of the day, but the power of lobbying is a wonder to behold. In the light of this let-off, the Bank proposes to reward its shareholders with a massive buyback given the share value rise following the announcement. I have trawled the Western MSM business media in a vain effort to find just one article asking why the sum was so pitifully small, or why nobody went to jail.
A key player at Barclays at this time was the American Bob Diamond. He sponsored Boris Johnson’s London Bikes scheme. The former Mayor has never had a bad word to say about Black Bob….who is now a “capital adviser” in Black Africa.
The collapse of UK company TMO renewables in 2013 has since been clouded by several accusations of malpractice. Now the administrators Duff & Phelps have filed High Court proceedings against former Tory Minister Tim Yeo, who was the TMO Chairman when it went mammories skywards.
Tim Yeo found himself at the centre of a London Taxi scandal after his company – a supplier of just such taxis – issued figures showing lower air pollution for his product versus existing taxis. These figures were later trashed by a Conservative Department of the Environment.
But then London Mayor Boris Johnson – a close chum of Yeo – ignored all this and passed regulations that benefited Yeo’s taxis….even though the DoE showed they were more pollutant than existing vehicles.
Serial supplier to the May Cabinet Carillion went under in January this year owing vast sums to all and sundry – and without even enough money at the bank to pay for its own administration. Given the number of citizens directly or indirectly dependent on Carillion for jobs and services, the Government’s inability to spot the problem or dive in to help those citizens – given it was the ultimate supplier – does suggest them having been somnambulent while the steering wheel was spinning.
At the time, Boris Johnson was pushing the idea of a Channel Bridge to complement the Chunnel. He was, in Cabinet, an enthusiastic supporter of construction giant Carillion being given the contract.
Boris the Spider has his hairly legs well connected to all corners of the penumbra: in military intelligence, the media, property development, shady suppliers, protection of illegal surveillance, NATO, the City, the European Commission, Asian fascists….and US oil interests.
As long ago as 2013, Johnson – then London Mayor – told the Times he was “willing to offer up the streets of London to companies hoping to solve Britain’s energy crisis by drilling for shale gas.”
There is, literally, nothing he won’t say or do in his determination to turn the United Kingdom into a gigantic Singapore.
For much more on this, keep an eye on The Slog tomorrow. But in the meantime, stay focused on the need to make Parliament live up to its responsibility to question whether this man is a fit and proper person to be in political life.