The world’s largest shoplifting centre has been opened next to the Olympic stadium in Stratford. This will be the most enjoyable epic fail by the Australians since the Ashes.
I walked a few months ago along a street in nearby Leyton, off Francis Rd. Something caught my attention, and I started looking at tax discs. Of sixty two cars parked on one side of the street, twenty one had no valid tax disc. I would bet that at least that many had no valid insurance. All of these cars were within two hundred yards of Francis Rd police station.
The Olympics have cost £20 billion we don’t have, and in three years time the site will be a mouldering white elephant. The flats of the Olympic village, hopefully destined for yuppie accommodation, are less attractive than the nastier flats of Moscow or, still worse, the ones they have just demolished in Dundee. Moving West Ham just up the road from Upton Park to the new Olympic Stadium will have no net economic effect I can see.
I would be willing to bet, from talking to locals, that the thousands of people it is being announced are to be employed in the new shopping centre include the highest percentage of security staff and store detectives in the world. It is still not going to work.
More shopping malls is not the answer to our economic problems. This is madness.
Out of the untaxed cars near the cop shop, maybe some of them were unmarked police cars, saving the cut-backed budget for their pension pots?
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It sounds like this shopping centre is going to be like the ones placed in UK airports between security and the waiting area. You just can’t avoid going through it, although I always manage to avoid buying any of their over-priced tat, but I don’t know who buys there.
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It seems there can be an infinite number of shopping centres in the universe as long as there are credit card companies willing to lend the punters the readies to buy things they don’t need and can’t really afford. So here we go again on the merry-go-round of consumer capitalism.
‘Whatever sins British Governmental institutions have but British Courts are still much more independent comparing to those around the world and particularly to the criminal court in Russia. Trying Lugovoy here would have been much more interesting in the truth finding prospective but as we are witnessing those who are in power in Russia today strongly object to this (one could only wonder why). ‘
Very true- however I’m sure Cameron now realises after his mini-summit with Putin that getting Lugovoy handed over is a non starter. If that is the case, the only British Court that can do any truth digging is the Coroners Court at a properly constituted inquest. The inquest was adjourned in November 2006 and (apparently at the insistence of the Met) remains adjourned, on the basis that the material considered at the inquest would jeopardise any likely trial. If however the probability of a trial being held is infinitesimal, why the continued adjournment ?
@ Clark dogs give out what you give them, show them love and kindness and they will always return in kind.
ps. have you noticed that dog breeds with the highest IQ’s are hairy?
Uzbek
It’s true, my view of Putin and Gadaffi is not that of a Russian or a Libyan. And yes, Kim stands up to the Yanks too, but that’s pretty much all he does – NK is much less important for the rest of the world – Russia matters as it is one of the few countries which can stand up to America in international affairs generally, and Gadaffi had influence in Africa.
What I don’t understand, and would like to, is why neither Russia nor China vetoed the Libya resolution at the UN – anyone could see that it would be used as an excuse for violent regime change; replacing Gadaffi with pro-Western muppets is not in Russia or China’s interest; Russia doesn’t need NATO to be strengthened or glorified any more; and China can’t have forgotten that on an earlier rampage NATO bombed the Chinese embassy in Belgrade.
I saw (probably uninformed) comment that Putin would have vetoed but his placeholder Medvedev is getting out of control. Can it really be that?
Trading at John Lewis is always qupted by the media, especially the BBC, as a good indicator of the strength of the economy. They have a store in the new Stratford centre. These are their results for the last six months.
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14 September 2011
John Lewis says trading ‘extremely challenging’
Department store group John Lewis says trading on the High Street is tough but its sales are still growing.
The firm, which operates 33 department stores and the Waitrose supermarket chain, said sales at both businesses grew 1% and 4% respectively amid “extremely challenging” conditions.
Its profits were down by 18% to £90.4m, reflecting the difficult trading conditions and increased investment.
John Lewis said that a net 1,100 new jobs had been created in the period.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-14910548
Quelcrime
I saw (probably uninformed) comment that Putin would have vetoed but his placeholder Medvedev is getting out of control. Can it really be that?
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NO. Medvedev does not have any opinion and he does not have any real power in Russia. One man is not a warrior and Medvedev does not have a team. All men surrounding Medvedev are Putin’s/FSB men.
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I am afraid you are still much under the impression of the same true that I criticised earlier ‘enemy of my enemy is my friend’. World order where US is replaced by either Russia or China will for sure be much worse than the current one (and even worse if by both of them). China seems to be quiet and peaceful power which does not interfere into internal affairs of other nations BUT this is for now. Look at Africa (nations which have been penetrated by China), North Korea, Burma, Central Asia etc all these nations that have been penetrated by China are run by dictators and this will be pretty much standard norm in China dominated world. In 1990th when China has been settling border issues with Central Asian states it did not make even a single concession to either Kazakhstan or Kyrgyzstan.
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With regards China and Russia are not vetoing ani-Libya resolutions. I am pretty sure that US have made some geopolitical concessions to China. Most probably that some of the African nations that have already been penetrated by China have been promised to be left to Chinese domination. Or probably US have promised to China to ease their Tibet related pressure. Whatever it was it is pretty much obvious that Chinese silence was purchased.
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As for Russia it is a bit different matter. In Russia all these anti-American and anti-Nato slogans are for public eyes/ears only. Those who are in power in Russia are pretty much in full cooperation with western corporations and hedge funds. Putin and co are doing well selling Russian commodities, transferring money abroad and leaving Russia socially broken. Small and tiny group of Russians are getting extremely rich (hence there are more billionaires in Moscow than in London) whereas millions of Russians are not really benefitting from all these oil/gas revenues.
Uzbek
Not the enemy of my enemy is my friend, but the enemy of my enemy keeps my enemy off my back.
craig 13th September 2011
“An amazing number of commenters on this site elevate Putin, Gadaffi, ahmadinejad because of their enemies. That is justr as stupid as the West’s embrace of Karimov.”
Hard to tell which commenters *elevate* those three, rather than attempt to speak fairly about them while surrounded by incessant demonisation of those people in the mass media. Harder still to determine they do it chiefly because of their enemies. But nothing looks more lowly than you Craig, who *knows* what Putin, Gadaffi, Ahmadinejad are but considers any conversation about them beneath you, who thinks his commenters are stupid but doesn’t tell them in the face, and who never shows much knowledge about Russia, Libya, Iran either.