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March 18, 2005

Wastewatch: Ken pisses away another £100,000

Mrs T and I were perambulating through Trafalgar Square earlier this week when we noticed that the water in the fountains had turned a rather distressing shade of urine. Initially we put this down to severely incontinent tourists, but then we picked up one of Ken's many propaganda leaflets at the Tube station.

'St Patrick's Day parade and festival, opened by Ken Livingstone. A free day out for all the family.'

We'd missed the festivities, but the green dye dropped into the fountains had lingered on.

One, this was not 'a free day out'- it was funded by London's taxpayers, at a cost of at least £100,000 (assuming it was no less than previous years).

Two, even setting aside the bombing of Harrods, Bishopsgate, Canary Wharf etc, why exactly do London taxpayers need to 'celebrate the Irish Community's unique contribution to life in the city'? We don't do the same for the English, say. (Mrs T agrees- even though she's half Irish).

Three, why does Ken get to throw all these parties at our expense anyway? It was only a couple of weeks ago that he threw that party where he laid into an Evening Standard reporter.

Grrr.

Wastewatch: £259 million on duff Chinooks

The Ministry of Defence has been severely criticised over an order of eight Chinook helicopters, costing £259 million, which remain grounded because of technical problems.

MPs on the Public Accounts Committee said the affair was "one of the worst examples of equipment procurement that the committee has seen".

In truth, this is just the latest in a long line of arms procurement fiascos, for which nobody ever seems to carry the can.