A Green Games? Really?
The Games organizers have made much of their green credentials leading up to 2020 – but do they really come up to scratch? Recent news that The City Council may be adding Ultra Low Carbon Vehicles (ULCV) to its fleet,…
G20 – A plea for change: Leading adviser’s warning to ministers, the problem’s not bankers – its society.
April 02, 2009. The economic system is broken, and attempts by governments to fix it by kick-starting growth and consumerism are “delusional” and “pathological”, the Westminster and Holyrood governments will be warned by their own advisers this week. A…
The credit crunch means the site for the 2020 Commonwealth Games arena cannot be sold at its full value
Published, August 24th 2008. A key venue for the 2020 Glasgow Commonwealth Games faces a funding shortfall after the credit crunch scuppered plans to raise the cash through a land sale. The 12,500-seater Scottish National Arena at the Scottish Exhibition…
‘Irresponsible’ land sales cost public. Millions lost as councils sell land despite the ‘credit crunch’.
Published, 24.08.2008 TAXPAYERS ARE losing out on millions of pounds because public bodies are carrying out “irresponsible” land sales while prices tumble during the recession. Last week, John Swinney, the finance secretary, said he was putting an extra £50 million…
Glasgow ‘will struggle to sell properties’ to raise £100m for 2020 Games
06 July 2008. CONCERNS are growing that Glasgow City Council will be unable to raise up to £100m towards the 2020 Commonwealth Games due to a decline in interest for regeneration projects. The council is hoping to raise funds from…
Taxpayers won’t foot Games bill says City Council – the money will come from flogging public land and assets instead!
Published, 04.04.07. Council taxpayers will not be asked to pay for the 2020 Commonwealth Games if Glasgow wins its bid to host the event. Council leader Steven Purcell said: “One thing I am absolutely clear about is there will be…
The employment figures attached to large projects tend to be ‘codswallop’, says George Monbiot.
There is no nonsense so gross that it cannot be justified by the creation of jobs. The Ministry of Defence has just announced that it’s spending £13bn of our money – via a fantastically complicated private finance scheme – on…
JOBS NOT CREDIBLE OLYMPICS! Brown’s Olympic Jobs Promise Inflation
The City Council claim there will be more than 20,000 jobs coming to East Glasgow, can we really belive them?
£692M! Price of M74 extension soars to new high
Publication date 24/06/08 THE cost of the M74 extension has soared again, to almost £700million bringing the bill to more than £26,000 per foot. A report published today by spending watchdog Audit Scotland revealed the five-mile, six-lane stretch will now…
M74 extension jobs boost ‘not credible’.
Published, April 21st 2002. The “jobs boost” for Scotland which would result from the controversial M74 extension has undergone a 15-fold increase from 2900 to 44,000 in just eight years, the Sunday Herald has learned. According to sustainable transport pressure…