Re: London Underground

[Chris Burford <cburford@xxxxxxxxxx>]

At 09/01/02 20:20 -0500, you wrote:


> Yeah, but Blair still wants to privatize the London Underground, no? Seems
> to me that Sir Alan Walters was right, when he said that Mrs T's most
> lasting achievement was the transformation of the Labour Party.
>
> Doug


Further to Doug's comments, the London Evening Standard midday edition had
a news story suggesting that the Transport Secretary, Steven Byers had
signalled that the government might no longer back a PPP (Public Private
Partnership). It suggested that Byers was deliberately introducing the
story early in muted form to avoid the impact of a sudden U turn in a few
weeks time. It also suggested that the government would back off from its
commitement by a value for money analysis.

The story was pulled from the later editions according to the Evening
Standard web site. You do not know then the journalists were fishing or the
minister was indeed preparing public opinion and guiding the present
populist dissent, directed against him, towards the private companies.

Chris Burford

London