According to the BBC, it seems that a substantial number of people in Venezuela object to to the dubious scheme concocted by their autocratic President Hugo Chavez and Mayor of London Ken Livingstone, which, incredibly, is meant to subsidise Transport for London buses, at the expense of the poor people of Venezuela, through a dodgy crude oil barter deal.
Any effect on bus fares in London will be virtually zero, since the UK Treasury will still levy fuel duty and VAT, per litre of fuel, irrespective of the "cheaper" (but non-zero) price of the fuel out of the oil refinery gates via this supposed barter deal.
The effect on the people of Venezuela will be proportionately much more, due to the lost oil revenue which they could have benefited from at market rates.
International oil barter deals are notoriously corrupt, e.g. the United Nations administered "oil for medicines" deals in the period between the liberation of Kuwait and the toppling of Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq.
How many dodgy middlemen does Livingstone's oil barter deal involve ?
The signing ceremony in Caracas for the deal has been cancelled at the last minute, denying Ken Livingstone a media opportunity to pretend that he is some sort of world statesman.
Surely the London taxpayer should not be having to pick up the bill for Ken Livingstone's trip to see his communist friends in Cuba, where he seems to have decided to stop off en route. ?
Nice to see an anti-Ken site.
I will be doing my best to bring Ken down to Barbie size before the next Mayor elections.
Please email any insider info to me via my blog.
If you want people to take you seriously, make your posts more
complete. Why do you suggest the Venezuelan people get nothing in
return for the cut price oil?
You seem to be disputing that the London Authority has anything to
offer Venezuela in return?
What evidence do you have of this?
You say any effect on bus fares in London will be almost zero .... well
can you tell anyone where it has been suggested that bus fares will be
cheaper?
I think the idea is that people on government grants will be able to
enjoy cheaper travel on London's buses.
You seem to be arguing against the deal and suggesting London should go
back to paying market rates for it's bus fuel. I can't see the logic in
that. If I was Mayor of London and, because I was buying rather a lot
of oil, could do deals like this to save the London Poll Tax payers,
why shouldn't I do it?
This post has been up here for over a year and this is your second
response. You don't seem to be getting much support do you.
@ Jon
Correct. There is nothing on offer e.g. consultancy from private sector companies, that could not be bought commercially with the profits which are being denied to the Venezuelan people.
You do not seem to be very familiar with the concept of news topicality.
Why not publish your own blog, and then we could see how much support you have for your ideas or whether to take you seriously or not ?