Photo Hunt - Still Life With Jaundice

The theme for the week's Photo Hunt is self portrait. Personally I hate to be photographed which is why I tend to live on the other side of the lens inflicting photos on other people

.As a result there are relatively few photos of me. This is a version of the one on my Facebook page

Old boy

It won't be long before the old chap is seventeen

So much for Chavez’s attempt to prop up his buddy

An attempt by Hugo Chavez to broker a peace deal between Ghaddafi and the Libyan rebels has failed. Unsorprisingly leader of the rebels have rejected any such approach out of hand.

"No one has told us a thing about it and we are not interested anyway," said the spokesman of the national committee in Benghazi, Abdul Hafif Goga. "We will never negotiate with him."

"Talk of peace is far too late," said a second member of the organising committee, Salwa Bogheiga. "A lot of people have died and there is no one to negotiate with. They lost that right when they started killing people on 17 February."

The rebel committee in Benghazi and the military leadership that jointly run the eastern side of the country insist that they are now too committed to consider any sort of ceasefire. They say that Gaddafi would use it to re-organise his loyalist troops for a major assault on rebel-held cities.

In Chavez’s mind he surely thinks he is doing something constructive. After all he is trying to help out an old friend and ally in the struggle to provide the best rhetoric against the USA.

As the rebel leaders say themselves it is far too late for talks – that time ended when Ghaddafi’s men opened fire. If Chavez is negotiating Ghaddafi’s departure, then fine I suppose. Negotiating anything more to Ghaddafi’s advantage can be forgotten.

First narcissus of spring

Eyeballs?

When PFI goes bad

In 2001 AssetCo (Initially British Gas's asset and leasing subsidiary) was awarded a 20-year PFI contract to provide “a range of outsourced support services, including the ownership and management of operational vehicles and equipment.”

According to the company’s website the company “procures and delivers the fleet and equipment to the London Fire Brigade (LFB), enabling efficiencies for over 500 appliances and support vehicles, two fire boats and 50,000 items of operational equipment.”

In addition the company “manages the operational availability of all of the frontline Fire and Rescue vehicles and operational equipment used at the 113 London fire stations.”

In addition AssetCo was awarded another contract to provide LFB with up to 700 staff, trained to provide a support firefighting service

The reserve firefighters provide “contingency to London Fire Brigade in the event of extreme situations such as pandemic illness or flooding.”

…And of course cover during strikes now that the Green Goddess fleet has been disbanded, but that is another story

This is all fine and dandy, I suppose, so long as the contract benefits LFB (I am in no position to comment on this) and AssetCo is a going concern

Even if the former has been the case (although the Fire Brigades Union has expressed concern over this) the latter most certainly is not.

Over the last two weeks the press has carried a number of reports about AssetCo’s financial difficulties (They passed me by I regret to say),

On 14 February The Guardian reported that the company had a £4m short term debt problem and that action to refinance had not progressed quickly enough to meet immediate cash demands

On 21 February this report stated that the company was approaching investors and shareholders in a bid to raise up to £8m as soon as possible. The report reiterated that delays over refinancing had led to a significant strain on the cash resources.

AssetCo directors remained upbeat, however,

Now it seems that HM Revenue and Customs has applied for a winding up petition in respect of unpaid taxes. The company has apparently managed to delay the court hearing until mid April in a bid to raise the necessary funds.

Whichever way you look at it this is serious. The winding up petition is a “nuclear option” which could end up in the company being liquidated and its assets sold to pay debts. If this were to be the case, what then for LFB assets? Would it mean the sell off of appliances (fire engines)?

Even if it did not come to an asset sale, what then for LFB’s essential maintenance and procurement functions?

The government and LFB seem to be unconcerned so far: A spokesman for Bob Neill (the Minister with responsibility for Fire services) said the contract was a matter for the company and the London fire brigade.

A spokesman for the brigade said: "We plan for all events that could affect the fire and rescue service we provide and do not anticipate an impact on London's fire engines! (I bloody well hope not!)

I must admit that I have a serious interest in this matter – not as an example of Tory bashing or as a but as a resident of a London borough. The prospect of a service as vital as fire cover being compromised because of a private company’s financial situation makes me shudder,

It begs a lot of questions but for once I will not state the obvious!

E-Tree phone home (or Take me to your Lignin?)

Pete Burford, 72,of of Eldersfield, Gloucestershire, discovered this fine simulacrum when when he chopped down a poplar tree for firewood.

"It's probably just one of those things, but it so looks like E.T. I couldn't believe it," he said.

Or is it crap magician Paul Daniels?

Damnedkeyboardcreewedup

NowtoseeifIcangetthespacebartoworkagain...Bah!

Hawkwind - The Right to Decide

Originally on the 1992 album Electric Teepee

Proof that everythings is just fine in Libya...

If he weren't a murderous scumbag one could almost pity his delusions..... Or maybe not