What responsible politician wouldn’t speak out against the drunken, aggressive destruction of public property that accompanied this weekend’s anti-Boris tube train party. To do so would show gravitas in defeat.
Oh, but hang on. The “piece of mindless vandalism” Ken is upset by is this:
Boris Johnson’s cancellation of London’s oil agreement with Venezuela is a piece of rightwing dogmatism that is equally costly to the people of London and Caracas. The agreement was that Londoners on income support received half-price bus travel, subsidised via cheap Venezuelan oil, in return for London providing transport, planning and other expertise to Venezuela.
The basic principle of London-Caracas agreement was simple, reasonable and indeed a rather textbook illustration of relative advantage in foreign trade. Each side provided the other with that in which they are rich, and which for them is therefore relatively cheap – oil, on one hand, and the expertise in managing a modern advanced city on the other – in return for something which was scarce, and therefore relatively expensive, for the other side.
Not to worry. Perhaps Chavez could help Ken Livingstone take on Boris Johnson by giving him the same sort of assistance that he has been providing to FARC. FARC is a terrorist group whose hallmark is the kidnapping of wholly blameless civilians, and which also funds itself through is the cocaine trade, where it is also assisted by Venezuela.
You’ll remember that this is how Chavez is helping FARC:
Batches of the documents have been seen by The Economist and several other publications. They appear to show that Mr Chávez offered the FARC up to $300m, and talked of allocating the guerrillas an oil ration which they could sell for profit. They also suggest that Venezuelan army officers helped the FARC to obtain small arms, such as rocket-propelled grenades, and to set up meetings with arms dealers.
But what would Chavez get in exchange? Well, all of Ken’s Socialist Action “experts” are now unemployed. Surely, there is nothing keeping them in London…
