[UK] London Docks "Business Hub" plan

[Henry Law]

Many of you will have seen this
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-22704284 . Anyone got any
idea what it will do to the Watersports Centre that's there, and the
rowing club which uses the centre's facilities?

The "Artist's impression" doesn't leave much room for rowing.
--

Henry Law Manchester, England

[thomas....@googlemail.com]

On Thursday, May 30, 2013 6:04:56 PM UTC+1, Henry Law wrote:
> Many of you will have seen this http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-22704284 . Anyone got any idea what it will do to the Watersports Centre that's there, and the rowing club which uses the centre's facilities? The "Artist's impression" doesn't leave much room for rowing. -- Henry Law Manchester, England

I saw a link to a brochure elsewhere which gave a bit more detail but its still not that clear, what it looks like is the rowing will be done in 3 lanes which are to the right hand side of the photo as you look at it, and go under the bridge seen at half way, but the scale doesnt seem right as I assume the lake currently has 7 lanes, so it looks like they are trying to cram 3 lanes into the space normally taken up by 1-2 lanes?

Not ideal for rowing anyway as anyone wanting to leave the docks would have to drve right across the lanes, could be dangeorus for Paralympians who train there and a death knell for Poplar regatta I would think

[Carl]

And the reason for all of this? To create a Chinese entrepôt in the
Port of London. Let me be boring:

I find this interesting & symptomatic of, in particular, the British
malaise. For the short-term gain of a very few we prostitute ourselves
for the benefit of people far away. And we reside smug in the mistaken
belief that anything made in Britain is inferior & to be sneered at.
And when those whose jobs go down the tubes as a result of such
attitudes are on the growing scrap-heap of jobless unemployables & our
economy contracts further, do we care? In reality, only when it hits
us, by which time it's too late

So, we've had the 2012 Olympics. Those who do pay their taxes ('cos
they ain't big enough to offshore their incomes) were made collectively
to pay for them. Who are now the major beneficiaries? In every way,
Chinese industry. But not, in almost any way, the domestic industry.

Since the Olympics, how have we responded to the growth of various
sports, not excluding rowing? In large measure by buying cut-price
Chinese. Whose products now fill so many boathouses, of course.

One of the allegedly crowning glories of the Games? The vast "Westfield
Stratford City (sic)" shopping centre. And the stuff it sells? It
comes in large part from China, or from murderously collapsing & burning
Bangladeshi garment factories, & from everywhere except (with marginal
exceptions) the UK.

Remember how the London Docks was to be the Olympic regatta course?
That idea didn't last long after the bid success, did it? And now the
only regatta course in that area is to be trashed. For the benefit of
whom? Please don't ask.

Once we were proud to buy the products of people who earned decent wages
working in decent conditions. Now we buy only what's cheapest, &
discard it when, inevitably, cheap proves transient. We think we can
keep our economies afloat by creating insecure retail jobs selling cheap
imports to each other, can't we? Errr ... where do nations earn the
money to buy those imports if they don't themselves export things? And
please don't tell me our so-called financial industries do it - not when
every living taxpayer will pay for the rest of their lives to rebuild
the edifices the financial experts collapsed around us but which they
still occupy - & still they don't think it wrong to cook the books, fix
the rates & off-shore their taxes.

All my life I've watched us sleepwalking into the economic wilderness,
driven by politicians who think of manufacturing as either
indestructible or an irrelevant, unshiny toy. Adam Smith in a different
context averred that there was "a lot of ruin in a nation". With
still-growing unemployment (especially among the young), increasing
indebtedness, a vital proliferation of food banks & ever more evident
beggary in a once proud society, can this still be true?

Enough! I have to go and export some more boats to shore up the
toppling adverse balance of trade & keep the dog fed.

Cheers -
Carl

--
Carl Douglas Racing Shells -
Fine Small-Boats/AeRoWing Low-drag Riggers/Advanced Accessories
Write: Harris Boatyard, Laleham Reach, Chertsey KT16 8RP, UK
Find: tinyurl.com/2tqujf
Email: ca...@carldouglas.co.uk Tel: +44(0)1932-570946 Fax: -563682
URLs: carldouglas.co.uk & now on Facebook @ CarlDouglasRacingShells

[coach]

There is some glimmer of hope on the horizon. It would appear that our Mayor Boris now takes a paternal interest in Rowing. He was seen supporting a junior crew at Putney Regatta last month.