In The Loop: 06/01/09

Met police officer numbers will not be cut, insists Boris Johnson's deputy
"Kit Malthouse says the number of officers will not go down despite the Met being told to make £472m of savings. Boris Johnson's deputy mayor today insisted that policing numbers in London would remain stable despite the Conservative mayor's decision to tell Scotland Yard to find £472m of savings over three years.

Kit Malthouse, the deputy mayor on policing who also sits as vice-chair of the Metropolitan Police Authority, said there would be "the same number" of police officers in Scotland Yard overall, despite a rise and subsequent dip across the next three years.

The Metropolitan police force has 32,000 officers working across the Greater London area. Malthouse told the budget and performance committee of the London assembly earlier today that this number would be made "better" as a result of efficiencies made across the force." [Guardian]

Severn barrage: Row breaks out over UK's biggest renewables project
"A plan to build shallow lagoons fitted with turbines rather than a strip barrier across the Severn would generate equal amounts of electricity at a far lower cost, say campaigners

Government consultants have been accused of miscalculating the costs of a project to generate vast amounts of green electricity in the Severn estuary, promoting a 10 mile-long tidal barrier strongly backed by ministers in preference to a scheme that engineers and environmentalists say is far less damaging." [Guardian]

UK braced for bleak news as global car sales fall
"The crisis in the global car industry was underlined today with a further round of plunging sales figures from key markets around the world.

In Japan, sales of new vehicles slumped by 22% last month to their lowest ever December total, while French sales were down almost 16% as the impact of the credit crunch continues to bite.

Across the Atlantic, Ford disclosed that it sold 32% fewer cars in December than it did a year earlier. While purchases by individual customers were down by 27%, the number of vehicles sold to fleet buyers such as rental agencies and hospitality businesses plummeted by 42%. Its rival Chrysler reported even worse December sales, plunging by 53%, while General Motors saw a 31% decline. Foreign manufacturers also fared badly in the US market with Toyota sales down 37% in December, Honda down 35% and Nissan down 31%. The car website Edmunds.com predicted sales for the full year will total just over 13m, down 18% from 2007 and the lowest level since 1992." [Guardian]

Click here to read more information on Mr Grimsdale, King Heron and Mobius

Technorati Profile