Council pension funds attack Murdoch
Given that Cllr Ian Greenwood, the Labour leader of Bradford Council, is presiding over a secretive overspend of £4 million on a mirror pool scheme you would think he would have enough to cope with. But he is also Chairman of the Local Authority Pension Fund Forum. He is engaging in some student union style gesture politics by urging Council pension fund shareholders in News Corp by voting against James Murdoch continuing on the board and against Rupert Murdoch as Chairman and Chief Executive.
Cllr Greenwood says:
We believe that to secure News Corp's long-term future such reform is necessary.
Such a touching concern. Labour MP Tim Watson tells the Municipal Journal it is an "extremely significant" development in the phone hacking row.
The investments by pension funds should be placed to maximise returns. The LAPFF is a distraction from this as it is a talking shop to meddle with companies according to some left wing interpretation of "social responsibility" - with seminars on heightism.
Of course companies must operate within the law. But it is not for LAPFF to set itself up as a kangaroo court. Mostly it is made up of Labour councils but there are also several Conservative councils that have taken it upon themselves to hand over £8,460 a year to become members and often pay extra to go to its politically correct schmooze sessions. Cheshire West and Cheshire joined last month.
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