Where to start. From whichever aspect and angle you care to look from, the endless expansion of Heathrow Airport symbolises the irrationality, the sheer insanity of finance capital. It’s a text book case of the tail wagging the dog. In this particular case it is international finance capital seeking to remorselessly and shamelessly expand itself in the face of widespread social criticism. Heathrow’s relentless lobbying has nothing at all to do with the business and social needs of London nor the country as a whole, and everything to do with private profit margins of its corporate empire and shareholders.

In its ruthless drive for profit it is contemptuous of legitimate cross party protests. No rational person would want to further blight whole swathes of London and tarnish the very things that make London so attractive to both residents and visitors alike. But then finance capital is anything but rational.

Notwithstanding its obvious socio-economic failings in the areas of housing and public transport, London, as an urban conurbation of eight million people, is a fairly decent place to live. It has easily accessible parks and rivers and canals aplenty, mostly free museums, libraries and art galleries, and a diversity of cultural pursuits possibly unrivalled anywhere on the planet. Tens of millions of people arrive each year to savour this 21st century cosmopolitan metropolis. Sure, the worlds oligarchs are getting their grubby hands on most of the prime real estate but nevertheless a walk along the Thames, a leisurely stroll around Hyde Park or perhaps a day trip to Hampstead Heath or Richmond Park are still an absolute delight and are absolutely free. Similarly a couple of pleasant hours mooching around the arty precincts of the South Bank or Covent Garden are equally rewarding, with no financial outlay necessary. Set against all this comes a corporate lobby wanting to endlessly expand an urban airport that has long since outgrown its social usefulness.

So just who is this shadowy corporate entity that is so intent on endless Heathrow expansion? The answer, easily garnered by a quick Google search, is as predictable as it is unpalatable. Here it is, masquerading under the innocuously titled Heathrow Airport Holdings Limited, formerly BAA.

Heathrow Airport Holdings Limited is in turn owned by FGP Topco Limited, a consortium owned and led by the infrastructure specialist Ferrovial S.A (25%), Qatar Holding LLC (20%), Caisse de Depot et placement du Quebec (13%), the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (11%), Alinda Capital Partners (11%), China Investment Corporation (10%), and Universities Superannuation Scheme (8.6%).

With the possible exception of the USS, none of the above are likely to have the remotest interest in the quality of life of Londoners. Their only interest can and must be to satisfy the financial aspirations of their respective shareholders. Welcome to the real world of international finance. Welcome to the real world of global capitalism.

The two big falsehoods that these international finance operators have been peddling for years is that airport capacity has reached its limits and that London must have a hub airport. It is easy to prove that these are indeed falsehoods. Firstly, if we include all of London’s airports as a collective whole, London is far from reaching airport capacity. But to utilise this spare capacity a rational plan has to be developed and delivered. That might well include making Heathrow the long haul airport while the other airports, Gatwick, Stansted, Luton and City airports could comfortable deal with the short haul stuff, much of which should, for environmental reasons, be encouraged to use high speed rail services.

As it stands at present, the most popular destination from Heathrow is Paris. Move this short haul stuff to subsidised high speed rail services and the other under-utilised airports and Heathrow would have more than enough capacity for the rest of the century and beyond.
Secondly, this never-ending mantra about the need for a hub airport is a nonsense. London is the hub, complete with its five airports, not some fantasy all-singing, all-dancing Heathrow. But in order to cement that London-wide hub, and make it fully fit for the 21st century, the transport links between London’s five airports needs to be radically enhanced. An outer circle line linking the five airports plus the major suburban nodes like Croydon, Watford, Luton, Harlow, Slough and Basildon would be necessary. Fast links to the HS1 and HS2 would also be a no brainer. In other words, London is crying out for an integrated transport plan of which airport provision would be but one part. Of course the above mentioned international finance corporations are not interested in any of this long term social infrastructure provision. Why would they be?
So there we have it in a nutshell; the greedy financial tail wagging the desperately underfunded, dirty, polluting dog. Its exactly the same story when it comes to London’s chronically depleted housing stock. Instead of building desperately needed affordable housing, we allow unaccountable global financial conglomerates to build unaffordable luxury apartments that are snapped up by the worlds wealthy elites who regard them as ultra-safe investments. Many of these swanky new city apartments are not even made available to potential London buyer even if they could afford them. Like capital itself, London’s housing has gone global; financed, marketed and sold for the benefit of the international bourgeoisie.

The conclusions to all this are blindingly obvious. Take back democratic control of London’s finances or continue to be a plaything for shady, unaccountable finance capital. Either way, don’t rely on Boris Johnson or David Cameron to make the necessary stand. Now Bob Crow just might be the man for the job.