Dome of Discovery . . .
A COUPLE of digits fell off the wire last week and reduced the cost of the Green- wich Gasworks Dome to £7 million. If only. It was last guessed at £750 million and ris- ing. Now the chaps with the loose-fitting waistlines are about to make their pres- ence, or their absence, felt. Their union has picked on the dome as a suitable target for a strike. No builders have been employed there yet, but never mind. In the prosper- ous south-east of England, experienced brickies and chippies are in short supply. Many of them prefer to stay at home in prosperous Ireland. The going rate for their services here has risen by 15 per cent in 12 months. Allan Black, the man from their union, says: 'The employers must do a deal or face delays at the dome.' There speaks a man who knows he has the paymasters over a barrel. Peter Mandelson, the project's spendmaster, says that it will be a cross between a museum and a circus. I bet it will.
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