Soros questions survival of Euro

Of boy, this will set a few heatbeats fluttering,

The euro is being “severely tested” and “may not survive” the Greek deficit crisis, billionaire investor George Soros said.

The European currency’s construction is “flawed” because there is “a common central bank, but you don’t have a common treasury,” Soros said...
Soros predicted Greece will survive its fiscal crisis, “but it still leaves Spain and the other countries” facing similar difficulties. “And so either Europe now takes the institutional measures that are needed to make up for the deficiency or, in fact, it may not survive,” he said of the euro.

The point here isn't the truth of the statement, but the difficulty. He is quite right, for the Euro to work you need a single economic government. However, despite the slow 'death of frogs' that has gone on over the past few decades, I don't think that the peoples of Europe are prepared, yet to accept such a level, of control in Brussels.
The Germans are getting restless.

Too late, the damage is done

It was late last night when I spotted it, so I left it until today - except short link on Facebook,
"Quite bananas, completely fruit loop. And she teaches Global Governance!"

But now when I have the time I see that Richard North has done my job for me, Professor Mary Kaldor, has written quite the most outargeously stupid article on the EU I have seen in years.

I leave you in Richard's capable hands. Here is a flavour,

The woman pictured is a professor of global governance and co-director of LSE Global Governance at the London School of Economics. Her name is Mary Kaldor and despite her elevated position and title, she is stupid. We know this. No one gets to that position and remains that ignorant unless they are seriously stupid.

Unfortunately for the rest of us, The Guardian chooses to give Mary Kaldor an outlet through which to display her stupidity – thereby conferring on her more gravitas than she deserves – even the little conveyed by this dismal rag.

Thus we get this stupid woman, under the heading, "The EU needs to return to its roots", telling us via the strap line, "Europe has spent too long besieged by regulation culture and market obsession, forgetting its original purpose: peace."

Now where did I leave that armoured division?

You know, I have been known to mislay things. Coins behind the sofa, most recently a bowler hat on a train, but this takes some beating,

200 Russian tanks found abandoned in forest
The Russian army is embroiled in an embarrassing scandal after 200 of its tanks were found abandoned near a forest in central Russia, unguarded and unlocked.

Dare I look in the space behind the TV?

Prisoners freed in Budapest

Great news to hear that Michael Turner and Jason McGoldrick who were imprisoned in Budapest without trial under the European arrest warrant have only now been released on bail.

Congratulations to William Dartmouth MEP who has been campaigning tirelessly for their release. Here the father of MIchael Turner talks about it and thanks UKIP and the good Earl for all hois and our work.

UKIP News review 28 Feb

UKIP in the news today

And yes we have more rumbling over the Van Rompuy affair,
This time it's the Times where Rod Liddle comments,

Nasty Nigel 1 Belgium 0
Nigel Farage, the former boss of UKIP, has been taking the mickey out of Belgium, a country famous for Poirot, chocolate and paedophiles. An awful lot of opprobrium has descended on him for the crime of dissing Belgium and also the Belgian European council president Herman Van Rompuy. But what is the point of UKIP if they are not to be, occasionally, nihilistically xenophobic?

Whereas Atticus is a little more reasoned,

The UK Independence party’s Nigel Farage enraged the European parliament by remarking that the EU president, Herman Van Rompuy, had “the charisma of a damp rag” (ooh, stop it Nigel, you’re such a caution). What sensitive flowers they must be in Brussels. Say what you like about our own MPs, but their skins are thicker and their insults more colourful. Here’s the late Conservative Sir Nicholas Fairbairn on women MPs: “They all look as though they’re from the 5th Kiev Stalinist machinegun parade.” Van Rompuy got off lightly.

Quite.

The Telegraph letters page makes a pretty sane suggestion to Mr Cameron and his polling doldrums. Give us a referendum on Europe you wassock.

Ukip is presently hitting a consistent 5 to 7 per cent in opinion polls, mainly garnered from disaffected Tories. Were David Cameron to commit an incoming Conservative government to a binding "in or out" referendum on Britain's relationship with the EU, much of that Ukip vote would go his way. With 45 per cent of the vote, they would be weighing his majority on polling day, rather than counting it. David Cameron is presumably an intelligent man, so he must be able to see this. Thus his inaction tells you all you need to know about his covert support for the EU project. As they say up north: "There's none so blind as those that don't want to see."

Keith Ashworth-Lord
Rochdale, Lancashire

And in the Mail on Sunday, Peter Hitchens, for the first time in my memory almost applauds a UKIP figure, this time Stuart Wheeler,

Swipe at the Tories hits right home
Stuart Wheeler, once the largest donor to the Tory Party, has been cast into outer darkness for supporting UKIP instead.
Now he has written an interesting and powerful study of the MPs’ expenses row, which among other things points out the terrifying centralised powers that party leaders now possess.
But I specially enjoyed this passage: ‘I have nothing against anyone who is fortunate enough to live in a nice house in the country. I do myself. But I cannot for the life of me see why, were I an MP, you should have to help finance that.’
Quite so. Which rather well-off party leader could he possibly be referring to?

Elsewhere the BBC are reporting that,

The deputy mayor of Telford and Wrekin has quit the role to contest the parliamentary seat at the general election for the UK Independence Party.

Councillor Denis Allen will stand for UKIP for Telford and has resigned to avoid any potential conflict of interest.

Good luck to you Denis.

And Nigel Farage's latest appearance on the Alex Jones show has been Youtubed here.

Other news of note

In the Times we learn that that paragon, John Bercow is getting a tax free pension,

Tax-free

John Bercow, the Commons Speaker, is to be exempted from new taxes imposed on the pensions of high earners.

He is already allowed to claim half his Speaker’s salary as pension on the day he steps down from office, even if he stays an MP. It has now emerged that this “grace and favour” pension will be exempt from taxes announced in last year’s budget.

Bercow can claim £79,754 as Speaker on top of his MP’s salary, giving a total of £144,520. He has not claimed it in full and is paid £141,647.

Under the new measures, other employees earning more than £130,000 will pay tax of up to 30% on pension contributions from April 2011. The Speaker’s office has confirmed he will not pay taxes on his grace and favour pension.

The same article blows the gaff on the fact that disgraced former MPs will reatin rights of access to Parliament, which was formerly a mark of distinction. Given that most are unemployable except as lobbyists this is a very valuable perk.

It reports that the Polar bear is a recent development in evolutionary time, a development caused by climate change. It all rather goes to make Viscount Monckton's point (click on film in link).

The polls are getting very scary for Dave.
Harriet Sergeant hits the nail on the head about problems with the pulic sector. It is profligate in hireing, but finds it impossible to fire.

A senior non-executive director described some of the managers in her trust as “not up to the job”. This did not mean she could sack them. “The NHS”, she explained, “does not like facing noise.” A manager in social services remarked: “Time and time again I have said, ‘So-and-so is incompetent’, only to be reproved — ‘Yes, but they are awfully nice’.” A modern matron complained that discipline in the no-blame culture of the NHS is a “long-winded process”. Modern management is meant to “nurture” employees. The errant state worker is offered training and supervision and given another chance. This can go on for a year. “In the meantime,” said the former matron, “patients are going through her hands and suffering.”

The easiest way of getting rid of “awfully nice” people is to promote them elsewhere. Special project work, “reconfiguring the system” or checking up on everyone else is always popular.

Of course promotions mean pay rises.

The News of the World gives prominance to reports that the Chancellor is considering doubling duty on booze! We can only hope that he and his boss are downed in a torrent of gin and beer.

It also brings attention to a Policy Exchange report that claims,

BRITAIN'S prisons will be FULL by the summer because the Government has scrapped its early-release scheme, a report will warn this week.
By June 30 there will be 86,808 cons but just 86,681 prison places - a shortfall of 127.
And even if jail chiefs commandeer the 400 police cells available, all of them are expected to be filled by October.

Over in the Sunday Telegraph, Bruno Waterfield highlights the invidious position of Baroness Ashton.
The key point here seems to be that as some were saying beforehand, the Lisbon Treaty was never about giving power to the Nation States of the European Union, but always about centralising power with the Commission, the unelected bureacracy. The saga over the appointment of the EU's Ambassador in Washington has made clear to all what we were saying before. Of course now that we have ratified the Treaty - and dave has chickened ouut oof giving us a post ante vote, there is nothing - bar leaving the EU that can do anything about this.
My chum, Dan Hannan adds his tuppen'worth about this, but Dan has to recognise that no matter how good he is on the subject, he represents a Conservative Party whose failing leadership is at odds to his position. He merely grants then a fig-leaf of eurosceptic respectability on the corpulent mass of the pro-EU party. Why did Kathy have to go to Kiev and thus miss the Defence Ministers meeting in Spain?

In fact, as her officials and British diplomats have since observed, Lady Ashton had changed her plans, switching from Spain to visit Ukraine for the inauguration of President Yanukovych in Ukraine, on the explicit instruction of EU foreign ministers on Monday. Setting her up for the fall, both Herman Van Rompuy, the EU President and Jose Manuel Barroso, the Commission President, who would usually carry out such duties, had declined to travel to Kiev.

Ironically, Mr Van Rompuy's excuse was a Thursday night speech on EU foreign policy to the eurocrat training university, the College of Bruges. Mr Barroso begged off because he had a Brussels lunch date with Kenneth Clarke, the pro-EU shadow Business Secretary.

Back to Climate Change, Chris Booker ploughs his (no longer so lonely) furrow with a magisterhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/feb/28/tory-immigration-rowial attack on the Bali meeting.

In the Observer Nick Cohen is very good on Falkands, whilkst Peter Hitchens at the above link has an interesting suggestion.
If the UK alliance with the US isn't good enough for Obama to support us in our created dispute with Argentina, then obviously they don't want our support in Afghanistan.
It's a thought.

Andrew Rosindell's constuency is caught telling porkies in his election literature,

Last night, the party's frontbench was forced to distance itself from the hard-hitting material, which was put out under the name of Cameron's home affairs spokesman, Andrew Rosindell. It bears a picture of both men, says that immigration has caused a population explosion, and declares "we simply cannot go on like this".

Circulated in Rosindell's Romford constituency, it also suggests that the Tories would impose new transitional controls on the right of nationals of the new EU member states to work in the UK. Such controls already exist for Bulgaria and Romania, but retrospective limits on other eastern European states, such as Poland and the Czech Republic, would be illegal under EU law.

We are in the EU, nothing can be done about mass migration until we lave. It really is that simple.

Little John Bercow has lots of friends

The Bucks Herald reports that John Bercow has launched his campaign for re-election, "Buckingham's Voice and Parliament's Speaker". He has a lot of friends it seems and "backing from nationally recognised politicians".

So who has little Jonny got, and what does it mean?

First in the blue corner we have Dave 'boy' Cameron.

"So in this election I would certainly urge all Conservatives – and, indeed, supporters of all parties and of none – to vote for the Speaker, John Bercow."

Which you and all but tthree of the Conservative MPs failed to do when they had the chance to vote for him as speaker.

Next up is David 'big' Blunkett from Labour

"The fact that he was elected Speaker in a free and open vote is testament to
the views of the majority of members of the House of Commons and to his
standing."

No it is a testament to the contempt in which Brown and his henchmen in the whips office hold the institution of Parliament.

And Charlie 'chat show' Kennedy,

"At a time when the reputation of Parliament is at a low ebb, John Bercow has taken on the job of Speaker and pushed ahead with overdue reform".

Yes Charlie, and somebody who flipped their houses and has been spending taxpayers money like water on his nursery (most people pay for their own children's stuff Jonny, or didn't you know that?)

Two has beens and one might never be.

But of course the key here is what the Bercow campaign represents. It represents the political class, the unreformed, tainted elite forming an alliance against the public.

Best news Farage could have. Vote for me - or the political calls. It gives the campaign a whole 'Mr Smith goes to Washington' flavour .

Is the Euro a "sub prime" currency?

Well that is the suggestion raised by this article in the National Post in Canada.

The euro has become another "subprime" currency, afflicted by debts, funny bookkeeping, regulatory failure and widespread street protests in Greece and Spain.

It maybe true, but the fundamental dishonesty of the creators of the Euro, that it was a sound economic project, rather than a hopeful political one has huge repercussions across theworld. As the article goes on,

There's likely too much hysteria over Greece, but not enough concerning Spain and Italy, which are also badly managed and collectively larger than Germany.

Spain's GDP -- about the size of Canada's -- shrank by 3% because it is the "Florida" of the EU. Its housing and banking sectors reel from a building binge to serve up condos, stores and infrastructure for the continent's Baby Boomer demographic. Others point to its unemployment rate of nearly 20% and its budgetary deficit of 11.4% of GDP, which prevents tax cuts or stimulus to kick start activity.

It all makes Canada and Australia, and our currencies, look pretty sound by comparison, but that's small comfort if the Americans and Europeans don't recover.

UKIP News Update 27 Feb

UKIP References

More on the Farage/Van Rompuy affair
Quentin Letts picks up the story, Farage isn't as unpopular in Belgium as you might think.
The Express takes his point in their editorial

FASHIONABLE liberal opinion thinks the most objectionable thing to happen in Brussels this week was Nigel Farage’s withering attack on EU President Herman Van Rompuy...

The British people are sick of underwriting the unaccountable EU gravy train. Mr Farage may have been guilty of bad manners when he described Van Rompuy as “a damp rag with the looks of a low-grade bank clerk”.

But his observation, “I have no doubt that it is your intention to be the quiet assassin of European democracy and of European nation states”, was right on the money.

Heffer puts the boot in.

But Fiona Hall, Lib Dem MEP thinks that our Nige has no friends
And Martin Kettle is conflicted at CiF.

The Ukip MEP is desperately trying to get noticed, and some have risen to his bait...
There's a dilemma here. To write about Nigel Farage is to reward bad behaviour. It's what he wants. So he shouldn't get it. But that's journalism for you.

Well Martin, if there was a trap, you fell into it. Therre wasn't but like many of your sort you don't understand that not everybody does everything for ulterior motives. It rather says more about you than it does about Farage.

Meanwhile elsewhere the Mail and the Express pick up on Mandelson's promise to join the Euro quoting Paul Nuttall.

In the Telegraph Professor Stephen Bush, UKIP stalwart, points out some of the grevious problems facing our energy generation policy and how it is stymied by Brussels.

The Mail reports on the imprisonment of Nick Hogan, first smoking ban rebel to go to gaol. Nick recently stood down as our candidate in Chorley knowing that this case was coming up. He is a political prisoner, no other words for it.

Other Ukip stuff
Paul Nuttall is taken to task for having a purely utilitarian approach to further education.

Other stories that need looking at.
Bryan Gould writes in CiF about how he was right all along,

The economic interests of a wider European economy – to say nothing of small matters like a functioning democracy – will be best served, not by a forced but failed attempt at convergence through a single monetary policy, but by country-sized governments deploying all the instruments of macro policy to suit the needs and interests of the economies for which they are responsible. The European dimension should rest mainly on a high and growing level of co-ordination of policy and functional cooperation among separate and well-performing economies which see their future as developing together.

Polly Toynbee in one of her stopped clock moments. Immigration is a problem, and the Government has failed us all.

The Times has Mathew Parris getting it very wrong on the Falklands. He is wet on this. People like the Argentinians will use comments like this to give them hope, when none should be given at all. It is the same sort of thing as the famous Oxford Union debate which encouraged Hitler.
It also reports on the justifiable anger in Denmark, where the newspaper Politiken has kow-towed to Islamic extremism and apologised for printing those photographs.

Jørn Mikkelsen, the editor-in-chief of Jyllands-Posten, which is owned by the same media company as Politiken, said: “Politiken’s pathetic prostrating before a Saudi lawyer takes the first prize in stupidity. It is a sad day for Danish media, it is sad for freedom of expression and it is sad for Politiken.”

Quite.
The Telegraph reveals the latest loony attempt to take our cash through greenery type madness. Tax cows. Barking, or maybe just mooing mad.
Brno Waterfield reports on Van Rompuy's 'silent assasin of nations' act.

One of the points of the classified letter, seen by The Daily Telegraph, gives Mr Van Rompuy the right to lead the EU's negotiating team at G20 summits, usurping the role of national governments and the Commission.

"There was agreement to take better account of the international dimension. This includes a thorough preparation of the EU position for G20, allowing me to effectively and forcefully represent the EU's positions in this important forum," said the letter.

I would just like to take this opportunity remind everyone about the plans to snaffle our seat on the UN security council.

As ever, anything I have missed please drop into the commenst section.

The Beglium approach to Farage

This little thing has been doing the rounds for the past 24hrs or so in response to Mr Farage's comments the other day.

It was produced by these chaps over in Antwerp. Hats off chaps. You understand our humour very well.

So what is happening to the Indian rasputin?

Via EU Referendum comes the news that the Global saviour and all round top chap, Rajenda Pachauri has cancelled a trip to the States.

Interesting times at the IPCC top table indeed.

Britain 'will' join the Euro says Mandelson

According to reports on AFP, Peter Mandelson told a Pariasian audience today the following,

"We already have the eurozone providing a single central bank, currency and monetary policy, which one day I believe Britain will be part of," Mandelson said during a talk at a university in Paris.
"Don't ask me when. It's not going to be soon, but we will do it," added Mandelson, the former EU trade commissioner who is now regarded as Prime Minister Gordon Brown's unofficial deputy.

Paul Nuttall, UKIP chairman has responded thusly,

"He has got to be kidding. First he would have to convince the British public that they wanted such a thing, which to put it politely would be unlikely.
Then he would have to hope that the Euro was still around at about the time that hell freezes over, which looking at the state of Greece and other countries is highly unlikely. The political elite of this country are so wedded to their love affair with the EU that nothing, especially economic reality will get in the way",

A small illustration on how Brussels works

It may have come to your attention that the Euro, and the Eurozone is facing a teensy weensy little crisi at the present what with Greece and the other PIGS.

So now wpould be the trime to start pulling other countries into the troubled cutrrency.

"Quick lads get Estonia in fast, that'll convince the markets".

And so, as day follows night the European Parliament has appointed a rapporteur to oversee the death of the Estonian Kroon.

And that man will be...

Edward Scicluna a Labour MEP from Malta.

To be fair to the chap he is an Professor of Economics, but still. Malta-Estonia?

I wonder if anybody can speak both languages?

This might explain why the Tories are becalmed in the polls

Accprding to Com Res poll for today's Daily Politics,

"28% say they know what the Conservative Party stands for and like it, with 36% saying they know what they stand for but don't like it. 36% say the do not know what the Conservative Party stands for."

Tghings are looking good for a hung Parliament it seems. And if Guido is right that'll come sooner than we might expect

Greece still in all sorts of trouble

The deal seems to be, we, the EU, don't want to bail you out because of the precedent that it will set. But you really need to do soemthing or we will surely fall together.

With the riots already happening and the austerity measures beggining to cause panic it is interesting that the EU is making it clear that the barricades are not tall enough on Athenian streets.

What is at present pretty localised trouble in that unhappy country is set to get far far worse if this is anything to go by.

"They [the EU] are telling us the current measures will only cut two percentage points. They are pushing very hard for another package of around €4 billion," the official, who asked not to be identified. "Greece thinks a package of €2 billion to €2.5 billion will be enough to achieve the targets," he said.

The imperial accountants have swung in, and swung out and are to deliver their instructions to the provincial Greecian Government next week.

In order to meet those goals, the government has announced a series of spending cuts and tax increases that it believes will produce a combined €8 billion to €10 million in savings and additional revenue.

So far, those measures include a freeze on civil service wages, cutting public-sector entitlements by 10% on average, a fuel tax increase, and closing dozens of tax loopholes for certain professions—including some civil servants—who now pay less than their fair share in taxes.

But Greece's European partners remain unconvinced. Since the EU issued its rhetorical support for Greece on Feb. 12, EU members including Germany and France have demanded that Greece take further steps to close its budget gap before they commit to any specific financial support for the country. The new measures are likely to include an increase in the current value-added tax rate of 19%, more cuts in civil service entitlements, and higher duties on luxury items, like boats and expensive cars.

It is going to be a difficult spring.

UKIP news update

Today, as a service to my reader I am going to try to start a program of flagging up articles in the national and local press that touch upon UKIP and its goings on. I wil l also try and flag up those stories that are of particular interest to those who support UKIP, or those who support what UKIP stands for. We shall see if I have the stamina to keep this up, but at least I should try. If I have missed stuff, which I will enevitable do, then please flag it up in the comments.

UKIP News

National
The ongoing furore over Nigel Farage's comments to the President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy.
BBC
The Independent
Times
Times Editorial
Telegraph
Michael White's Guardian blog
Guardian
EU Observer
Question Time
More BBC
Even more BBC
Scotsman
The Economist blog
Times business diary applauds pub policy
Con Home's comment section seems to tread the line.

There is plenty more where that came from. What is interesting is the comments section which are running wildly in Farage's favour no matter how pompous (and yes the Times editorial is a classic of the genre) they are. This is politics and sometimes to make a greater point, that the President of this country is an unelected Belgian politician and this is unacceptable then harsh words may be necessary. Sad but true. It may be rude to describe the man as a low grade bank clerk, but far ruder still to impose him above out heads with no vote, and none of the major parties even seriously considering a vote.

Finally a rather splendid riposte from Belgium.
Belgian website

Environment
Telegraph reports on UKIP climate Change policy
More on that

European Parliament ups its expenses

Other
Iain Dale announces the publication of Nigel Farage's auto biog.
Muslim news picks up the Burka story
Party donations


Local
UKIP candidate in Torridge and West Devon
UKIP campaigning against wind farms in Lancashire
John Bufton MEP speaks out against compulsory sheep tagging.

Stuff to think about
EU legislation causes chaos for Doctor training.

Storm in a bowl of waaterzoi

Cripes they are all getting a little excited over in Brussels about Nigel Farage's comments yesterday. Now we hear that Yves Leterme, the Belgian PM has demanded in a letter to the President of Parliament that this should not happen again.

Meanwhile Jerzy Buzek the President of Parliament has demanded that Farage go and see him on Tuesday for a dressing down.

The sanctions include a posssible suspension or a withdrawal of expenses (the headmaster is going to stop your pocket money Mr Farage).

"The president is currently exploring which measures are the most appropriate to deal with this issue," Mr Buzek's spokeswoman, Inga Rosinska, told EUobserver.
"He would like to see vivid political debate but he will not tolerate that this chamber is disrespected, that people in it are personally insulted or comments about anyone's personal appearance," she added.
Ms Rosinska's statement echoed the language of the parliament's rules of procedure,
which say that: "Members' conduct shall be characterised by mutual respect ...[and] respect the dignity of parliament."
In "exceptionally serious" cases an MEP could face an official reprimand, a small fine, a few days' suspension of voting rights or removal from an official parliamentary function, such as membership of a committee.

The problem is, of course, is that Mr Farage is a repeat offender. He does not hold the Eurocrats with respect. They after all have been foisted upon us, against the explicit votes of some countries and the refused votes of others.

So why on earth should the figurehead of the undemocratic EU be held in anything but the contempt shown by Mr Farage?

And the Belgian PM. He is upset? This is the politicain who thought his own national anthem was La Marseillaise. Don't make me laugh.

Bercow sits too close to the fire.

Fascinating stuff over at Anna Racoon, where evidence seems to show that the Speaker has being playing fast and loose with the rules when it comes to use of his position to raise funds.

Bercow has put together a group of supporters called The Friends of Speaker Bercow. Nothing wrong with that: but the approach they’re using is, to say the
least, dubious.
Letters requesting monetary support have been sent out to wealthy potential patrons….with a hard sell follow-up by phone. I have seen and been given a copy of this letter.
“His people are doing very hard-sell telephone follow-ups to the letter,” one recipient told me, “and they’re stressing that the request comes with the knowledge and approval of the Speaker’s Office”.
This was confirmed by a senior local Tory Party member, who felt that asking for ‘political’ funds (while playing up the Speaker’s Office angle) represented double standards.

This looks dubious in the extreme, especially as the follow up included invitations to receptions in the House of Commons from the Speaker's office.

So lets have a look at t eh MPs code of conduct.

Do Mr Bercow's actions come within the scope of the code?

The Code applies to Members in all aspects of their public life. It does not seek to regulate what Members do in their purely private and personal lives.

So yes, definately,
How about General principles of the code*

"Selflessness
Holders of public office should take decisions solely in terms of the public interest.

Now Bercow might think that inviting people to receptions in the House of Common's after touching them up for £40 grand is in the public interest, but I have my doubts. He must take it as axiomatic that getting re-elected is in the public interest. His constituents may beg to differ.

Rule 9 repeats this point,

9. Members shall base their conduct on a consideration of the public interest, avoid conflict between personal interest and the public interest and resolve any conflict between the two, at once, and in favour of the public interest.

To use the office of speaker as a way to raise funds is quite obviously wrong. But what should we expect from this chap?

Sometimes awe.

Dog bites man. Then in a shock result man bites dog.

The news that the Lib Dems lie or misrepresent reality in their election literature should surely come as no surprise to anyone. The unbiquity of those dodgy little bar graphs suggesting that they are the only people who could possibly win barring the Khmer Rouger in Basildon have all been collected in the musuem of political fibbery.

What is unusual is that when they are caught out in one of these lies that they apologise. Normally they just brazen it out.

So hats off the the Watford Observer who forced them to eat their words about their latest local leaflet.

The Liberal Democrats in Watford have today apologised to the Watford Observer for publishing misleading information in their latest election campaign leaflet.

The leaflet, which was delivered to thousands of homes across the constituency last weekend, presents a quote attributed to the Watford Observer that stated: “The signs look good for the Lib Dems to topple Claire Ward.”

However, the quote was actually taken from a story in May 2007, when the quote was clearly attributed to the Mayor of Watford, Dorothy Thornhill, a Liberal Democrat.

It in no way reflects comment or opinion that has been expressed by the Watford Observer.

Of course they would have to be very stupid to misrepresent the main source of information in the Constituency wouldn't they? And I bet that, unlike a newspaper which has to print an apology and correction there are no plans to do the same in the next Lib/Dem flyer to go out.

Maybe some of the opposition might call for it?

The provincial Government in Greece waits for instructions.

The sight of the Greek government waiting in silence whilst the EU deliberates must surely make it absolutely clear to any observer that it is no longer an independent state.

Greece to decide on new measures after EU visit - finmin

Greece will wait until the end of an ongoing visit by European Union inspectors before deciding if it will take extra fiscal measures to shore up its finances, the country's finance minister said on Tuesday.
"Any decision (on new measures) will be announced after talks with European Commission representatives are completed," Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou told reporters after a cabinet meeting.
"Greece will do whatever is needed to meet its targets under the Stability and Growth programme," Papaconstantinou added.
EU Commission officials arrived on Monday in Athens to inspect the country's progress in cutting its budget deficit.

And don't think that any other country in this prison of nations is any different. They are not.

He's a maniac, maniac that's for sure: He will kill your cat and nail him to the door

Well that is how John Stevens, the former Tory MEP and independent candidate for Buckingham has described Nigel Farage. In a short piece in the Standard last night he was saying quite why it was that he wished to stand in the division.

"I am standing for three reasons," explains Stevens. "Firstly, I think it is ridiculous that the Speaker should have a special seat — it means the people are disenfranchised. The best way of getting the constitutional reform we need would be to vote him out. Secondly, his conduct as an MP and Speaker is emblematic of the whole scandal which has erupted over parliamentary democracy. We face an enormous financial crisis and very tough decisions to make on parliamentary reform — this would send a message that changes need to be made."

But, most importantly, I think the people of Buckingham deserve an ordinary MP — not a Speaker nor a UKIP maniac. I think John Bercow can be defeated. There is an enormous groundswell towards me of local Conservatives who are unhappy that there will not be an election."

Points one and two are very valid, but the final point is just glorious in many ways. As Farage points out in his letter of response,

Being described as a maniac by John Stevens (Fishy goings on 22/02/10) is akin to being called a junkie by Amy Winehouse. This is the man who created the Pro-European Conservative Party out of pique that he hadn't been selected high enough up the Tory Euro MP list, the party later collapsing in ignomy. He has also been campaigning ever since for Britain to join the Euro, which had we followed his advice would have ensured economic catastrophe.

And the idea that John Stevens is ordinary is risible. A story is told about him, back when he was an MEP in the mid 90's. The Tory group at Reading University asked him to come out canvassing for the local elections. This he did, driving up and lending his time for an hour or so... in his Rolls Royce.

Afterwards the students thanked him but asked if, next time he could tone down the ostentatious mode of transport.

"No problem, I understand", says Mr Stevens.

So he comes along on the next canvassing day. No Rolls this time, no, he drove up in a Porsche.

Man of the people that John Stevens.

Does the Ministry block out the Sun?

In an answer highlighted by Simon Clark we leran that the Culture Ministry blocks websites that reference tobacco(weird, I take it is bars all references to David Hockney and Maggie Hambling then).

But it also blocks access to this lot,

The written answer (by Siôn Simon, minister for Creative Industries at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport) was published by Hansard on 12 January 2010. It reads:

"My Department uses SmartFilter to block access to web sites which are deemed unsuitable. The following categories of sites are
blocked.
Anonymizers
Criminal Activities
Game/Cartoon ViolenceDrugs
Extreme Hate/Discrimination
Illegal Software
Malicious Sites
Nudity
Provocative Attire
Phishing
P2P/File
Sharing
Spam URLs
Pornography
Spyware/Adware
Tobacco
Gruesome
ContentViolence
Two sites blocked that do not fall into these categories
are:
http://www.filthyjokes.freeserve.co.uk/
internationallottobv.net

My Department blocks certain sites based on central guidance about potential threats, as is standard practice on security matters we do not publish this list."

If nudity and provactive attire are blocked, does that mean that the Sun is barred? If so what is Rupert going to do about it?

No peerage for him

Stuart Wheeler is a quixotic and rather romantic figure, who lives in the rather romantic environs of Chillam. The spread betting tycoon is well known as the biggest political donor in recent British history.

Hi £5 million to the Tories under Hague was one such act. If he had continued with the Tories there is no doubt that he would be sitting on the red benches, all swaddled in ermine. But his actions in supporting UKIP during last year's Euro elections stopped any chjance of that.

Now he is threatening to give another wad of cash to UKIP, he continues to be the exception that proves the rule. He gives money to politics because he believes it to be the right thing to do.

UKIP has not the power to give a seat on a Qaungo board, we cannot give him a berth in the Lords, and we are unlikely to be making the law of this land any time soon.

So thank you Stuart, and I hope that your book sells well.

People often sneer at political donations as self serving, well I suppose he could be investing to make a profit on his bet that Nigel Farage wuill unseat John Bercow in Buckingham, but I somehow feel that at the 4 to 1 odds that he got at the time of his bet would mean that he would have had to put down more than £25 grand. just to break even on his proposed £100,000 donation.

Nah.

I am rather amused by George Eaton's desperate hope that Buckingham stays safe for Bercow. Maybe Mr Eaton should visit Buckingham, his complacency might recive a little bit of a knock.

Climate Panic in Brusels

Because of teh Greek Debt Crisis the whole issue of climate change was pushed from the EU's agenda for the Brussels Library summit the other week.

But never fear President Barosso is on the case and has sent a round robin letter to the provincial governors about moving the climate alarmism agenda forward.

President Barroso has today written to EU heads of state and government informing them of the next steps in the Commission's work on climate action.

The tone of the letter shows that they are getting very rattled. It is really rather extra-ordinary.

There is notr a single government in the the western world that isn'tt wholly signed up to the climatwe alarmist ticket. In the UK for example the three big partries are as one in their desire to tax and control us over climate, yet the fear is palpable. The fear is of the people.

Here is the full text of the letter. The fear is there from start to finish,

"In fact if the European Union does not take the initiative we may end up driven by the initiatives of others.

Good.

We should rather show our commitment to press ahead with delivery – implementing our climate and energy package showing how tackling climate change is a dynamic element in a strategy for growth by creating jobs and boosting energy security under the Europe 2020 approach that I presented and we discussed last week.

Of course this is all about false ecxonomy. These plans do not create jobs in themselves. They transfer money from the private sector to the public sector and preferred private bidders in a massive fashion. The only jobs created are those that are held up through immense subsidy.

So why is the the Tory/Barroso meeting taking place in secret?

Tories having secret meetings with the European Commission? Check.
Ken Clarke doing the negotiating? Check
Tories not to be trusted on Europe? Check


OK, so it is normal for the main opposition party to meet up with civil servants before an election. So to that extent Ken Clarke's meeting tomorrow with President Barroso is no news at al.

But the fact that the meeting was 'un-agendered' whereas Barroso's meetings with the Bulgarian President and a group of Portugese bishops suggests something funny gouing on.

If Dave wasn't embarrassed then why is it secret? Preparing for a key capitulation to the EU? Check.

It is the fault of the elite

Well, we know that, but it is nice that a Nobel Laureat agrees with us. As Timmy points out, Paul Krugman hits the nail on its head,

No, the real story behind the euromess lies not in the profligacy of politicians but in the arrogance of elites — specifically, the policy elites who pushed Europe into adopting a single currency well before the continent was ready for such an experiment.

Discuss

Funny stuff at the English democrats.

The English Democrats are one of a plethora of small parties that inhabit the fringes of British politics - (No I don't see UKIP as a fringe party, its a ruddy big fringe that beats the party of government into third place in a national poll).

Given their tiny size they did pretty well at the Europeans last year,

"They came seventh in the election in England (ninth in the UK as a whole) with 279,801 votes or 1.8%, a rise from the 0.7% they received at the previous elections in 2004."

So well indeed that it poses a number of questions. How did they fund their campaign? Where does the money come from?

So from their website I went along to the Electoral Commission website. to see how they are funded. And what do we find. Very very little.

Back in 2006 the party leader Robin Tilbrook and a couple of cronies loaned the party £101,447 which hasd never been paid back.

Then nothing, not a bean it seems, Nothing in 2008, nothing announced in 2009.

So what is going on here then?

How about campaign financing in the Euros?

Well they have an expenditure return that has

Party Political Broadcast: £13,098.5o
Adverstising and publicity £ 8,763.00
Unsolicited material to electors £12,909

Then an ungainly scribbled estimate for,

Overheads and General admin. £2129,50

Which totals the suprisingly round figure of,

Total expenditure £35,000

Weirder still they ae the only party, expect the magnificently named "The Roman Party. Ave!" to have failed to deliver any invoices.

Now given that a leaflet drop costs at least £30,000 for a region and the basic running of an office - I called them today and they have at least one body with a telephone, there must be phone bills and electricity to pay, where does the money come from?

I don't know, just askinmg.

He seems rather Kallas with our money

Siim Kallas is the Estonian Commissioner who has had the job to fight fraud in the EU over the last 5 years and will continue in the same for the next 5. He was before an extraordinary rapid conversion to free market liberalism a member of the the Supreme Soviet between 1989 and 1991.

As fraud Commissioner he has been massively succesful as the historic fraud busting cases of ... errr, and ....hmmm show.

Anyhow, if you were the anti-fraud Commissioner, you would acept your wages, but of course. And you would accept all those little perks that come with the job, but of course.

However would you take the piss royally when it comes to travel expenses? Probably not, after all you must be seen to be squeaky clean... So it comes as a surprise to see that is indeed what he is doing.

All EU Commissioners take trips abroad (outwith the EU) for work, it goes with the territory - that is except for Grybauskaite who doesn't seem to have travelled at all. Looking at this table from the EU payments office we can see how many times each has travelled, and how much each has recieved.

And Siim really has caned it. The average is 9,040 euros, Barosso uses an average of 21,898 (well he is President after all).

But Siim? Well the old Commy has managed to pick up a magisterial travel habit and some magnificent jollies. He spent an average of 26,186 euros per trip.

What on earth was he spending it upon, it cannot all be flights, can it?

The Foy stood on the burning deck

As Timmy points out Baron Mandelson of Foy is quoted in the Mail today swearing, that black is indeed white.

Lord Mandelson triggered incredulity last night by insisting Britain should join the euro – just as the currency struggled with the worst crisis in its history.
The Business Secretary played down turmoil in the eurozone by claiming the single currency had been a ‘remarkable success’ and said it was in Britain’s long term interests to sign up in the future.

Which is extraordinary. The last man in Britain that thinks this is a sane objective. But there again he is in receipt of a Commissioners pension of 70,000 Euros a year. To keep which he must “upholding the interests of the European Union”.

What is more with the increasing certainty of a slide in the Euro value, even against our debauched pound then he needs to talk up the tottering currency just to keep him in the manner to which he has become ermined.

Polling data looking increasingly interesting.

The general opinion is of course that a rogue poll is one that you disagree with, but it seems in my case a rogue polling organisation os one you agree with, in my case Angus Reid. Today's poll for Political Betting is again one of those, last month it was good for UKIP, now it is getting better,

Across Great Britain, 38 per cent of decided voters and leaners (-2 since late January) would support the Conservative candidate in their constituency if
a General Election were held tomorrow.
The governing Labour Party remains in second place with 24 per cent (+1), followed by the Liberal Democrats with 20 per cent (+1).
The United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) is fourth with six per cent (+1), followed by the British National Party (BNP) with three per cent (-1), and the Green Party also with three per cent (+1).

Looking at this more closely, Table 11, puts UKIP at 7% in both the Midlands and across the South. Weierder still, and even more encouraging this poll is " AMONGST RESPONDENTS AGED 18 TO 34", not traditionally the UK Independence Party's strongest demographic.

Which could well cause concern in certain lager parties planning departments.

This comes on top of this result last week in Staffordshire (somewhere where UKIP already have a number of councillors)
Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough - Newchapel: C 208, Ukip 148, Lab 138, Lib Dem 127. (May 2008 - C 416, Lab 220, Lib Dem 180, Ukip 127). C hold. Swing 10.4% C to Ukip.

Labour wraps itself in St George - elections anyone?

Just received an invite from the Smith Institute, an organisation that has taken Guido's interest on the odd moment,

To read it is to know that the world is flat, the moon is made of green cheese, pigs do fly, and Gordon is a patriot,

On their website the event is described as "John Denham MP on community cohesion"

The email invite beggars belief...

CRY ‘GOD FOR HARRY, ENGLAND, AND SAINT GEORGE!’: CELEBRATING ENGLAND AND ENGLISHNESS -
An Election 2010 Lecture by Rt. Hon. John Denham MP

I am writing to invite you to attend a lecture on the above topic which the Smith Institute is running at 1800hrs for 1830hrs on Tuesday 2nd March 2010 in the House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA.

The event will include a question and answer session, and will conclude no later than 1930hrs.

The lecture will be delivered by Rt. Hon. John Denham MP (Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government). In the run-up to the elections, he will discuss the challenges facing our political and community leaders and set out his views on what more needs to be done to strengthen community cohesion.

I do hope you will be able to join us on Tuesday 2nd March for what I am sure will be a very interesting event. I would be grateful if you could confirm whether you will be attending this discussion or not, by emailing communitycohesion@smith-institute.org.uk, as soon as possible, and in any case no later than Tuesday 23rd February 2010.

Well I guess that people and watch this bizarre - non BNP related - conversion to English patriotism. Bit late in the day of course, biut as we al know there is more happiness in heaven for one sinner that repenteth.

A million signatures, but why bother?

David Cameron's speech infront of a photogenic youff audience today had some things to recomend it. Support for the UKIP policy of recall for one, however a mjor piece of his new policy seems slightly too little, too late,

Any petition with a million signatures will allow members of the public to table a Bill that could end up being debated and voted on by MPs

If a million signatures are collected there should be a National Referendum on the policy. In that way it would be a true national debate rather than a debate by his hand picked MPs.

He even followed this idea by highlighting the way in which the country was railroaded into the Lisbon Treaty,

And one of the biggest constitutional changes in our history - our membership of the European Union - has practically passed Parliament by. We are hopeless, totally hopeless, at scrutinising the European legislation, regulation and spending that affects our country. No wonder people think Parliament has become a waste of space. Much of the time - and thanks in large part to the things this Labour government has done to undermine Parliament - it really is a waste of space.

Well Dave, I can tell you this now, we will provide you with a million signatures on election day, calling for a referendum on our membership of the European union. If you believed, really believed in the people of our land, you would allow them a say in their future, not keep all discussions and decisions to yourself and your cronies in the political elite.

The question remains, do you trust Cameron's Conservatives. After all they promised us a referendum, with a "cast iron guarantee" on the Lisbon Treaty, which he reneged upon.

Allowing a million signatures to call a binding referendum would in the very least keep him and his kind honest.

I always knew that Carbon Trading was a scam...

This is almost too good to be true, but it seems it is,

Online fraudsters have carried out a "widepread" cyber attack on the European Union's Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), the EU commission said Thursday, promising a security review.

The scam involved fake emails asking users of the carbon trading registries to log on to a malicious website and disclose their user identification code and password, the commission said.

With this data the cyber attackers could carry out fraudulent transactions at their victims' expense, for example by stealing carbon emissions trading certificates.

"Some fraudulent transactions were carried out," but the security of the Community Registry and transaction log "has not been compromised," the EU executive assured.

Celebrity politicos?

An amused Nigel Farage was speaking at the Oxford Union last night. The event went well, all rather jovial.

"The oddest thing", an observer said later "was that a number of students came up afterwards profering his flyers asking him to sign them".

Maybe we should have a UKIP personalities cigarette card pack?