Things that we should be able to do ourselves

The country of Somalialand has long been one of my more obscure interests. For a while I was a semi-formal representative of the country in Brussels, so this piece in the Telegrpah tofday warms the cockles of my heart, almost.

To beat piracy on the high seas, the EU and India should recognise Somaliland

What is sad of course is that Monty Munford is calling for the EU to recognise Somaliland. This of course will not happen anyway, due to the EU's and particular the ACP's links with current regiemes across Africa.

The simple thing to do would be to admit Somaliland to the Commonwealth, at least initially as an observer. After all Somaliland, unlike some members of tehCommonwealth was indeed a British Protectorate, and thus fulfills the requirements of membership with ease.

Munford is absolutely right about the country. It is as close as you can get to a functioning democracy in East Africa, and is, as its snaggle toothed former Ambassador told me when I first met him in a pub under Charing Cross, pint in hand,

"A drinking man's Muslim country".

But the fact that Munford has called on India (a soverign nation) and the EU to recognise it worries me. Cannot the UK recognise a country which after all was one of its own. Or are ecisipons like that, surely so simple, no longer the preserve of Her majesty's Government?

We in UKIP believe wholeheatedly in our own self determination, the people of this country believe in self determination. So why on earth cannot our own Government support that principle in the case of Somaliland?

Caption Competition

European Council President Herman van Rompuy gets to understand how the rest of us feel

Go on, you know what to do in the comments section please.

A chance to speak into the void

The European Commission has launched a consultation

ON THE OPEN INTERNETAND NET NEUTRALITY IN EUROPE.

Amongst the questions that are being asked are those such as this,

Are the commercial arrangements that currently govern the provision of access to
the internet adequate, in order to ensure that the internet remains open and
that infrastructure investment is maintained? If not, how should they change?

Which seems to be requesting the answer, Yes of course the internet should be taken out of the hands of independent commercial and profit making types and handed over to the disinterested and trustworthy taxpayer funded bureaucrats.
And so to the final point

4.5. The political, cultural and social dimension
The internet has become a vital platform for the political, cultural, and social participation of European citizens. Any policy decision concerning the way in which the internet functions must be framed keeping this basic premise very firmly in mind.
Question 15:
Besides the traffic management issues discussed above, are there any other
concerns affecting freedom of expression, media pluralism and cultural diversity
on the internet? If so, what further measures would be needed to safeguard those values?

What do you think? Frankly keeping the government out of the internet is a good palce to start, and discouraging the EU from waving its regulatory wand over the sector could be very helpful.
In various countries of the EU, Italy for example there have been serious attempts to control the internet for political purposes. The Eurocrats have never forgiven the way in which the first Irish Lisbon Treaty vote was influenced by internet campaigning. How they spoke in shock of the way in which the No side were fleet footed and used humour.

Now I am no expert in these matters and defer to those wiser than I, but please, if you know what you are talking about involve yourself in this consultation.

Responses need to go to infso-netneutrality@ec.europa.eu before the 30th September

Swedes crack smuggling ring: Bit of a whiff in the air

Breaking news in Sweden today about the heroic actions of their customs officials,

Swedish customs targets EU garlic smugglers

The excitement grows,

A shipment of 22 pallets of the offending onion was recently seized in Svinesund

Well I know garlic has its detractors, but 'offending onion'?

Our Eco religion hasn't damaged the economy enough

Lord Turner has just been on the Today program spouting the usual nostrums. However he is right in one thing. The reason why we have seen a reduction in certain emissions is simply due to the economic downturn, not due to ambitious anti-global warming policies.

“(Emissions) did fall very steeply in 2009... but actually it was almost entirely due to the impact of recession,” he said.

To him of course te recession is a good thing - though maybe not to the millions out of work, but being a featherbedded uber quangocrat he couldn't really understand that,

“There is underlying progress but we are going to have to increase the pace of reduction."

But what he really wants is the recession to become permanent, he is calling for a 'step change' in policies to embed recession as he demanded 'an increase in the speed of reductions'.

He just doesn't get it. The only visible quantifiable result of his policies are suffering on an industrial scale, his proscription? More suffering.

EU Eco power, Measure by Measure

They used to say that Britannia Rules the Waves but the New York Yaught Club Waves the Rules, and it has been known since way back when that control of the system of measurement equates in part to control full stop. Not for nothing was Clause 35 of the Magna Carta thus,

(35) There shall be standard measures of wine, ale, and corn (the London quarter), throughout the kingdom. There shall also be a standard width of dyed cloth, russet, and haberject, namely two ells within the selvedges. Weights are to be standardised similarly.

So we should watch those who would measure us, and how they would measure us.

And you will not be surprised to discover a great panoply of measurement and standardisation going on under the auspices of the EU. Last week there was a great public hearing in Brussels European Parliament, chaired by the Tory MEP, Malcolm Harbour. It was set up to greet this report,

REPORT OF THE EXPERT PANEL FOR THE REVIEW
OF THE EUROPEAN STANDARDIZATION SYSTEM
Standardization for a competitive and innovative Europe:
a vision for 2020

Why must we have harmonisation? Here's why

2.1.3 Environmental drivers
· Climate change is the biggest challenge facing the world. There is a need for standards to tackle climate change and related challenges - such as energy and water efficiency - in support of the EU energy and climate change package (20/20/20 goals) and to promote its practice worldwide. This will include the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, establish credit trading systems and, more generally, provide the metrics (measurement standards) for setting, claiming and verifying environmental achievements;
· Need to facilitate behavioural changes towards more sustainable decisions of all economic players and individual consumers.

The point being is that if they design the standards, they can therefore design it to fit the results that they desire, rather than the reality of the world that is found. Standards will fit the evidence to promote particular policy prescriptions. Note that rather scary comment, 'There is a need for standards to tackle climate change'.

And why is that?

'To facilitate behavioural changes'.

Now as scientists surely there should be a need for standards to reflect the world as she is, to facilitate in the understand of said extant world?

Err chaps, you don't think you might be overstating your brief just a little bit?

When love turns to contempt

As Malcolm Gladwell pointed out, when opinion changes it changes fast. And when it comes to the EU it apperas that the Germans have indeed tipped.

AFP are reporting that an Ipsos poll released this morning has some very scary reading if you are either a member of the German political elite, or a member ofthe Eurocracy.

A majority of Germans wants to scrap the euro and bring back the old currency, the deutschemark, according to a new poll published on Tuesday.
The Ipsos survey showed 51 per cent of people in Europe's top economy wanted their beloved deutschemark back, with 30 per cent wanting to keep the euro. The remainder was undecided.

What is even more interesting is the opinion of the under 29's,

Older Germans were keener to return to the deutschemark, with 56 per cent of those over 50 years old saying they wanted the old money back in their pockets. In contrast, only 42 per cent of those between 16 and 29 shared this view.

One might say that that is encouraging for the pro-Euros amongst us, but I don't think so. We are not yet privy to what percentage of that age group wants to stay in the Euro, but factoring in for don't knows I would surmise that it is still a significant majority.

And it must be remembered that the Euro was introduced into circulation on 1 January 2002, that is eight whole years ago, so that almost everybody in that tranche of the population can hardly remember the DM, let alone have a residual affection for it.

Of course one should look at previous polls as to sentiment ante, and AFP have been helpful by flagging up a February Eurobarometer poll,

The latest Eurobarometer poll published by the European Union in February 2010, before the Greek debt crisis, showed 66 per cent of Germans were in favour of the euro, with only 29 per cent against.

Now Eurobarometer is notoriously pro-EU in its findings, but that is still a massive swing. And yes we have to factor in the extreme circumstances of the Greek bailout, and the general financial crisis. But the point is that the crisis is not going away any time soon, and the German economy is going to be held hostage by the failings of the PIGs for a long while yet.

It seems that at last the German population has woken up and smelt the retsina.

Update
Lord Pearson comments on the story

The beauty of maps

It is a bit of a boy thing I believe a love of maps, but this is splendid.

HT Londonist

More on that Common Economic Government

That Titan of the world political scene Herman Van Rompuy was wearing his 'quiet assassin of nations' clothes again yesterday when he spoke to MEPs. He was talking about the different roles of national Governments and the European Union is dealing with the financial crisis,

"At European level, we can - and do - adopt common legislation for our common market on the regulation of financial services, on competition policy, on trade, on consumer protection and on other matters."

We can also make use of the EU budget, in particular the structural funds and the research programmes. In all this, the role of the commission is pivotal."He added, "But, key aspects of our economic performance remain essentially a national competence - not least education. If we are to be successful, we need to mobilise all levels of government in a common endeavour."

According to the treaty, "Member states shall regard their economic policies as a matter of common concern and shall coordinate them within the council".

So let's have a quick audit.

Nation States responsibility.
Agreeing to do the same as everybody else.
Education (common endeavour)

EU responsibility
Financial Services,
Competition,
Trade,
Consumer protection,
Other matters (undefined)

Glad to have cleared that up.

Priorities, priorities

EU Observer is reporting that senior officials in Belgium are in no hurry to form a government. The reason is that it could unravel all their hard work in setting up the Belgian EU Presidency that starts in July. As I asked a week or so ago about the Belgian political crisis 'Who Cares'?

Well it is becoming increasingly apparent that the EU does indeed care.

"The current government still has full powers," a senior Belgian official told press in an off-the-record briefing on Sunday (27 June). "Everything we have decided on for the EU presidency has been agreed by all parties from both French and Flemish-speaking communities."
The current set of ministers has built up detailed knowledge of the issues set to dominate the presidency's to-do list as well as constructive personal relationships with their EU counterparts, another contact said.
"The danger is that the new government forms just at the moment of another crisis in the EU," the second Belgian official explained, citing a potential member state application to the eurozone's recently-agreed emergency funding mechanism as an example.

That this sort of stuff is being said, demi-officially speaks volumes. In days of yore elctions were held to form governments that attempted to represent the views of the people who voted. National governments were elected and put forward a program that spoke for and to their electorate.

Now it seems that those views are an inconvienience to the true business, which is to ensure the smooth running of the European Union.

We (the elite) decided to do x or y. Then the people had a say and said the wrong thing, so it would be better all round if we didn't respond to the wishes of the people and just carried on anyway with our previous plans.

Not sure what I would call it, but it certainly does not display any understanding or adhearence to democratic principles.

If I was a Belgian I would be sick to my stomach, and not because of the overcooked Waterzooi

Who is in charge?

Yes I know, we will get a referendum if a new Treaty hands over extra powers to Brussels, yes yes.But what if more powers are handed over to Brussels without the need fort a new Treaty? What if enough power was handed over to Brussels by the Lisbon Treaty to make significant changes? What if the powers of the EU are in flux, so far untested by the European Court of Justice?

What if, to take one example the Government were boasting about a change to the financial regulatory system?

“We will put the bank of England in charge of the prudential supervision of our banks, our building societies and our other significant financial institutions.

What if they were bigging up the role of the Bank of England and essentially kyboshing the failed FSA. What if that was utterly irrelevant because the ball has already been passed over the Channel? Would we get a referendum then?That is of course what has happened

(Hector) Sants and FSA chairman Lord Turner said British regulators would still be responsible for ensuring European policy is correctly implemented by City institutions.

Aren't they generous to let us comply with their system, are not Turner and Sants later day Capo, doing Brussel's dirty work for them, whilst providing a national fig leaf to take the blame and the flak.

Yup, there you have it, the take over of the City by Brussels
Where is George, where are the City chiefs? Why are they not fighting this tooth and nail.

That time tested old excuse, you know the mantra.

Don’t be ridiculous,

They don’t mean that,

Oh sorry it is too late

I wonder what advice they will give?

Thinking of my Facebook addiction I note that Paddy Power have an addiction page

If you are unsure whether or not you may have developed a gambling problem, you can use the following simple checklist for self-assessment. If you answer positively to at least four of the following questions it is recommended you call either our customer service staff, or call Gamcare or Gamblers Anonymous and seek professional advice.

• Preoccupation: Do you find that you are becoming preoccupied with past gambling successes?
• Tolerance: Do you find that you need to increase the amount of money you gamble to achieve the same enjoyment and excitement?
• Unable to stop: Have you recently tried to stop gambling but were unsuccessful?
• Irritability: Do you become moody or impatient when you are cutting down how much you gamble?
• Escape from reality: Do you ever use gambling a way of ignoring stress in your in life or
  even pick you up when you feel down?
• Chase losses: Do you ever try to win back the money you lost by increasing the size or frequency of your wagers?
• Conceal involvement: Do you ever hide how much or how often you gamble from significant others?
• Unsociable behaviour: Have you ever committed fraud or theft to get money to gamble with?
• Ruin a relationship/opportunity: Has gambling ever ruined a personal relationship or an occupational or educational opportunity?
• Bail-out: Have you ever needed others to relieve a financial problem created by gambling?
• Self exclusion:When a customer requests that their account be closed due to the fact that they believe they are gambling excessively, Paddy Power will close the account and will do all that it can to prevent new accounts being opened by that customer in the future.

I know it has that caveat at the bottom. But what do you think that the Paddy Power customer service department will say?
"Begorrah, that doesn't seem to be much of a problem. Did you know that 'Four Leafed Clover' is running at Leopardstown in the 3.30? - Only 12-1"

Why the England flag gets up my nose.

In days of yore (whenever that was) the Cross of St George was restricted to a few places. Mostly it sat, undisturbed on the top of church towers. And all was good.

Now you might have found it in various other places, but essentially that was it.

In the last few years we have seen a resurgence in the concept of an English identity. This has been driven largely by the combination of marketing and the slow realisation that the other nations of the United Kingdom were getting a great shot in the arm from central government, but England was the nation that dared not speak its name.

For some odd reason the concept of English nationalism was percived to be bad, whilst all others ae in their own way percieved to be healthy. But now, whenever the England team is out there, anywhere in the world, be that Rugby, Cricket, Football and so on the need to display allegiance seems to be ever stronger.

And no bad thing. So why does the flag rile so?

Well it isn't the flag per se. Not a bit of it. As simple a piece of heraldy one can hardly find. It has a purity of form that works asthetically, and it does indeed stand as a representative to much that I find dear. No it isn't that at all. What rankles is the great quantity of flags that seem to think we are utterly stupid.

For pities sake. We know that it is the flag of England. It is our ruddy flag after all. So why on earth is it necessary to scribble England across it? Do the Scots deface the Saltire? Does old Glory require a verbal reminder?

As every car goes past with these things fluttering away I wince. As I pass by each and every pub it annoys.

I just don't understand the need. Can somebody please enlighten me?

Facebook makes you mad, We need a law against it

This needs to be read in full, just to see what sort of copper bottomed, prize idiot has been elected to the European Parliament by the good people of Leinster.
Stand up Nessa Childers, blithering idiot and waste of rations.

Parliamentary questions
16 June 2010
E-4380/2010
Question for written answer
to the Commission
Rule 117
Nessa Childers (S&D)

Subject: Internet addiction
There has been an explosion in the usage of this online social networking tool across Europe: unfortunately many people have crossed the line from social networking to social dysfunction. This is a real health issue and I am calling upon the Commission to take action.

Visiting your Facebook page frequently actually causes what psychologists refer to as ‘intermittent reinforcement’. Notifications, messages and invitations reward you with an unpredictable high, much like gambling. That anticipation can get dangerously addictive. Many people access their Facebook page once or twice a week; however, for others it has turned into a compulsion — and it is a compulsion to dissociate yourself from your real world and go and live in the Facebook world.

Moderate usage is not a problem at all for most people, however some people do not seem to realise that it is not real life.

With the passing into force of the Lisbon Treaty, the EU now has increased powers to legislate when there is a threat to public health in Europe. Will the Commission submit proposals to Parliament to address this growing threat to the mental health of European citizens?

What the blazes does she think that this newly empowered European Union can do? Should do?

I just wonder how this daughter of the late President of Ireland (and grandaughter of the author of Riddle of the Sands) got selected? Talent cannot be hereditary.

HT Julien Frisch and @PlaceLux on Twitter

If this isn't an EU Propaganda unit in the making please tell what it is

Tomorrow the European Parliament's Culture committee will be voting on a report by a certain Morten Løkkegaard, a new Danish MEP and former journalist with a string of questionable activities to his name, including 9/11 conspiracy stuff.

He was elected last year with the express purpose of convincing voters that "the EU is exciting and delicious" and that the EU must "be something hyped - to something more fat." He was he says, looking for a way to ensure that the EU was better promoted,
"It has surprised me hurt that the EU project, which I think is brilliant, have been sold so poorly. We must have done something about," .
He also said that he "had not yet found columbus egg to have made the EU popular." (Got to love machine translation).

Well it seems that he has found his columbus egg after all, and here it is,

It is his draft report

"on journalism and new media – creating a public sphere in Europe"

Amongst the other ways of bigging up the EU comes this corker,

Invites the Member States to consider including the EU as a subject in all secondary education curricula and encourages them to exchange best practice in this area at EU level;

Which just has to be fraught with difficulties. This one which could have hilarious results,

Asks the Commission to introduce annual scoreboards that list and compare EU
news broadcasting by public service networks in the Member States;

And this one which is frankly scary,

Suggests setting up a taskforce of independent journalists who are free of editorial control, hired from outside the EU institutions and based in Brussels, with the task of producing daily EU news coverage to be published on different platforms and channels in accordance with journalistic news criteria; suggests appointing an independent chief editor for this taskforce;

Yeah, of course, right, this would be entirely independent. He is proposing, and the Committee will no doubt support the creation of a EU news agency - over and above its massive current media spend to fill the airwaves with EU propaganda. And don't pretend that it would be independent.

Does anybody truly believe that if the EU was paying the wages that a journalist would be able to do an investigation into EU corruption, expenses scandals and so on?

Of course not.

Now I know that this is an own initiative report, and therefore has no legislative power, but it was from things like this that idiotic ideas (and expensive ideas) such as Europarl TV and the infamous failed MEP Facebook MyParl.eu were created.

The Committee must vote this down.

Update
New Europe picks up my post (pg 22 of the Pdf)

Tweet Harper

Udo Bullmann is a blithering idiot. No really he is. The former Monnet Professor of European Integration and socialist MEP is calling for a twitterlaunch to fall upon the head of candian PM Stephen Harper.

"Greedy speculators are responsible for the collapse of the financial markets. In response to the crises, governments around the world have stabilized their economies with taxpayers' money. Now the speculators should pick up the bill," he said.
The message to Harper, he said, should be: "pmharper: we want a Global Financial Transaction Tax NOW!"

In response to this idiocy Godfrey Bloom has riposted,

"I am sure Mr Harper will ignore the economically illiterate but in the spirit of free speech I am calling on people to tweet, "@pmharper: Don't listen to fools, Protect growth, Cut financial taxes at the G20"

Go go on then tweet it.

Let us set your wages

When it comes to working out private sector salaries obvious the best people to do it would be the Eurocrats. THis doesn't just include bankers - though they are the headline target but 'including stronger shareholder control of salaries of directors in listed companies',

Real rules and transparency for pay
The resolution on remuneration policies in the financial sector and remuneration of directors of listed companies argues that tougher measures are needed to reduce
incentives to take risks significantly and avoid the need for taxpayers to pick up the costs.
To achieve this, the resolution asks the Commission to adopt strong binding principles on remuneration policies in the financial sector, which would go further than what can be provided for through the capital requirements directives. Listed companies whose directors' remuneration policy does not comply with these principles would be required to explain their reasons.
The resolution goes into the corporate governance systems needed to develop sound remuneration policies, including stronger shareholder control of salaries of directors in listed companies. It also advocates an effective alignment of compensation with prudent risk-taking, remuneration oversight powers for supervisors, and bonus
limits, to ensure a balance between the fixed and variable parts of a pay packet.

There again given the way that they pay themselves and the way in which they fight to maintain their privilages they probably wouldn't want the same binding principles applying to them.

Now I have no problem with shareholders keeping a close eye on pay rates, but it is their choice to do dso, or not do so, notthe EU's job at all.

If our papers think things are bad, just look across the channel

All antional newspapers sales are down according to year on year figures released by ABC a week ago.

National Morning Quality
The Daily Telegraph 698,456 -16.49
Financial Times 399,862 -2.69
The Guardian 300,472 -10.47
The Independent 194,501 -4.85
The Times 515,379 -12.82

Which is pretty scary for those in the industry. However a glance at what is happening in France just shows us how bad things can get,

Within two weeks, the French newspaper Le Monde will run out of cash.

Right wing wonkers hit by World cup clash

At the last Wednesday Meeting there was some discussion about whether we should have a special meeting tomorrow to discuss the Emergency Budget. In view of the England v Slovenia World Cup match tomorrow afternoon, we have decided not to go
ahead with this. However, you might wish to attend the Post-Budget Briefing that we are holding in conjunction with the Institute for Economic Affairs at 10am tomorrow. More details here.

Phew, thought I would have to retire my pointy head for the day.

A little less joy

The thing about much EU based regulation isn't that it devastates or destroys, it just diminishes.

Here for example is the story of the new Lotus Elise and Exige (See photo - Thanks James). The marque is launching it's latest 1.8ltr version (named in honour of its retired engineering chief Roger Becker), a rather splendid object it is,

The Elise SC RGB packs a supercharged 1.8l engine, developing 217 hp and sprints naught to sixty in 4.3 seconds. The Exige S RGB is powered by a supercharged/intercooled engine

Exige S RGBof the same displacement, developing 257 hp and accelerating the vehicle to 60 mph in 4 seconds.

But wait what is the problem? Beautiful car, limited sales potential, but something small children of all ages will walk past and smile and dream about.

But not in the UK, or indeed in the EU.

Why?

Euro 5 emissions regulations are set to kill 1.8-litre Lotus Elises and Exiges in EU markets by the end of 2010,

As UKIP MEP and transport spokesman, Mike Nattrass puts it,

"Britain has an enviable record in the design, manufacture and production of sports cars. The engineering talent and experience is invaluable but these laws will undermine it", he said "It is just another EU nail in the tyres of UK industry".

If I was childish

I would snigger at this FT headline,

OK, so I am childish.

It is all about the, "prima facie evidence provided by the complainant".

A snapshot of what is wrong

James Bartholemew points us to just a single example that illustrates a far greater whole. How complicated is the benefits system?

This complicated,

"The Child Poverty Action Group annually publishes the Welfare benefits and tax credits handbook.
How many pages do you need to read to get the picture? Well, I just bought the out-of-date 2009/10 edition because I could buy it much cheaper, second-hand, than its cover price of £37.
The total number of page is 1,601."

As he says,

The benefits system has become ludicrously complex.

So who shall we believe

To chaps. Two speeches. Two Cities. Two tales to tell.

Up first I give you one David Cameron, Prime Minister. He was giving a statement to the House of Commons about last week's Council meeting in Brussels.

So on budget surveillance let me be clear – the UK Budget will be shown to this House first – and not to the Commission.

Of course we will share projections and forecasts just as we do with the IMF and other international bodies.

Co-ordination and consultation – yes

Clearance – no. Never.

Strong words indeed. Never is an awfully long time you know Mr Cameron, an awfully long time indeed.

Meanwhile at much the same time we have the second speech.

In Brussels appearing infront of the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committe in the European Parliament was Jean-Claude Trichet. The Governor of the European Central Bank was also talking about the peer review procedures.

We need a quantum leap in terms of framework for surveillance. We would regret enormously not to seize this occasion. I trust that we have to improve surveillance and coordination at the level of the 27 (EU countries). The single market is an entity which is very important to function correctly.

Doesn't look to me like the EU has quite heard your certainty Mr Cameron.
How about this

We were very explicit when we said we didn't want to do damage to the (European) Commission's prerogative. There are cases where the Commission should be able to make proposals which should not be combatted ... by the countries concerned. We need surveillance mechanisms and machinery which is very strong. This independent entity preferably within the Commission is something we are attached to.

If you want to know how they are thinking, just go along and look. Nobody in Brussels is hiding a thing.

Can somebody tell me what the Police are for?

How can this be true?

A cash-strapped police force has spent £3.8million on security guards – to protect its own stations.

It is just seems beyond paraody

Figures reveal that between April 2009 and April this year, the force paid £1.51million to Surrey-based security contractor ISS Facility Services. Between 2007 and 2008, the company was paid just over £1million and the next year it received a further £1.27million.
West Midlands Police defended its approach. A spokesman said: ‘Duties undertaken by security staff cover the full range, from nightwatchman at sites that are closed and unoccupied out of hours, to security receptionist at sites where there are many visitors requiring identity verification.
‘Police officers are far more effectively used and offer better value for money to the taxpayer if they are working in their communities.
‘We rely on increasingly advanced and valuable technology to tackle crime, and as a result private firms play an increasingly prominent role.’
‘Taxpayers simply can’t afford these overheads’

Alistair Campbell: Scared of fractions

In the Total Politics interview of Alistair Campbell on Iain Dale this evening, comes this introductory exchange

You’ve just published the first volume of your diaries, but about a quarter of this book has already appeared, hasn’t it?
No. 75 per cent is new.

And doesn't that just sum the man up?

An innocuous question results in a denial. And then a reworking of the same fact repackaged to make him seem better. Is he constitionally unable to tell the truth?

There is something splendidly 18th Century about this

Rhineland-Palatinate Minister President forecasts rise in German investments in Bulgaria

Though I suspect he is just being nice. I cannot imagine that there will be too much of this going on in the near future. It appears it is not just the UK that sets up dubious public sector offices in different countris. Go on, count them.

If I was a prawn I would be terrified

Seafood fears as Iceland-EU talks open
Of course this is pretty serious stuff. Iceland, along with Norway have maintained their fish stocks by steering well clear of the Common Fisheries Policy and it was unnerving to see the sight of French, Spanish and Dutch negotiators last week in Brussels slaveríng at the thought of the Icelandic watwers being left wide open to their fleet's deprivations.
Iceland, if it has any good sense, will reject its politicians ideas of EU entry. From opinion polls 56% of the population are against and this littel spat about fishing rights may well tip the balance. After all now they have lost finance, all they eally have is fish and volcanic dust.

Who pays their assistant more than they get paid themselves?

I ask because according to Bruno Waterfield in the Telegraph not only do over 1000 EU staff earn more than the PM, but,

there are 19 European Parliament assistants, or researchers to MEPs, who earn £75,752 a year.

Which is very odd as the MEPs themselves are on, 84,000 Euro which on current exchange is about £70,000.

Would be fascinating who these 19 are, and why the MEPs in question think that they are so good at their job that they should indeed be the MEP.

I wonder how many are family members?

EU's power grab

Marta Andreasen, the UKIP MEP and former European Commission chief accontant has a big piece in the Sunday Telegraph where she makes things pretty clear about what is coming over the hill from Brussels,

What does the EU do best? Blame others and grab power.
That is the only sensible conclusion to be drawn from the European Commission's intention to press on with its insistence on scrutinising national governments' budget plans, including that of Britain.

Cameron is left clinging to the diaphonous protection of six opaque words,

Mr Cameron has grandly declared that Britain would not allow Brussels first sight of the budget and that proposed hefty sanctions against countries breaching deficit and debt limits set by the EU must apply only to the single currency member states.
But don't hold your breath, because he is relying on six flimsy words of the summit statement - "taking account of national budgetary procedures" - to get him off the hook.

He knows, we know, everybody knows how much weight those words really have, but sadly, for now most of the media have bought the line.

And when reality breaks? They will be shocked I tell you, after all nobody could have realised what the EU meant.

Lovely. Local Lib Dems lost in lashings of loveliness

Matt Chorley picks up a piece of stomach churning sycophancy,

An email arrives from Steve Gilbert, the uber-busy new MP for St Austell and
Newquay.

He is “honoured” apparently to have been named “the ‘one to watch’ from the Lib Dem benches on the important local issue of housing by the influential National Housing Federation.”He goes on:
“I see it as a reflection on the added challenges a community like ours faces when it comes to planning future developments and ensuring local provision in the housing stock.

“Most of the people I grew up with cannot afford to get onto the property ladder in Cornwall. It’s a sad reality that sees far too many local people move away to live and work.”

All true enough, but no space to mention the small – though no doubt unrelated - detail that the National Housing Federation is chaired by Matthew Taylor, former Lib Dem MP and Mr Gilbert’s predecessor in St Austell.

Nice spot Matt.

How thick is Frederick Forsyth?

I ask this in sorry, not in anger. Why? Because of this article today. You see Mr Forsyth is a decent enough chap and is stauchly Eurosceptic as you can see,

FROM across the Channel we learn that the EU Commission is absolutely determined to secure the passage of two important new laws that hugely affect our prosperity and sovereignty for the worse.

Yes he sees the danger,

The Lib Dems of course have no objection. Tory Foreign Secretary William Hague states flatly that he will have none of it. Within 24 hours it is plain the matter is out of his hands. Both anti-British moves will be passed by majority vote impelled by our “friends” – the Germans and French – who have long lusted to break the dominance of the City in favour of Paris and Frankfurt.

Now here’s a thought: David Cameron can declare both issues are “red-line” matters, which means he can veto them or secure exemption. But with the Lib Dems on one side and our ever-patriotic Foreign Office on the other, will it not be easier to capitulate yet again? And did he not pledge us a referendum on the very next proposed transfer of sovereignty after reversing his “castiron promise” on the Lisbon Treaty?

And is not tamely submitting our budgets to foreign scrutiny like the humblest colony the biggest sovereignty transfer you can think of? Surely we cannot just go on capitulating for ever? Or can we?

Can we indeed.

But 'here's a thought' Frederick. Just wake up and look around you. David Cameron is no Eurosceptic. William Hague is no Eurosceptic (see Dan Hannan for this one) but of course you find all this hard to believe don't you. You want to blame UKIP, rather than aportion blame where it should lie.

With those who, despite years of evidence, keep pretending that the Tories will save us. They won't Frederick they won't.

And until you and others like you wake up to that fact them millions will be as disappointed as you are.

Sometimes the Law isn't an ass

And this is one of those times,

A prisoner who claimed for damages against doctors who failed to spot her
cancer has lost her case on appeal.
Cheryl Carter, 34, of Brixton, south London, had previously won a High Court case for negligence, amid claims medics at Cookham Wood prison in Rochester failed to diagnose her breast cancer.
But that has now been quashed by the Court of Appeal, following an appeal by the
Ministry of Justice.
The court heard her cancer was discovered after she left prison in 2005, and prison doctors had found no abnormality during her stay.

It just remains to ask. Which blithering idiot was sitting at the High Court fist time round? Which lawyer felt they could earn sonme on the back of this case.

But all in all thank goodness by teh Court of Appeal.

Pike!!!!!! We're all dooooomeed I tell ye

The man who more than most is responsible for teh eradication of smallpox seems to be beggining to regret his activities on behalf of the human race. Australian Prof Frank Fenner has been interviewed by the Australian in shrouds,

FRANK Fenner doesn't engage in the skirmishes of the climate wars. To him,
the evidence of global warming is in. Our fate is sealed.
"We're going to become extinct," the eminent scientist says. "Whatever we do now is too late."
Fenner is an authority on extinction. The emeritus professor in microbiology at the Australian National University played a leading role in sending one species into oblivion: the variola virus that causes smallpox.

Oh goody. The eminent Prof goes on,

"Homo sapiens will become extinct, perhaps within 100 years," he says. "A lot of other animals will, too. It's an irreversible situation. I think it's too late. I try not to express that because people are trying to do something, but they keep putting it off.

"Mitigation would slow things down a bit, but there are too many people here already."

Well that's us done for. Or maybe it isn't. maybe, just maybe mankind's capacity to sort things out is just that little bit better than the good prof thinks. Maybe the malthusian mindset is as it always was missing the key variable. Mankind itself.

A fine foody tradition

There is a venerable tradition, that of the condemned man's last meal.

And so it came to pass that David Cameron visited Brussels, and while there he was summoned to the top floor ofthe Berlyamonster. Here he was given a fine breakfast.

According to PA,

"Mr Barroso made Mr Cameron feel at home by laying on traditional"English"
breakfast of bacon and eggs - never usually served up atCommission headquarters."

Indeed the Commission were telling all the assembvled journalists what a singular honour this was. Maggie never recived anything more than croissants.

I winder if this meal was suggested by the photos of the boy (see right) at Camp Bastion last week scoffing on down with the lads? Anyhow, for what it is worth I am prepaed to bet that the source of those rashers was Ireland, as young Jack O'Shea has the Commissions rasher contracts pretty well sewn up.

The point is that the menu on the breakfast table is ruddy irelevant. The Commission and Council will fudge the issue of the Budget peer review to allow Canmeron to emerge claiming victory (does a British Prime Minister ever do anything else in Brussels?) whilst more ever more powers slide across the channel. (Or should I say are bacon sliced away).

Don't think for a moment as you read the inevitable communique that the idea that we will hand our Budget over to the Commission for checking will go away, it is just that the Eurocrats and the COREPER members will be working out the methodologies over the summer whilst nobody is watching.

Nick Watt over at the Guardian follows up the breakfast theme, and makes some pertinent observations,

Scrambled eggs and bacon on the Brussels menu as EU woos David Cameron
British officials, who say that handing over a detailed read-out of Britain's autumn pre-budget report should keep the commission happy, point to three key elements in the 11th part of the conclusions:

• Section A says: "Due account will be taken of the particular situation of member states which are members of the euro area and of member states' obligation under the treaties." Britain likes this because the final four words refer to Britain's opt out from the euro under the 1991 Maastricht Treaty. This means the rules will be more lax for Britain.

• Section C says that the process of presenting fiscal information will be in the context of "taking account of national budgetary procedures". Britain says this means Britain's procedures – that a budget must first be presented in parliament – will be respected.

• Section D talks of member states "ensuring" that their budgetary rules are in line with the growth and stability pact, the mechanism which polices the euro. This is a dilution of an earlier version which says that member states would "adopt" such budgetary rules.

Which of course is right as far as it goes, but Nick is falling into a trap if he thinks that this is a British red line, as I mentioned earlier, the conclusions have watered down this deman, but only in so far as they do not wish to embarras the new boy. Over the summer the work will be done.

He does leave it to Farage to spoli the love in,

Amid the Tory / EU love-in, it has been left to the UK MEP Nigel Farage to warn that the Conservatives are selling out. When I bumped into Farage at the summit this morning he condemned Hague for signing up to a common EU foreign policy.

Speaking exactly six weeks after his plane crash, Farage said:

There is a huge misconception in the British press. Every time Mr Hague is interviewed it always begin with: the eurosceptic Mr Hague. Forget it. That is ten years out of date. The most interesting thing that has happened since the coalition came to power, as far as EU policy is concerned, is William Hague clearly and openly for the first time ever accepting the principle of a common foreign policy for the EU.

He hasn't accepted it in all areas. He has been very specific: 'We need to have a common European voice on energy security, attitudes towards Croatia and EU enlargement and Russia as well.'

So he is happy for there to be a common foreign policy in those areas. Is it any wonder, in the light of that, that everyone else is being nice to the British government at this summit?

Farage, who broke ten bones in his upper body in the crash, is on the road to recovery. Even he is not immune to the new love-in – Barroso wished him well.

I can assure you, he is immune, just because Barosso is being friendly, this evening's meeting with Mr van Rompuy (fact check please Mr Banks) will no doubt doubt show that.

Belgian political Crisis? Who cares?

The announcement today by Joseph Daul (leader of the federalist EPP Group in the European Parliament) that the rolling political crisis that is Belgium will have "no impact whatsoever" on the running of the European Council of Ministers is functionally correct.

It won't.

The fact that Belgian will hold the rotating presidency of the Council is neither here nor there. The processes of the Council will continue with or without the Belgians to direct and guide it. Meetings will be held, proposals will be proposed and actions will be taken. After all, to a certain extent that was the point of the Lisbon Treaty introducing a permanent President which, today by some happy chance is the world famous Belgian Herman van Rompuy.

However this very fact highlights something that we should all be very aware of. The European Union no longer needs the nation states, the 'Member' States as it calls them, to operate. It has gone beyond that.

So the window dressing of the rotating presidency will, in the light of the Belgian presidency been seen to be, and finally recognised as a fiction. Oh the host nation will be able to pontificate about subjects close to its heart but as before the program is worked out earlier, out of democracy's way, and petty issues such as accountability are kept firmly in the sidelines.

• review the Lisbon Strategy so that the EU is better prepared to overcome the economic crisis, restore sustainable growth, a higher rate of employment and better competitiveness.
• better monitoring of the financial markets.
• broaden the social agenda and focus it on young people, on combating gender
  discrimination and fighting poverty.
• press forward on energy and climate change.
• make the EU a space for ever greater freedom, safety and justice (Stockholm programme).
• set up a global European policy for immigration and asylum.
• set up a more consistent, effective external EU representation.
• place the emphasis on the defence of human rights and fundamental freedoms.

So there you have it.

And do the Belgians mind? Not a bit of it, listen to the sanguine words of their departing Europe Minister, Olivier Chastel. He is not leaving anything chance at all, the fact that he and his type were soundly beaten (his Walloon party MR last 5 seats and 20% of their vote last week) is irrelevant.

"When the Belgian government tendered its resignation, we had a lot of fears about the preparation of this presidency," said Chastel. "But very quickly, we realised […] that we were well advanced on the preparation" and that a caretaker government "would not fundamentally change things"...
The programme will be approved on 16 June, just after the elections, and all parties "will have to work with it," he said.

He goes on in much the same vein.

He said this means the Belgian Presidency will take a back seat role to EU Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton and EU President Herman Van Rompuy.
"Both will have full responsibility for their entire field of competence," he said, adding that the Belgian presidency will not step aside but will implement "the Lisbon Treaty, all the Lisbon Treaty and nothing but the Lisbon Treaty".
On the foreign policy front, he made clear that the Belgian foreign affairs ministry and diplomacy "will be at [Ashton's] disposal – and I said at her disposal – to do everything she considers the rotating presidency should do.
And not the opposite, not on an equal footing," he insisted.
In other words, "those who have a tradition for putting themselves forward: the head of state, in our case the prime minister and the foreign affairs minister," will be less
visible, he said.

Of course what the Belgians are doing here has ramifications for everyone. They are not giving up power for themselves, they are giving up power for all 27. After all once power moves to the EU institutions it never goes back. The Sovereignty ratchet works in only one direction. Once lost, the power of the rotating presidency to set an agenda is lost for good.

Baggies move to Sparkbrook

No, no not West Brom, but poly bags which we learn the best dressed Birmingham CCTV's will be wearing after a row about targetting of the intrusive devices.

According to the BBC,

Bags are to be put over scores of surveillance cameras in parts of Birmingham after allegations residents were not properly consulted.
Safer Birmingham Partnerships (SBP) said 218 cameras had been put up in Washwood Heath and Sparkbrook, where there are large Muslim populations.
The cameras were financed by a counter-terrorism fund, but the SBP said they would tackle all crime.
The cameras will not be used until consultation has been carried out.

Thus is the latest aspect of a saga involving the cameras and how they are to be used, and I can see the point of some of the complaints.

However there are a couple of key questions that need to be asked. Firstly, if these cameras are indeed joint use, that is both anti-terror and anti 'normal' crime, then why is it that there use and placing is up for debate here and nowhere else. Should Councils get the OK of the local population anywhere before they start festooning our streets with their high-tech panopticans?
And secondly how much is all this costing. According to figures on the Big Brother Watch website, each camera is costing approximately £3,000 per annum to run. Making these 218 cameras the best part of £650,000 in mere running costs, and that doesn't even begin to factor in the capital costs.
FOIs are making there way to the Safer Birmingham Partnership as I write.

Update,
BBW on the story

That you win your battles abroad, but for what purpose?

Angela Merkle must be feeling pretty despondent. Though it seems that she is winning the battle in the EUI, outflanking the French and surely demolishing the position of Hague and cameron, this will seem thin gruel if the latest polls back home are anything to go by,

A new survey finds that 86 percent of Germans are dissatisfied with Angela Merkel's government and the chancellor's own popularity has hit a new low.
The ARD television poll Wednesday found only 12 percent satisfied with Merkel's center-right government — the worst showing for an administration since 2004.

She must know how Esau felt.

and Esau came from the field, and he was faint:
And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage; for I am faint: therefore was his name called Edom.
And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright.
And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me?
And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he sware unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob.
Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentiles; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way: thus Esau despised his birthright.

A Coffee Keyboard moment

All the way from the Moose

Carwyn scoffs

There is a splendid eatery in old Cardiff bay, by the name of Woods. Its menu is a little on the steep side for my wallet, but there are many in the new Cardiff boomtown who would hardly notice paying £8 for a Roasted pigeon breast, chorizo & chickpea ragout, puff pastry tartelet starter.

Cheif amongst whom must rank Carwyn Jones, the first Minister of Wales who scoffing on down there tonight. He is taking with him the around 18 of the cream (or should that be the lemon crème fraiche) of the Welsh education establishment so I guess this must count as a working dinner.

Who is picking up the tab for this largesse?

Don't you think we should be told?

Flagging up a problem

Jyllands Posten in Denmark is reporting that an ECHR ruling to enforce secularism in Italian schools could have a very serve inmpact on our national self image,

In the wake of a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights against crucifixes in Italian schools, Birthe Rønn Hornbech, the church minister, believes that national symbols such as the Danish flag which use religious motifs could also be banned.

Speaking to daily newspaper Kristeligt Dagblad, Hornbech said it would be naive to believe that the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg would not turn its attention to Danish national symbols after ruling that hanging crucifixes in state schools in Italy infringed the rights of citizens.

One hopes. and suspects that Ms Horenbech is wrong, but this wouldn't be the first time that bizarre circumstances have arisen out of seemingly unrelated rulings. There is both an anti-clerical as well as an anti-national driver at the heart of the European Union after all (Whilst understanding that the ECHR is not an EU body).

Of course if this were to take place there may well be some form of revolt gfiven the current sight of England, but this would only be on government owned proerty.

Countries of the EU impacted by such a change would be,
Denmark, Sweden, Finland, UK, England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Malta, Greece and any number of regional and local authorities.

iPad if you want to

Left hand, right hand stuff over in Brussels over the provision of iPads. In today's Times we are told,

Setback for iPad owners
"Owners of iPads who have splashed out nearly £700 on the tablet computer may not be able to connect the device to mobile phone networks outside Britain. EU rules oblige mobile operators to send customers a text when they when go abroad warning them of the increased cost, which the iPad is unable to receive"

Which makes some sense. After all EU regulations now make it compulsory for mobile broadband users to recive a little text warning them about the prohibative cost of going mobile abroad.

But hold on, isn't the great European taxpayer abpout to spend hundreds of thousands on the techno wizardy things? Yes it is, or if you prefer in Flemish,

The iPad plan was disclosed by a senior bureau source who was too worried to reveal his name. “We could get rid of our old PCs, some of which have outdated software such as Microsoft Word 2003,” the source said.

“The majority of MEPs have already got iPhones and they are very happy with them. The PC was good for its time but the iPad is a much better device.”

So let me get this straight. The MEPs are all going to be given (thanks taxpayer) a nice shiny new iPad, but they will be pointless, because an MEP works in three countries; their own, Belgium and France.

As Marta Andreasen said at the time this was revealed,

“We were told the iPads would actually cut costs as they are not expensive and that we would be able to stay connected while outside the office or on holidays, but many of the older MEPs don’t even know how to use the internet properly.

“I am against that because it seems completely unnecessary, especially when European taxpayers are facing such difficult times.”

So all we will get will a whizz bang that will double as a for of hi-tech cargo cult juju. Sitting proudly in the corner of an MEP's residence, surrounded by candles, incense and burnt offerings.