Van Rompuy Fails to Impress

The talk given by Van Rompuy at Chatham House at lunchtime was exactly as expected. A series of bland statements in order not to frighten the horses (he was in England after all) but reading between the lines the message that was being pumped out was the inevitability of a United States of Europe for the benefit of all europeans since, you know, we are all the same and have the same experiences, history and so on that makes us all a part of a homogeneous whole. Statements about how Europe now attends G8 meetings and how countries were using the EU embassies instead of their own and consulted with Brussels before setting out their own foreign policy were all made to emphasise that we are one continent. No irony here but doesn't the continent begin at Calais and where exactly does it end? In typical politician manner he failed properly to answer any question he was asked which luckily for him and boring for the rest of us were all asked from a sympathetically pro-european stance. No one got a chance to ask a question about the euro or why the EU needs a foreign office or why the budget is increasing or anything remotely controversial and the event was brought to an abrupt halt before those who had been told they would also be allowed to ask questions were able to do so. There was one question he was asked though which was of more interest than the rest and which was whether he thought he should be elected by popular vote rather than being appointed. He thought that if he had to win an election it would change the role of the President of the European Council since anyone standing for election would have to have an agenda whereas his role is that of a negotiator to try and help the European Council comprised of the various member heads of government reach a satisfactory compromise on those issues put before them. It was interesting to note on leaving Chatham House that Van Rompuy had a full blown motorcade with police motorbike outriders waiting to whisk him off to his next meeting. I would have thought that no one would have recognised this great personage and that if he merited any security at all it would have been a couple of Community Support Officers on bicycles. A truly disappointing event.  

Van Rompuy

The euro soap opera continues with the usual lies being propagated about how if Greece leaves the euro it will cause all in the EU unmentionable problems. This is what is being fed to the Irish ahead of their referendum on the fiscal pact tomorrow. How will the unmentionable problems if Greece were to leave the eurozone be any worse than the unmentionable problems of staying in? The one advantage of leaving the eurozone and a compelling one at that is the ability to devalue. As we all know the Icelanders devalued their currency when they had their financial crisis and look where they are now. Why would Greece leaving the eurozone and devaluing be any different? It wouldn't be and hopefully the Irish will vote 'no' tomorrow despite all the scaremongering they are being subjected to. One of the scaremongers is Van Rompuy who is giving a talk at Chatham House tomorrow and I shall attempt to ask him why a Greek exit from the euro followed by the devaluation of the drachma would not achieve the same result as in Iceland. I would also like to ask him why the EU, which is not a state, needs its own Foreign Office and why its budget is increasing when member countries are being asked to reduce theirs. Van Rompuy comes from an excuse for a country and yet has somehow managed to get himself elevated to be president of the European Council. It is a bit much that no ordinary elector has voted for him and yet he exercises considerable power. I wonder how he squares his conscience whilst exercising that power about the huge democratic deficit in Europe or whether it disturbs him not a jot.  

St Tropez

Phew it's hot or rather has been. Hotter I understand in London than it was over the weekend in St Tropez where I was lurking for a few days. Each evening the heavens opened down there and I don't think the temperature ever rose above 220. There was a lot of talk amongst those I met about their recent Presidential election. The overwhelming message seemed to be that there is great dissatisfaction with the EU and the euro, that this adversely affected Sarkozy's chances of winning, that Hollande was not popular and would not have won if more of those who voted Le Pen in the first round had voted Sarkozy in the second round and that depending on whom the UMP chose as leader that person would be elected President in 5 years time. The people I spoke to were anxious that Fillon should become the UMP leader. Someone else I spoke to set up and runs a charity in France for abused children and has relied entirely on donations from wealthy donors to keep the charity going. The lady concerned has decided to close down the charity since she believes it immoral to ask those who will be paying the new 75% tax rate to donate on the scale they have been doing hitherto. The lady concerned also believes fewer of her donors will be able to donate in the way they have previously anyway as they simply will not have the means to do so. If I understood the lady correctly it seems that there is no tax relief on charitable donations in France and that none is expected to be introduced. Socialism provides for all by reducing everything to the lowest standard and of course by stopping individual acts of kindness. The rumours of the wealthier French seriously considering moving to London, Brussels and Geneva certainly seemed to be based on fact if the conversations I had were anything to go by. Furthermore there was a general consensus that no politician knows anything about anything other than how to talk and that their arrogance, ignorance and stupidity in forcing the euro on an unsuspecting public was criminal. Despite the disaster that is the euro it is still desperately over valued. A small piece of goat's cheese, a moelleux and a demi pression came to £25 in a small back street bar.       

Damp Squids and the Tobin Tax

Cameron's 'muttering idiot' remark thrown at Ed Balls yesterday showed him in confident mood as did his interview late last night following the EU summit at which the other EU leaders tried to sandbag him into agreeing a financial transaction tax. His statement on that tax was robust. He said that the financial transaction tax is a bad idea, that it would put up the cost of people's insurance, put up the costs of people's pensions, it will cost many, many jobs. He went on to say that it will make Europe less competitive and that he would fight it all the way. He is absolutely right and as Iain Martin has said in the Telegraph today rather than dealing properly with the emergency at hand the other EU leaders would rather fiddle about with spiteful anti growth measures to punish the City of London. Sorry but the politicians, as we all know, are just as much to blame for the crisis as any banker. We were there when boom and bust was supposed to have been eradicated for all time and when spending outstripped Government revenues. We were there at its introduction when we were told the euro would be a great success and again a few years later when we were told it had become one. I agree with Iain Martin's analysis that the main actors on the continental stage are incapable of resolving the crisis competently. The uncertainty is almost unbearable and is beyond a joke. The only sensible thing to do, contrary to Clegg's bovine view, is for the euro to be disbanded. If some of the countries want to have another go later then they will know the pitfalls to avoid which were so bleeding obvious the first time that even whilst the  euro was being set up the Treasury spotted them. Where is the continental European statesman when you need one? Probably the nearest we'll get is Merkel. Certainly Hollande has not shown the hauteur supposedly associated with French Presidents and supposedly loved by the French. He seems a bit of a damp squid.

The Muttering Idiot

Cameron had a great line in the Commons at Prime Minister's Questions today when he called Ed Balls that 'muttering idiot sitting opposite me'. He had to withdraw the word 'idiot' as the Speaker unsurprisingly ruled the word unparliamentary. Cameron replaced it with 'the man who left us this enormous deficit and this financial crisis.' It seemed to me that for once Cameron did not lose his temper and came across all the better for it. The muttering idiot phrase will live in history. Ed Balls is wholly unprincipled since even he must know that spending money we do not have and thereby piling on more debt is going to make us all poorer even if the debt is used to finance capital projects. Balls calls for more debt in the hope it makes him popular but he is deceiving others if not himself by pretending it will gives us real growth. Every pound spent on public works either has to be borrowed and repaid or paid directly out of taxes and thus reduces the amount available for the private sector to use. More debt will not give us growth though a reduction in taxes by leaving more in our pockets to spend will certainly do so. The more money individuals have the greater the amount paid in taxes will be. The  more money individuals have the more they will spend thereby creating more jobs to service the greater demand. Rocket science it isn't and yet why can't our Government see it? It is this which the Chancellor should concentrate on and it is this Cameron should be banging on about at this evening's EU summit meeting. Cameron should also bang on  about the euro's basic design fault (that no currency can survive without a common economy) and that if the eurozone is unable to sort it out then it must be dismantled quickly and in an orderly fashion. I remember meeting someone from the Treasury shortly after the euro was introduced who said they predicted that the euro would collapse in around ten years. A better prediction than they normally make.

Better and Indifferent News

The IMF and the OECD seem to have given the UK a thumbs up if only a qualified one. Lagarde said she shivered to think what would have happened to the deficit if the policies adopted by Osborne had not been put in place. The deficit was at 11% of GDP whereas now it is at 8% of GDP. The OECD's Padoan implied in answer to Jeff Randall this evening that the UK is in the top third of EU countries in dealing with its economic woes. Padoan also said that although inflation is currently higher than wage increases at least the gap is reducing and should be eliminated in the next 18 months meaning people will then have more money in their pockets to spend.  It was clear Padoan thinks the UK is on a slow but sure upward trend. One does not often hear such comments and one hopes that Paduan is right. In the meantime the Greek fiasco continues but Tsipras now seems to be toning down his rhetoric by saying that if he wins the election he will talk to the ECB and so on but the view that the Germans will blink first in the standoff between them and the Greeks is spreading. Tsipras says he wants to stay in the euro but that Greece can't repay what has already been lent to it. From a purely economic standpoint Greece should leave the euro but from a political point of view the Germans are keen for them to remain because if the Greeks leave they will lose the truly huge sums of money (billions) they have invested in the euro succeeding. Until someone takes a lead to resolve this mess it can only drag on and the more it drags on the worse it will get whatever the outcome.

The Curse of 'Disrespect'

No doubt they will say they were 'disrespected' and that they had every reason therefore to kill Luke Fitzpatrick who if his friend Ricci is correct was not a part of the ruckus that led to the stabbing and that therefore the perpetrators got the wrong man. The BBC, of course, do not mention that the attackers were black. What is it about those who go around with knives, black or white, who think that to 'disrespect' someone can lead to only one result, death. Killing someone is the ultimate 'disrespect' and thus clearly far greater than any imagined insult. Why don't these knife carriers get it? Logically for their 'disrespect they should be hung but I imagine that they are against corporal punishment and there is the bleeding heart issue that you cannot hang 17 year olds - the age of the two youngsters arrested for the murder. This violence was generated around a football game although I have read no mention of what the initial ruckus was about. This is not the first time that an issue as trite as football has resulted in a death but even more serious matters like the euro crisis have their victims. In the case of Greece of course it has been suicides. Greece's best chance of getting out of the mess it's in is to leave the euro but the firebrand Mr Tsipras doesn't want to leave the euro as he wants the conditions relating to the Greek bail outs to be relaxed presumably because without the bail out money Greece would still have to cut government expenditure whilst it grew its economy by selling cheap holidays. Greece in any case would do well to follow the suggestions proposed in the 2020 Tax Commission Report which our Government should adopt lock, stock and barrel. Will Osborne have the guts to do so? Even if what is proposed does not meet the expectations of the Report's authors in every respect the results will without question provide us with a better system than the one we have now and will make all of us better off.

Fight Political Correctness

Political correctness started with words like Chairman being changed to Chair in order not to upset women who might be offended by the masculinity of the word. Such changes are jokes since Chairman signifies only the title given to a person who chairs a meeting. Indeed I suppose it started even before then when for example rat catchers become rodent operators or whatever. As usual we have to blame our American cousins for this nonsense but the idea that you could change the way people thought by changing the original meaning of words has been used by bullies of the left to try and dominate our behaviour. The word 'gay' is a case in point. You would not now wish to use the word to describe someone heterosexual who was bright and happy as it would label that person as a homosexual in the minds of your listeners. We are cowed into a kind of submission so that we cannot call a spade a spade not only for fear of offending a member of the shovel society but just in case it might be against the law. Political correctness is insidious and eats away at free speech. It also enables propagandists of global warming and the euro to bludgeon those of us who do not accept the so called science related to global warming nor the benefits of the euro as the one and only 'truth'. We need dissenters and neither dissenters nor their voices should be silenced since contrary opinions must be heard and respected for they can often be right. Christopher Booker has an excellent article on this which you can read here. There really needs to be a Society of the Politically Incorrect. Who wants to be the first chairman?   

Energy and Nanny Talk

Cameron talked the talk on energy yesterday but does he really mean it? We can have cheaper energy prices if the government reduces its unbelievably high tax take on every litre of petrol and diesel that is sold. We can also have cheaper energy if all wind farms and solar panels cease to be subsidised. We can also have cheaper energy if we use our coal and shale deposits. It is frankly ludicrous that we are not doing so are rather if the Government will not drop the unachievable condition about scrubbing coal emissions and the storage of shale generated CO2 underground. Cheaper energy will help industry to generate more profits, increase tax revenues and help us to cut our deficit more quickly. So why the ridiculous conditions on coal and shale gas use? Cameron cannot both be touchy greeny and will the means to ensure we have cheaper energy. If he truly wants cheaper energy he must support coal and shale exploitation wholeheartedly. Talking the talk on energy gives one hope that Cameron really understands what we need. His announcement this morning on taxpayer funded parenting guidance does the opposite and makes one want to curl up and die. For better or worse but 99% of the time for the better, parents have brought up their children without any parenting advice other than from relatives and friends. No government, least of all a Tory one that believes in personal responsibility and the family, should become involved in such a socialist area. Parenting advice is not a Big Society thing but it surely smacks of the Nanny State. what the hell is Cameron doing promoting it?

Wishful Thinking

Despite Miliband's increase of popularity in the polls it is hard to see him as a Prime Minister. I thought the same of Blair but found I was in a minority. I still feel the same about Blair as I felt in 1997 and so maybe should apply for Steve Hilton's old job. Apparently he was the only one of Cameron's circle who hates socialists. According to an article I read only the other day, but I can't remember where, hatred can apparently be a great asset in politics and this was one of Brown's great strengths. He loathed Tories viscerally and spent his time thinking of ways to wrong step them. He succeeded too but his stratagem is in large part responsible for the mess we're in. He couldn't loathe Tories more than I loathe socialists and I would be more than happy to work for Cameron and to use my hatred to think of all sorts of ways to show the socialists for the sanctimonious, bossy, statist, hypocrites they are. Nothing would please me more than to set traps for them to fall into. Cameron and his crew are simply too genteel, too decent even to have that passionate kind of hatred that can eat away at one's insides. Hatred though makes you a bad debater. Better to be totally in control of one's mind and emotions. Better still to be articulate, to have a ready wit, a good memory and an idea of the direction in which you want to travel. The jury is out on whether Cameron fits the bill. I hope he will though since to have another socialist government will be a tragedy for the country. We cannot withstand another dose of tax and spend, to give the mismanagement of the Blair/Brown years its unspun correct name, at least until we have sorted out the really terrible mess they left us. If there were any justice in this world Labour would slither away from the scene in shame and be replaced by a revived Liberal party which won't necessarily tax and spend when it gets into power.        

Cut Deeper

Travelling in and around London by road has become a nightmare because of all the road works. If it isn't the National Grid it's Thames Water digging up the roads. Presumably this is all being crammed in now in order to meet Boris's edict that no road works can be carried out whilst the Olympics are on. Yet another reason Londoners should be given a discount on their local taxes this year. The discrimination against those of us that live here is never ending. Apart from other road closures there is a special event on Sunday which will close the Kings Road and roads off it. No doubt one reason for the road works is the Keynes idea that carrying out roadworks and the like boosts the economy. These works have to be paid for out of taxation which in turn takes money out of people's pockets. What the Government needs to do to boost the economy is to reduce its own spending significantly so that it can cut taxes thus leaving more  money in people's pockets so that they can buy more so that private enterprise can make more profits and pay more in taxes. The idea is so simple an idiot can understand it but seemingly not our politicians because the devil is in the detail. What do you cut? Everyone goes along with cuts in theory but so long as it's not in "my back yard".  We elect the politicians to make the choices but if they're not prepared to take a decision then they should make way for those who will and if the next lot are equally as pathetic then they should give us a referendum. The present lot have made a start but a rather wishy washy one. They must be bolder particularly now that the eurozone is in such turmoil. We can only protect ourselves from the fallout from the euro debacle  by battening down the hatches which means deep cuts.  

Euro Disaster

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard has written a truly horrifying blog today about what will happen if Greece exits the euro. You can read it here. Is it too cynical to think that the figures produced in AEP's blog have suddenly become available at this time for the express purpose of putting the frighteners on everyone and in the hope that the Germans will agree to some relaxation of the fiscal compact, perhaps even to some fiscal transfer to Greece? As you will see from the AEP's blog the instigator of the figures is a Belgian, Eric Dor, who is Director of Research at IESEG school of Management in Lille. I know nothing about Mr Dor and his politics nor whether his figures are sound but if Greece were to pull out of the euro and default on its liabilities and if the new drachma were to trade at a discount of 50% to the euro then we will be in armageddon. With these thoughts in mind I attended a Chatham House event this evening the subject of which was 'Ever Closer Union? The Future of the European Project.' On the panel were John Jungclaussen the London Correspondent of Die Zeit, Kalypso Nicolaidis Professor of International Relations Oxford and Jo Johnson MP. The Die Zeit man seemed to think that Germany would agree to some form of growth plan but only along the lines Merkel has been working on for some months now and that there would be some kind of federation in the short term which would evolve into a something less close. He also thought that there would be a conjunction of Germany, the Benelux countries, Poland and possibly the Nordic states. The Professor thought that the EU would muddle through but there would not be closer union and Jo Johnson, who was impressive and is clearly someone to watch, thought that there would not be closer union at least not as far as the UK is concerned. It was unlikely that any of the panellists had read AEP's blog. If they had they might have said something different but I doubt it. The last question from the floor was why there was such EU worship. I have to admit I clapped the sentiment behind the question and much to my surprise two or three others joined me.  

The Wettest Drought

It is bizarre that the rain keeps falling and for the first time in about 15 months ponds in Richmond Park and adjacent areas are full and yet we still have a hosepipe ban. Even more rain is forecast for tomorrow but what do we mere mortals know as only if you are an optimist can you feel disposed to rely on forecasts. If the weather men are so often wrong about their short term forecasts what makes them think their long term forecasts any more accurate? What therefore makes them think that global warming is a given or that it will be a malign factor if it's true. We know the climate has not got warmer over the last decade. We know the the climate changes as a result of all sorts of natural phenomena and has done forever. So why are we spending so much money on wind farms, CO2 emissions and the like and why perversely, despite the 10% increase in the population in the South East of the country, haven't we insisted on the Water Companies mending water leaks and building new reservoirs. Christopher Booker believes it is because the Government is pursuing some crazed EU Communication that wants us kept short of water to make us use water more efficiently so that we can get used to the water shortages that will follow global warming as the night follows the day.You can read Christopher Booker's article on this issue here. It is simply incomprehensible that even our Government would pursue such a course of action, such a scam, against its own people and surely any Government would not want water to be wasted whether or not at the same time it is promoting a policy of reducing water waste. If contrary to one's instinct Christopher Booker is right then this is a scandal of epic proportions and likely to lead to a lot of very angry voters and a surge in support for the global warming sceptics that Lord Lawson can only wish for. God, I hope what Christopher Booker has written is true.      

Greek Posturing

Greece is said to be on the brink of falling out of the euro but who will push it over. Not the Greeks who think, or rather some of their politicians do, that no one, including the Germans, will dare push them out since the ECB and the rest of the eurozone fear the consequences of contagion. It is not certain that if Greece goes the markets will then turn on Spain, Portugal, Italy and even France. It is certain that Greece is taking a huge risk but on the other hand what has Greece got to lose. The bail out it has received has mostly not gone to support Greece but the banks which bought Greek debt instead and which are in deadly trouble as a result. One has to sympathises to a certain extent with the Greek attitude to the austerity measures which are a condition of being bailed out. Since Greece is not receiving most of the bail out money why should it have to accept measures that have given rise to high and dangerous levels of unemployment and a contracting economy. We shall learn soon enough whether Greece's gamble comes off. Based on what has already happened I think the Greeks are right in their assessment that the last thing the eurozone wants is for Greece to fall over despite German comments that the eurozone can handle Greece's exit. I think the terms of the Greek bailout will be softened, Greece will get its bail out money and stay in the euro until the euro and all who are on it run out of road.

LoL at the BBC

The Leveson Inquiry rolls on and on for no discernible purpose. Nothing will come of it other than a very large bill since if anyone thinks the Government will use it to control press excesses in any way will be quite rightly disillusioned. There can be no restriction on the free press which does of course not include the BBC. The people pay for the BBC but it serves only those of us who read the Guardian. As the BBC fails to satisfy a goodly percentage of the rest of us its output should definitely be restricted, perhaps to the same number of hours it broadcast before we were allowed ITV. The BBC loves the Inquiry as it presses all its anti Tory, anti Murdoch buttons. Inevitably one of the main stories yesterday and today on BBC News was of course the evidence given by Coulson and Rebekah Brooks. In my view not even the email about Hunt that the BBC and others are so excited about is in the slightest bit damning or indeed interesting. Why shouldn't Hunt, if he did, ask for guidance on hacking issues from the organisation that was steeped in it? It seems very sensible to me that when you have caught a poacher you ask him what you as landowner should do to prevent its further occurrence. Rather than spending so much time on the Leveson Inquiry the BBC should question who leaked the details of the MI5/MI6 agent who uncovered the underpants plot. Whoever it was, even if it was the Americans, the culprits should be exposed notwithstanding that it might prove to be someone close to Bummer Obama. The BBC thinks the sun shines out of his arse and will hear nothing said against him. Not even the scandal in which he's involved relating to the sale of weapons to Mexican drug gangs for the purpose of putting pressure on the gun brigade to agree to some restriction on the right to own a gun.  

The Royal Navy

Good news. We have managed to give both the Americans and the French one in the eye and at the same time have done something for ourselves which as I understand it will please our boys in blue. I'm talking about the decision to drop the F-35 fighter and to buy the Jump Jet instead. Despite the wasted cost of making the wrong decision in the first place the final cost will be less because there will not be the need to spend tens of millions on catapult and landing capture gear. What is more apparently we will be able to have two operational aircraft carriers instead of keeping each one alternatively in mothballs and the first one will become operational three years earlier than it would have done otherwise. The Americans were not prepared to allow us to buy the catapult and landing capture gear directly from the US manufacturers and had insisted we went through a Pentagon agency instead. This would inevitably have put up the cost. Not having the catapults and landing capture gear means the French will not be able to use the carriers for their aircraft, which will no doubt upset Mr Hollande. Perhaps Mr Hollande should think about buying our Jump Jets instead but as we know that's never going to happen. As the world becomes more fragmented and countries circle around to find good fits for themselves with other countries based on common interests or commodities or values or whatever it is clear that the need for a well trained, well equipped military is as essential as it always was.    

Queen's Speech

This morning I spoke to a lady at HMRC in order to settle a tax bill. We exchanged the usual pleasantries about the weather and how nice it was to have had a long weekend when she told me she was also looking forward to a day off tomorrow. In answer to my question about what holiday this could be she reminded me that Civil Servants, teachers, doctors and nurses are on strike tomorrow against the changes to their pensions. She then went on to say that not only would Civil Servants have to work longer but that the Government was reducing the amount of their pay. The Government is not reducing the amount of Civil Service pay and if this is what the Unions are saying then no wonder this lady and others are up in arms. The reason for paying good pensions to Civil Servants as well other benefits unmatched in the private sector was to make up for the lower pay levels they received but Civl Servants are now paid full commercial rates as well as good pensions and other benefits unmatched in the private sector. We simply cannot afford to pay these undeserved amounts and it is quite right that the Government should bring the Civil Service into line with the rest of us. The bill to reform public service pensions included in the Queen's Speech today is most welcome and is something that should have been dealt with years ago. No doubt Labour will vote against it. It was also good to see that there is to be a bill to deal with excessive  regulation and the hope must be that the Government will use it ruthlessly. We'll only be able to judge this when the actual bill is produced.

Arrondissement 21

One of the best comments I've read today about the French and Greek elections and the euro was written by a Conservative MEP, Marina Yannakoudakis, and you can read it here. Her analysis is spot on and the markets today have proved that there will be no stability on European or American or Asian stock exchanges until the euro crisis is resolved. Not even the genius Miliband brothers can turn the tide with their rhetoric set out various articles they've had published today the sense of which have been captured here. The nonsense spoken about austerity though is mind blowing since austerity hasn't even started. Mr Hollande will have his hands full not only dealing with his domestic agenda but also with his negotiations with Merkel over the euro. I doubt somehow he is going to get his way whatever his spin doctors say. Hollande was asked how he would deal with Cameron who of course refused to meet him when he came to Arrondissement 21 as the London French community is known. Hollande replied that he would seek a meeting with Cameron as soon as possible to discuss industrial and defence interests. Presumably what he meant by industrial interests includes the number of French semi state owned enterprises that have businesses here such as one of the operating companies of London TfL buses and one of the electricity companies. Perhaps he wants assurances from Cameron that these companies will not be discriminated against and that they will be allowed to pay dividends back to the French government as France will need every sous it can get to deal with its increasing deficit. Hollande made no mention of discussing getting rid of the iniquitous CAP funded in part by us for the great benefit of French and German farmers. He did though say that we have only been concerned about the welfare of the City and the threat of the financial transaction tax which no doubt means he wants to see its introduction. I don't think, if he takes that line, that he is going to be given a warm welcome next time he comes to the Arrondissement 21.

Neither the Euro nor the EU can Survive

The result of the French and Greek elections leave the eurozone in some state of confusion. The French and the Greeks have voted against austerity but still want to keep the euro. The euro cannot work with so many disparate economies signed up to it and as has been made abundantly clear only Germany and its northern neighbours can live with the euro in the way it has been run. For countries like France and Greece to survive in the euro either Germany and co have to leave or the others have to do so. If it weren't for the fact that the unplanned failure of the eurozone will no doubt harm us economically it would make those of us who thought those who brought in and/or supported the introduction of the euro deranged, smile. The idea that rich boy Hollande believes that France can somehow survive in the current euro by loosening austerity policies by employing 60,000 extra teachers, reversing the increase in the retirement age, etc. and paying for it by taxing owners of second homes and increasing tax rates on the wealthy to 75% is risible. He will have to increase borrowing which was of course the problem that got France into the hole it's in in the first place. This is socialist economics spelt large - tax and spend. Hollande is going to bring back into his government that genius Laurent Fabius as Foreign Secretary and I wonder what other failed politician we'll see creeping out of the woodwork. God help us all. As for the Greeks we have no idea whether they will even be able to stitch a government together and what will happen if they don't or even if they do. There is no question that they must leave the euro as presently constituted. They cannot  reject austerity and remain as it simply will not work. The euro has proved to be the dangerous experiment many thought it would be. The least problematic solution is obvious but why won't anyone in a position to do so, take it. The disgust of the voters is almost palpable and it will sweep away the EU as well. Bring it on.

Cameron Can Change

Charles Moore has an interesting article in the Telegraph today (which you can read here) in which amongst other things he mentions the surprisingly good things the coalition has done and that it should be revived not allowed to split in acrimony. Moore agrees with the view that this blog has expressed about how wrong it is that the policy unit is now run entirely by Civil Servants and he has proposed in addition that there should be two policy units, one for the Prime Minister and the other for Clegg with special political advisers returning as members. I think this is an excellent idea for the reasons he gives with each unit then arguing with the other to produce the best result. What Moore is suggesting is compatible with another piece I read today which was written by Fraser Nelson in the Spectator (which you can read here) and which provides Cameron with the excellent advice that he needs to follow an agenda which is in tune with the public's main concerns over jobs, the cost of living and the EU. With Boris winning in London, albeit by a smaller margin than all but YouGov predicted, the time is for right for the Government to reflect on its future line of travel. The future line of travel should not be gay marriage or reform of the House of Lords but those bread and butter issues which affect us all. Jobs and the cost of living can both be improved by encouraging cash rich companies to invest in new infrastructure projects such as a new airport and by allowing the urgent exploitation of shale gas and the withdrawal of all subsidies for wind farms and other green projects and using the savings to reduce energy costs. As far as the EU is concerned it must now be clear to even the most ardent admirer of this socialist (or if you don't like that epithet, then the most dirigiste) institution that the EU is dying on its feet as will all protectionist organisations in this global world. If Cameron sticks to his present plan he will fail and and will never lead a Tory government.    

Postal Votes

In Tower Hamlets it seems that the old adage about voting (vote early, vote often) still applies particularly in the form of the postal vote. Labour legislated a change to the postal voting rules careless that the new system they introduced was an open invitation to electoral fraud and so it has proved to be. You might wonder why Labour introduced such a flawed system and the only answer one can come up with is that they thought they would benefit from it and so it has proved to be. Why aren't the coalition doing something about this you might well ask. Why are they spending so much time on a form of House of Lords reform that no one wants rather than on reforming the postal ballot system? Is the intention to have an elected House of Lords and if so will Tony Blair stand for election to the Upper Chamber as is being suggested in certain quarters today? Makes one shudder as does the thought of Siobhan Benita winning the London Mayoral election tomorrow. Siobhan is the alternative socialist candidate for Ken Livingstone. This being so it is curious to say the least that the former head of the Civil Service Gus O'Donnell is publicly supporting her alongside a number of other odious people like Jonathan Ross and Richard Branson. The fact that O'Donnell has come out as a socialist makes one wonder whether his advice to the coalition whilst he was still in post could have been disinterested. One hopes that his political interest was made known to Cameron and one also hopes that his replacements have disclosed their political and EU leanings so that the government is forewarned of the direction from which their advice comes. It makes it all the more curious that policy meetings in No. 10 now exclude the special political advisers to Cabinet Members. This seems to me to be wrong and that the rule should be reversed to allow political advisers to be present at such meetings. We all know civil servants can no more be trusted than politicians thinking, as they do, that they know best. Special political advisers are supposed to be there to ensure that civil servants don't frustrate their political masters and special political advisers can't properly perform this function if they are excluded from policy meetings. One wonders what O'Donnell's role was in the shambolic Labour postal vote legislation.