Miliband's Silly Demand

Mr Ed Miliband demanded in a speech at the Fabian Society this morning that there be a full, open and independent inquiry into banking. He was outraged this afternoon when he learnt that the government hasn't gone along with his request and are instead to launch an independent review into the manipulation of the Libor rate and how the Libor rate should be set in future. This review will be set up this coming week and will report before the end of the summer. Despite Mr Miliband's frustration the last thing we need is another Leveson type inquiry which would take forever, become a platform for all sorts of egotistical maniacs like Gordon Brown, Blair, Ed Miliband, Ed Balls and possibly even Hugh Grant to strut their strut and decide nothing much. London is a business centre and after this banking scandal needs to get back to business as soon as possible. An urgent review reporting quickly must be the most sensible way forward particularly as its findings can be included in the Financial Services Bill to put right all the horrendous things Labour got wrong in their much hyped lulu of a Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, an Act with which for my sins I had to work from time to time. One thing the Financial Services Bill will sadly not do is sort out the eurozone mess which despite the euphoria yesterday did not result in Mrs Merkel caving in. Open Europe maintains here that Mrs Merkel did give a little as there has been a shift of the burden from governments and banks in the eurozone periphery countries to taxpayers in the north. Nothing fundamental was though solved at the summit as the bail out funds are still too small, the Spanish banks still face huge problems and EU loans will still rank ahead of other debts. The Irish will no doubt benefit from what was agreed at the summit and Open Europe also think there is some merit in the ECB taking on a supervisory role in the eurozone area although how the City's position can be protected is going to raise all sorts of problems, unless of course we exit the scene at this point. This is something which Cameron says the voters are going to have no say in. He's wrong as they will have their say at an election if not in a referendum.        

Murdoch's Hatred of the English

There was a clip from Fox News on Jeff Randall Live on Wednesday night of an interview with Rupert Murdoch who was asked whether News Corp would have another go at trying to buy that part of BSkyB News it does not already own. Murdoch did not directly answer the question but said the best use of the money that would become available from splitting News Corp into two parts were more investments in the USA and not in the UK. Murdoch went onto to disparage the English in a surprisingly bitter and petty way. Clearly a man with a chip on his shoulder. Something to do presumably with his being a Scottish Australian! Anyway it was pretty ugly and makes one wonder why the hell he bought the Times and other English titles if he so detested the English. It also makes one wonder whether he has been told that he will not be found to be a fit and proper person to own media assets in this country, although I very much doubt that he will be so found for all sorts of reasons. One reason being that such a decision will look like an endorsement of Labour's stand on this issue and another will be that such a decision will raise the same question about other newspaper proprietors who are no better than News Corp. His bitterness could of course be a reaction to having been found to be in charge of newspapers that broke the law and his treatment at the Commons Media Committee hearings as a result. His hatred of the English did not stop him from fawning over Thatcher but possibly his fawning over Blair was easier for him as Blair is in part a Scot as indeed is Cameron. It will be interesting to see how the Scottish sister papers of the Sun and so on finally line up in the Scottish independence debate.      

The Bomber Command Memorial

In a moving ceremony that brought tears to many the Bomber Command Memorial was unveiled by the Queen today. I look forward to seeing the completed Memorial next week as I pass it on the Number 19 or number 22 bus. I have been watching its progress each week since construction first started several months ago. Yesterday on the way to Green Park in the Number 22 there were a few people with Unite banners in Albert Gate off Knightsbridge shouting for strike action if they don't get the bonus they want for working through the Olympics. The bus driver honked them no doubt in support of their greed for a bigger bonus than the Bus Companies are prepared to give them. They have seen the tube drivers get their outrageous bonus and so they want theirs. The bus drivers have been offered £8.5m to share between them and have voted for two more strikes on the 5th and 24th of next month although if it was like the last strike that took place on 22nd June it will have little effect in this part of town as all the bus drivers around here continued working. 70% of bus drivers did not vote in the strike ballot but of those that did a majority voted in favour. It is ridiculous that a minority tail can wag the dog in this way and as many have said before it really is time that a vote to strike can only win if a majority of those entitled to do so exercise their vote. Lucky for this country that none of those flying bombers in the last war went on strike. They had a proper pride in their country and were prepared to sacrifice themselves so that the rest of us could be free. The bus drivers and the tube drivers have shown no pride in their country but a deplorable meanness of spirit that is shaming.  

Rio Produced The Best Possible Result

Rio+20 took place last week and thankfully the full on climate fright seems to be calming down. The louder the activists speech the more they make the rest of us question their claims if not their sanity. The World Wildlife Fund is guilty of exaggeration on all things environmental and if I am not mistaken is one of those charities whose income comes in part from Government funding i.e. the taxpayer. I object strongly to any charity of whatever kind being funded out of taxes unless of course it has provided some service to the Government when it should receive reasonable compensation for its work. It seems that the WWF provides no service to the Government but instead spends taxpayers' money lobbying the Government. Even if the WWF were lobbying for a cause about which I felt passionately I would still object to it doing so out of taxes. Even though it seems the scare tactics of the climate change believers are at long last beginning to have a negative effect on their cause it still leaves us with a huge problem as the only country in the world that is legally obliged to cut our CO2 emissions by 80% in forty years because of the Climate Change Act. This is estimated by the Government to cost £18bn a year until 2050. Thanks to Christopher Booker for this information which I have taken from his article in Sunday's Telegraph which you can read here. When is the Government going to repeal this ridiculous piece of legislation? When is it going to abandon its current climate change policy to something less juvenile and more responsible? Even the body set up by Cameron to review major government projects doubts that Britain's energy supply from green sources will be reliable and keep energy bills affordable (see Bishop Hill's blog here). The rising cost of energy will inevitably ensure that the vast majority of voters will make it very clear that when it comes to a choice between costly unproven green policies and cheaper more traditional means of energy generation that they will want the latter. The projected wind farms incorporating monster windmills to be built in our national parks will invite justifiable outrage and unless the Government is completely barmy will never get erected. The abandonment of such plans will  act as another nail in the coffin of green energy and hopefully will spur the Government on to ensure that shale gas exploitation is given every encouragement to proceed at full speed.    

Something Is Stirring

Guido is right (read this) Ed Balls must have had today's fuel tax increase postponement leaked to him so that he was able to call for the cut on the Today programme this morning. What are the Tories up to? What with the tax increase postponement and Cameron telling his MPs that there will be no consequences for voting against the Bill for reform of the House of Lords despite the three line whip (see Benedict Brogan here) are Cameron and Osborne starting the next election campaign? Do they feel empowered to start pushing a distinctly Tory line because they have received the same message as Gove said today that he'd received from a Lib Dem colleague that the Lib Dems had not spent 70 years in the wilderness only to come into power to defend the status quo? Such message can surely only be read as meaning that the Lib Dems have no intention of bringing down the coalition? If there is an announcement that our relationship with the EU is to be re-negotiated then I for one will believe the Tories have decided to advertise their distinctiveness and to challenge the Lib Dems to put up or depart. The Lib Dems risk opprobrium if they bring the coalition down prematurely and will not to do so yet as despite the increased support indicated for them in the latest ICM poll they risk annihilation in any early election. They will therefore allow their Tory colleagues to express their distinctiveness in the same way as they have demonstrated their difference of view on certain issues e.g. Hunt. The Tories may have decided to start their distinctiveness campaign earlier than originally planned in order to counteract the bad publicity over the Budget aftermath (presented as a shambles but in truth not that damaging) but I suspect this campaign was due to start anytime now anyway. Apart from Europe it will be fascinating to see which other announcements the Tories make. If I were a betting man I would put money on the enlargement of airport capacity with Boris's airport given the green light. It is a project that has star quality and will keep Boris happy and occupied for years. What does not have star quality is to follow the advice Peter Sands of Standard Chartered gave Cameron yesterday about the adverse effect leaving the EU would have on the City. There are of course those who take an opposite view to Sands and that being freed of all the EU regulation the City will be galvanised into becoming another Singapore or Hong Kong to the benefit of us all. There is a book that has just come out called The EU in a Nutshell by Dr Lee Rotheram which gives a lot of scary facts about exactly what the EU is all about. Dan Hannan has written about the book here. I have ordered a copy and look forward to reading it. I hope the Adam Smith Institute review it.            

Killing the Euro

It is time the euro is put to the sword says Jeff Randall in his Telegraph article today which you can read here. He reckons the euro is a financial fantasy of the order of the South Sea Company and he's right. Spain and now Cyprus have asked for a bail out which in the case of Spain could amount to €110bn to save its banks and €548bn over the next three years for its sovereign debts. Will the eurozone be able to find such amounts and what happens when Italy needs a bail out as well? Who will save the day? Will it be Germany which is now saying that further political and economic integration will require changes to its constitution which itself would require a referendum? Will the Germans vote for the necessary changes when a recent opinion poll shows 78% of Germans want Greece to exit the euro. Do turkeys vote for Christmas? It has been estimated that the cost to the Greeks to exit the euro would amount to 10% of GDP but according to Randall Costas Lapavitsas, a professor of economics, believes that it would be cheaper in the long run for Greece to default and return to the drachma. No one is denying it will be painful to leave the euro but if the end result will be worth it why don't they get on with it? Stupid question as we know the euro elite simply cannot accept that they got it wrong, that  a single currency for a disparate number of countries was never going to work unless there was a United States of Europe. If Germany cannot afford to rescue the euro or sensibly refuses to do more than it has already done there is another saviour waiting in the wings - Tony Blair of blessed memory who did not deny some kind of comeback to Andrew Marr yesterday. Blair still believes in the European project and that we will need to be a part of it if we want to exercise any form of power. He clearly hasn't been listening to those who believe the European project will fail as presently instituted as the nations within it are too disparate. There are those who believe the EU is bound to founder to be replaced in part by the resurrection of a kind of Hanseatic League and a League of what are called the periphery countries. Where does that leave us? Ready to join the Anglosphere where for all sorts of reasons we should always have been. There is much to be said for a shared language, culture, history, common law, attitude to trading and so on. If we are talking about power there could be no group so powerful in the world with the exception of China. To help us on the way the euro needs to be put to the sword and quickly.            

Syrian Airspace

Charles Moore in his article in the Telegraph today paints, what to the BBC, the Guardian and all those who think Obama is the greatest thing since sliced bread, a somewhat depressing picture of a man who thinks the power of the USA has declined and that those who accept this message will have less hope in the man delivering it. You can read the article here. What though of those who do not accept the message? Will they be impressed by Romney's view of a strong America and that he has apparently surrounded himself with more foreign policy experts than any previous Republican Presidential candidate? Of course as in most elections the economy will be the significant factor for voters in deciding who becomes President in November and things are not looking that good on that front for Obama. To take the minds of the American people off their economic plight it is surprising that Obama hasn't rattled a sword or two over Syria. Perhaps he's waiting for the situation to deteriorate further before he steps in or perhaps in his pessimism about American power he is waiting for Turkey to attack Syria for shooting down one of its planes, even though it had strayed into Syrian airspace. Or is Obama nervous about what Russia will do if he were to send assistance to the rebels. Admittedly Putin is a loose cannon and quite capable of undertaking a military operation if he thinks he can get away with it as he did in Georgia. What happened there was a disgrace. Obama should have stood up to Putin and his failure to do so will have encouraged the Russians to take other risks as they did by sending helicopters to Syria. The Russians have every right to think Obama is weak and only prepared to fight in a sneaky fashion with drones. I very much doubt Romney will be viewed by the Russians in the same way.      

The IMF Is Not Helping

Berlusconi is reported as saying yesterday that "I don't think the hypothesis of leaving the euro and using competitive devaluation is blasphemy." He went on to say that the best solution would be for the ECB to be allowed to act as lender of last resort but that if that doesn't happen either Germany could leave the euro or other countries could do so. This though seems unlikely as it has the Spanish premier has been reported as saying that at a meeting in Rome today between Germany, France, Italy and Spain that they were united in their desire for political, banking and fiscal union. The four countries are also untied in their desire for a financial transaction tax. The IMF though is of the view that measures that were considered at the meeting of the leaders of those four countries were not enough to deal with the crisis. Jeremy Warner warns though in the Telegraph today that the IMF is in process of encouraging the setting up of a monster on our doorstep and that this is a danger that neither Cameron nor Osborne have taken on board. Warner maintains, and I agree with him, that Cameron and Osborne should not be encouraging political, banking and fiscal union on our doorstep as it will be to our disadvantage to have a huge autocratic institution on the continent and that we should be doing everything in our power to stop it including telling the eurozone countries that the euro is flawed and must be abandoned. You can read Warner's article here. We desperately need to start looking after our own interests. Hannan has a good proposal for what should happen next. Yes, you guessed it - a referendum. Not just on the In/Out question but on something more sophisticated which involves re-negitating our terms of partnership with the other EU countries. Read his idea here.  

'O' Levels - We Miss Them

Gove has certainly stirred up a hornets' nest by proposing that 'O' Levels and CSEs be brought back, the latter for the less gifted. Lord Baker, Thatcher's Education Minister, has warned that CSEs were flawed and should not therefore be resurrected. If that is the case then what exam should the less gifted take that would be recognised by all as a worthy indicator of the level of education attained at age 16? It needs to be an exam that is robust enough to command respect. Perhaps it could be a lower grade of 'O' Level. Thus if there were say three levels of pass A, B, C and two categories of fail, the less worse of the two fail categories could be described as a DCU (examinee Demonstrated Course Undertaken). The other fail category would be just that, a fail. It is uncertain whether Gove's ideas will be supported by the Government but they should be as what he is doing is fighting to redress the years of educational experimentation that have led to a disastrous downgrading of standards. As I told the headmaster of the school of which I was a governor it is not only the needs of the less gifted that have to be looked after but so do the needs of the gifted if we are to do the best for them all and for the country.    

Kill the Wind

It is essential that the government reduces the cost of energy to something that we can all afford. It is therefore welcome to learn that the Energy Bill to be introduced shortly will include provisions for the reduction of wind farm subsidies by 25%. Benedict Brogan has an article about this in the Telegraph today that you can read here. Osborne is behind this admirable move although it would be better if the subsidy were withdrawn altogether straightaway instead of, if the rumours are correct, being phased out by 2020. After all the flak thrown at Osborne since the budget it has been good to see him in confident form both at the Leveson Inquiry and at the G20 Conference. At long last one has the feeling that he is growing into his job but it no doubt helps that both inflation and unemployment are going down. Will Osborne become bold enough though to challenge the fundamentals of the global warming alarmists' arguments? It is about time someone did although with the increasingly shrill cries from the alarmists about the situation being infinitely worse than at first thought they are damaging their campaign. They doth protest too much. Bishop Hill has an interesting take on the withdrawal of subsidies for fossil fuel here. Another politician who is definitely comfortable in his skin is Hague who gave a good account of himself at PMQs today standing in for Cameron and Clegg who are both away. Hague could give Cameron a lesson in the art of 'cool'. Perhaps though it is easier being the stand in as nothing spectacular is expected of you but Hague is none the less always worth watching not only for his way of dealing with questions but also for his knowledge and wit.  

Barroso the Clown

Barroso has proved what some of us have long thought about the EU. That it is the refuge for the self-loving, self-satisfied simple minded autocrat since no one but an ignorant idiot would have made the kind of remark he made yesterday about the cause of the euro crisis. One wonders whether he made the remark off his own bat or whether he had discussed it with his staff and others in the Commission first. If the latter then the organisation we are a part of is as evil as the most sceptical amongst us have been warning us for years. Ambrose Evans-Pritchard has a great piece in the Telegraph today about Barroso's woeful ignorance which you can read here. Carswell also has a good piece on the same subject in the Commentator blog which you can read here. Cameron should expose Barrosos's ignorance in the same way he has lashed into Hollande's tax policy. The exodus of French high rate tax payers to these shores is reminiscent of that of the Huguenots. Huguenot refugees were of considerable benefit to this country as no doubt will be the tax exiles. The other part of Barroso's remark that was risible was that he needs no lessons in democracy nor in economics. On the contrary he needs every lesson he can get on on both as Ambrose E-P makes abundantly clear in his piece. We all know to our cost that the euro fails every economic test and we all know to our cost that there is a huge democratic deficit in the EU. What anyway would a third rate politician ex-Maoist like Barroso know about democracy? We must be mad to be involved with these people like those who think the Leveson Inquiry has been anything other than a grandstanding event for Leveson, his chief interrogator the supercilious Jay, certain celebrities and politicians. The Leveson Inquiry is worse than a complete waste of public money as we have learnt this week that Leveson demanded that Gove be gagged for his views on the circus. Gove came out for the freedom of the press and let's hope Cameron does the same by kicking Leveson's final report/recommendation into the long grass where it deserves to rot away into a fine illegible powder. Otherwise we shall become subject to state control over what we can write and say a la 1984. We are of course part way there with Labour's equality and anti discrimination laws and also with the European Arrest Warrant. It is about time these dangerous illiberal laws were repealed.      

EU - Who Needs It?

Boris Johnson wrote a very good article in the Telegraph today, which you can read here, in which he warns that despite our naive assumption that life can only get better there is no guarantee it will do so and indeed there is every chance we will slip back into some kind of hell consisting of darkness, squalor and violence and that those of us in the EU will slip back into some democratic dark age. Boris is absolutely right and it has been there for all to see throughout its history and even more so today that the EU abhors democracy. It pays lip service to our democratic rights but when it comes to it, it denies democracy. Witness the way the Italians and the Greeks had to accept technocratic governments to carry out the demands of Brussels. Apparently Sarkozy was the one who was responsible for Papandreou's government replacement with Merkel tamely supporting him. The EU will lie and cheat to achieve its socialist ends and we go along with it. The logic of what Boris is saying is for the euro to be broken up and for the EU to change into a free trade area only but he does not reach that conclusion. He makes no mention of reforming the EU nor the break up of the euro, only of the need to split the euro into two parts with Germany and its cohorts in one and the periphery in the other. A solution to the euro crisis that would have worked well if it had been adopted months ago but is now probably too late.   The democratic deficit is huge with the EU in effect passing Acts of Parliament running into at least 100 every year and many hundreds of regulations that rarely come into the public domain. Apart from still persisting with the financial transaction tax the EU now wants to control our North Sea oil. No doubt the Lib Dems and Labour think this is a thoroughly good idea just as no doubt they think the Common Fisheries Policy is a good idea.  They are very bad ideas but will our government do anything about them? Probably not.

The Temperature Rises ... in the Eurozone

The euro crisis is heating up nicely with Mrs Merkel telling France a few home truths. The Germans are fearful that the policies being pursued by Hollande will lead to France losing its AAA rating and being unable to bear the inevitable increased cost of borrowing. Mrs Merkel has also warned that the Greek bail out terms are not negotiable. Turmoil continues elsewhere in the eurozone where a bail out for Cyprus and a further Irish bail out are being talked about. To adapt Wilde's Lady Bracknell 'to have one bail out may be regarded as a misfortune but to have two looks like carelessness'. Spain seems to be supportive of Mrs Merkel whereas Italy seems to siding with France. Oh to be a fly on the wall of the G20 meeting which may need set aside time for a meeting of the G7 if the Greek election results in a Syriza win. Over in Egypt another election is proceeding being the run off today between the two men who received the most votes in the first round. Will a Mubarak ex-Prime Minister win or will it be the Muslim Brotherhood candidate and how will the  court decision that the parliamentary elections were unconstitutional affect the result? We'll never know the answer to the latter question but we will find out soon enough whether or not the military are going to quit the political field. The betting is that they will not do so. Meanwhile in Britain the wind continues to blow and the temperature remains lower than one would expect in June. You might say that it is the coolest global warming on record unless of course you are that former Government Chief Scientific Adviser Sir David King who continues even now misleading the public. His latest utterance is to the effect that the scientific community keeping beavering away showing the predictions for the next 20 years are even worse than predicted. No room for doubt there then. How do Governments pick such advisers?    

Onwards and Upwards

Charles Crawford has written a post on the Commentator blog that is both informative and sane. You can read it here. Until I read Crawford's post I had thought that the entitlement concept was something that we were grappling with only in the UK believing that it was something only affecting us Brits. How relieved I am to know that it is not only us that suffers from this disease and I even dare hope that it did not start here but that we became infected by it from abroad. When writing this I am asking myself why I should feel this way and am convinced that it's because of the anti British propaganda pumped out by the BBC and certain other media outlets as well as certain politicians. This anti British propaganda saps our self esteem and leaves us lacking confidence in ourselves. After all we have been told by programme after programme on the radio and TV how truly awful we are as a people, that no decent person would colonise peoples and countries, that no decent people would fight wars for land and wealth and how we are to blame for all the wrongs in the world. But now I come to think of it there is another side to the profit and loss account. We gave our colonies the rule of law and a governance system that if they followed it worked well. It is not our fault that some of our colonies spoilt the fruits we had left for them. Are we responsible for murderous scum like Idi Amin and Mugabe? No, of course not and it is time that we cease being apologetic as it implies we are guilty of all the woes we are accused of. Sure we made mistakes and did some unforgivable things but on the whole we achieved a magnificent profit that we should celebrate in programme after programme and in our schools. Let's know our successes as well as our warts and let's not be diverted by those who would diminish us for their own selfish purposes and let us stop the BBC working for our competitors.

Blair and Destiny

Charlatan Blair is clearly missing the limelight. He is now publicly demanding that Germany stand by the euro. The man who preferred headlines to action save when it meant killing people based on non-existent evidence; the man who was too scared to remove Brown and allowed the Country's economy to be ruined; the man who wanted the UK to be subsumed into an EU state; the man who wanted England to be deleted from history and replaced by regions; the man who has gained unexplained millions from the first moment he left office; the man who employed that monster Alistair Campbell; the man who felt destiny resting on his left shoulder; the man who now feels he has something to say of such importance that all will applaud his wisdom and without question do his bidding. Blair's utterance is an embarrassment. If he had any sense he would stay quietly hidden away since unlike John Major history is not going to treat him kindly. What does it mean that Germany should stand by the euro? Does it mean that Germany should ignore its constitution? Does it mean that Germany should impoverish itself to help the Greeks, the Portuguese, the Irish, the Spanish, the Italians, the Cypriots and ultimately the French? Even if it is true, as I believe, that Germany has taken advantage of the lower euro exchange rate to the detriment of the PIIGS it has made some recompense already for so doing by providing the largest share of the bail out funds. If the Telegraph is to be believed Germany is considering going further by changing its mind about a European Redemption Pact and endorsing it after all. The Redemption Pact would cover all euro members government debt above 60% of GDP. Will the Redemption Pact be adopted? If so will it be adopted in time before the euro explodes and if so will it have the desired effect? Spain's bond yields are today hovering around 7% and Italy's have risen from 3.9% a month ago to 5.3% today. Having made his momentous demand Blair was in Hong Kong today making a speech to do with his Faith Foundation. Apparently he was heckled but threatened the heckler into submission. He must have a powerful faith - after all he is a man who walks with destiny.    

Labour's Bid to Sink Hunt

Labour failed in their bid to do for Hunt in the Commons today. Chris Bryant MP, the one whose photo of himself in his underpants was bandied abroad a year or two ago, called Hunt a liar during the debate. Surely this is what we had all been brought up to believe was unparliamentary language necessitating rustication from the House? It was surely because it is unparliamentary language that Churchill attempted unsuccessfully to get around it by using the phrase 'terminological inexactitude'. Why is it therefore that the Speaker did not 'expel' Bryant for his use of the word 'liar' in Parliament today? I must say that Bercow's reasoning for not doing so was incomprehensible to me and I wonder what Bagehot would have made of it. I cannot say Bryant is a particularly sympathetic character (one can't look at him without thinking of that awful photograph) whereas I was surprised how well Hunt responded to Labour's assault on him. Altogether this has been a satisfactory day for the Tories (Cameron definitely bested Miliband at PMQs) and a bad day for Labour, the Lib Dems and Bercow. By not supporting Hunt the Lib Dems have surely shot themselves in the foot since the Tories, or at least the backbenchers, will not now feel it necessary to come to the rescue of any Coalition partner. Indeed the Tories are go to feel they are now free of any obligation towards the Lib Dems. As to John Bercow he has demonstrated by not insisting Bryant withdraw and apologise for the liar claim that he really loves dicing with death. He is already deeply unpopular with most Tories and will have extended that dislike. I do not see him re-elected as Speaker should the Tories win the next election. Quite likely that if I'm right he will switch to join his wife's party in a fit of pique. Good riddance I hear you say!

Spain in Bond

The euphoria that greeted the Spanish bail out was very short lived and lasted but an hour or so. I'm amazed it lasted as long as it did. Even if the eurozone leaders don't get it the markets have now understood that the euro has had it. If there was any doubt this was dispelled today by Spain having to agree to bond yields in excess of 6.8% in order to sell 10 year bonds. What will happen next? If the Greek election results in Syriza being in a position to dictate financial policy Greece will exit the euro in double quick time. What will not happen is an EU banking union in twelve months despite the pronouncements of Mr Barroso who believes that even the UK could join it. The UK would not join the EU banking union and should be selling the devaluation line. Iceland and Argentina are two examples of what can happen if you devalue and it is this message that should be given circulation rather than the lie that the PIIGS would suffer more by leaving the eurozone rather than staying in it. The pain of remaining in the euro will be worse than leaving and devaluing. Greece needs to become competitive again and can only do so if it has a currency that is competitive. As I've said before if the PIIGS won't leave the eurozone Germany should do so since if it doesn't it will be caught up supporting the periphery whether it likes it or not and suffering badly economically. A wounded Germany is an unpredictable beast.        

Open Europe and EU Exit

Open Europe states that there is growing public frustration with the costs of EU membership which is making the UK's membership unsustainable and cannot be ignored. Although important the cost of membership is not the sole frustration. It is more the fact that we are trapped in an institution which is anti-capitalist and anti-competitive, despite occasional utterances from Brussels from time to time to the contrary, and which fails to respect our culture, ancient rights and freedoms, which is failing fast and which is based on a lie. Th EU is suffocating our need to trade globally in as competitive manner as we possibly can. Furthermore the EU is smothering our free spirit by trying to mould us into something which is the antithesis of what we are. Witness their attempt, aided and abetted by a Labour Party that has never understood freedom, to divide England up into regions.  This simply cannot continue and we need to get out altogether for the sake of our sanity - urgently. If we need to join another group then let's join one we have empathy with and can understand, i.e. an Anglosphere. As to the Spanish bail out it is a disgrace that the terms thought to relate to the same should be more favourable than those insisted on for Greece, Ireland and Portugal. There cannot be one rule for bigger economies and another for the smaller ones. It is this kind of attitude which is anathema to the English and which is yet another factor in the reason for wanting out of the EU.  

Europe Needs a Statesman

A brilliant article this morning by Charles Moore who must be one of our greatest journalists at this time. If you haven't read it you can read it here. The Spanish bail out is the next nail in the coffin for the euro and still the eurozone fanatics keep pushing the can down the road instead of putting in place a scheme for the termination of the euro as we know it that will do the least amount of damage not only to to the eurozone but the rest of the EU and the world. You would think that one or two top euro politicians would want to do something to soften the blow that an unplanned break up of the euro will result in. One can only conclude that there is no statesman in Europe since the leaders we have all wear rose tinted spectacles. This is a role which frankly Cameron should be filling, which he could fill if he were not so concerned by how it would be received by his fellow leaders. With disaster staring us in the face the moment has surely come when all Europeans need to be told the truth about what will happen unless the euro is broken up in an as orderly manner as possible and how the break up can be done in the least harmful manner. Funnily enough Cameron is in the perfect position to say what needs to be said. He is the leader of a country which is not in the eurozone but which is closely allied to the countries which are in it and which will be significantly adversely affected by the break up. He is not able to be wholly objective but neither can he be regarded as someone who is wholly subjective. His speech or rather his advice should be given from that perspective and even if it makes the eurozone leaders angry initially it should make them think which is after all what any friend who was concerned not only about the effects of the actions of his friends on him but also on them should try and do, make his friends pause and reflect.      

Mrs May Gets It Right

Like the NHS the police need to be brought into the modern age even if they have to be dragged into the 21st century kicking and screaming. The bureaucracy in the police is largely of their own making which instead of assisting them to catch criminals actually holds them back from doing so. Witness their absolute observance of health and safety rules to the extent that they will let people die rather than try and save them. Witness the incessant form filling which we were led to believe was entirely imposed by  government but which in truth is largely self inflicted. Yes, the police are good at controlling crowds and demonstrations but are they that good at solving crimes of violence, burglaries however petty, rapes and grievous bodily harm? I think not. Indeed it seems that the police won't get out of bed for the most petty of crimes let alone some of the more serious ones. The Policeman's Lot has been made easier as a result of technology and yet clean up rates are still dreadful. We all have experiences of the police not even bothering to collect fingerprints where there have been burglaries but eagerly handing out tickets for the most minor of motoring offences. It is good therefore that someone outside the police is being appointed as Her Majesty's Inspector of Constabulary who can look objectively at how the police operate and how policing may be improved for the rest of us. Good too that that someone already knows quite a lot about the police having written reports on police pay and conditions. Tom Winsor has caused considerable anger among the police with those reports and they have even demonstrated against them but by choosing him Mrs May is making it clear to the police that like the rest of us they also have to update themselves from time to time.  

Should We Be Lecturing Euro Countries?

All the suggested solutions to the euro crisis have long lead times and are therefore useless to deal with the immediate crisis. I can think of only two solutions to the immediate crisis, either wind up the euro or split it in two with Germany and like run countries in one part and France and the Greco-Latin countries in the other. Admittedly it will be messy and no doubt there would have to be Treaties to undo the Treaty which set up the Euro and approval referendum in some countries. However to keep on pushing the euro crisis can down the road is only going to end in an even bigger mess which is likely to engulf us all. It was fascinating to hear Professor Kerber of Berlin on Jeff Randall Live this evening saying something similar. Professor Kerber also thought that for Britain to give advice to Germany about what should be done to resolve the crisis was impertinent as we are not in the eurozone. I disagree with him since as a member of the EU we are effected by what is going on and therefore have a genuine interest in the outcome. I don't agree with the line the British Government is pushing though as closer union on banking, fiscal and political matters is not in our interest.  Iain Martin of the Telegraph may well be correct in his assessment that the line being taken by the Government is for diplomatic reasons only and you can read his argument here. Allister Heath of City A.M. has a different take on the crisis which you can read here but one of his solutions involves the break up of the eurozone although he does not mention the need for a new Treaty in order to do so.

Cameron Needs To Get Tough With The BBC

The BBC coverage of the River Pageant was dire. The two anchor presenters, whoever they were, could hardly stifle their boredom, were supercilious to both viewers and those they interviewed to a degree that made you want to scream and were frankly off-putting. Thank goodness it was possible to turn the sound right down and just look at the pictures which we did whilst enjoying a long and boozy lunch. The BBC is a disaster and if it is to continue needs a huge injection of new blood. This can only come from the top and the top man needs changing as well. Lord Patten must go and be replaced by a proper Tory who must then appoint a Tory Director General otherwise there is a real fear that Patten will appoint a Labour Party apparatchik, one Ed Richards. Matthew Barrett of ConservativeHome has a good post on the attributes of Ed Richards here and if ever you were doubtful about the BBC's bias you should read this post from the Biased BBC blog here. The BBC for as long as it remains in existence must not be allowed to get away with thinking they can continue pumping out left wing propaganda. If not the Coalition then the next Conservative Government must tackle this problem. Cameron really should get a grip on this issue as it is of vital importance. The BBC is also pumping out propaganda for the Obama regime. It will not report Obama's mistakes nor any criticism of him and so gives us a completely distorted view of what he's about. So much so that some of my friends who are not his natural political supporters want him to win the Presidential election. The BBC will do its level best though to continue showing Romney as an oddity not only because he's a Mormon and thus from outer space but also because he's a white Republican. As with Bush they will concentrate on his 'gaffes' and fail to report any Obama might make.

Obama Continues to Disappoint

When we were engaged defending ourselves from the IRA for thirty years from 1970 there was outrage when it was thought we had operated a policy to kill the terrorists even if they were unarmed. It was clear that there was no such policy but it did not stop the allegations. As to the IRA policy to kill soldiers, policemen and civilians there was condemnation of course but of a muted variety since there was pressure on us to take the blame for the troubles. How things are perceived differently when Bummer Obama carries out a policy to kill terrorists. Bummer murders Osama bin Laden but he doesn't stop there since he has been targeting other al Qaeda terrorists using drones. Bummer's policy is not only immoral it is stupid since it won't be too long before terrorists have drones and the ability to use them to take potshots at him or his successors too. Bummer no doubt believes his macho policy plays out well with his electors but it is the policy of a weak man and will have appalling consequences for the USA in the medium to long term. I am not amazed that the BBC and the Guardian are not up in arms about Bummer's policy to kill. It would be a different story if Bummer were a white Republican President though. I am amazed and disappointed though that the right wing media has mostly given Bummer such an easy ride. Bummer's administration has been frankly pathetic on the foreign policy front having caved in to Putin on the Russian invasion of Georgia and to Kirchner over the Falklands by insisting we enter into negotiations with Argentina. Negotiation means compromise so what would be the point of negotiations where we have nothing over which there can be any compromise. Bummer was pretty lily livered over Libya as well and so on foreign policy issues alone he does not deserve to be re-elected in November. There are other issues which should result in him losing the election, in particular the economy.