Obama, Romney and Lord Black

The third debate between the presidential candidates was interesting but yet something of a disappointment. As anticipated it was hardly a debate with both candidates making statements and neither being allowed to take up points and discuss and develop them. Obama did not wipe the floor with Romney and indeed Romney came across as more Presidential. The reason for this I think was because Romney did not sink to the personal insult whereas Obama came very close to being petty at times. It seems to me that Obama is in danger of losing the election but who am I to say and for those who have yet to make up their minds about which way they will vote no doubt the campaigns will provide the decider. I felt Obama demeaned his office particularly when he boasted about killing Osama bin Laden. For me though it was a great disappointment that Romney said he would have given  the same order. Clearly the rule of law about which American politicians speak with such fervour is neither understood nor cherished as it is in these islands. Perhaps Conrad Black is right and that despite the origins of American law being English their laws and criminal system can do result in convictions that would never happen here. Black is the first person I have seen make Paxman blush when he defended himself against Paxman's claim that Black was a criminal. Black accused Paxman of not having done his homework and pointed out that at his appeal hearing he was exonerated from all save one charge which was on an issue peculiar to American law which is not a crime here. This charge related to an expenses payment of some $200,000 odd for which there had been board approval. The Appeal Court apparently criticised the judge of first instance. It is not unknown in the States for wrong judgements to be made in courts of first instance since decisions by elected judges are made for political reasons rather than on the facts of a case. I do not know whether that happened here but it would not surprise me. It seems that you always have to appeal decisions from courts of first instance. Apple may have been awarded huge damages in a recent case but it is most unlikely that the damages amount will be upheld on appeal and even the result. The fact remains Black was convicted but will undoubtedly continue with a campaign to clear his name.

Oddity

The world is really an odd place. New evidence turns up each day that confirms this statement. Two stories which particularly struck me this morning are the comment by Merkel that she'll cancel the EU summit next month if Britain refuses to do approve any increase in the EU Budget and the report of the result of a case in Italy where 6 scientists are to be imprisoned for 6 years for failing to give spot the coming and giving warnings of the Aquila earthquake. Until very recently I had dismissed stories about the German desire to rule the EU by use of its pre-eminent financial and industrial muscle as fanciful but now that it is clear Merkel thinks she can dictate whether or not an EU summit can be held I am no longer persuaded that the stories are untrue. If the EU is to be run as a German fiefdom for the greater good of the German economy rather than for the greater good of all europeans then that is reason alone for us to leave. Germany is not the repository of all wisdom as we know only too well in this country and so does the rest of Europe. The extraordinary Italian law that allows people to be fined and jailed for getting earthquake forecasts wrong is another reason for leaving the EU. Which Italian scientist will now be willing to offer any opinion at all on the strength and imminence of an earthquake for fear of being found guilty of underplaying what happens. How could scientists have known what numbers would be killed, what buildings would be destroyed or damaged or the exact position and extent of infrastructure failure. No one in their right mind would fail to pass on information that would save lives. If scientists are forced to express an opinion then they will veer on the side of excessive caution no doubt resulting nine times out of ten in unnecessary costs and inconvenience to the frustration of all. There are some things in this life which are wholly or largely unpredictable and no one can be blamed for what used to be called acts of God. What was not an act of God was the well documented (by economists at least 10 years ago) disaster the euro would turn put to be. The perpetrators of this appalling catastrophe are guilty as hell for having ruined the lives of thousands upon thousands of people and they not the scientists should be in prison. Even now the guilty ones want to make matters worse by continuing the euro folly. Furthermore the Germans do not wish their landesbanks to have to reveal the extent of their reckless purchases of both subprime and Greek debt. Their purchases would of course have to be brought into the light of day if the euro were to be abandoned. Other governments want to save the euro to cover up their criminal mistakes but as Iceland has shown that, despite the pain of devaluation, a country can grow again in short order if it devalues. No country can of course devalue unless it leaves the euro. Another remarkable story of a different kind came to light today - that of a seven year old girl who not only plays the piano and the violin quite beautifully but has written an opera and is in the process of writing a concerto. A genius? Her name is Alma Deutscher.  

The EU Has No Future

It is becoming more and more difficult to have any sympathy at all for Germany. They saw to it that the euro worked almost exclusively in their favour and to the detriment of almost everyone else by ensuring the interest rate applied in the eurozone was suitable for themselves and pretty much no one else. This enabled them to sell their goods to the eurozone periphery at deflated prices in euros rather than at the price they would have had to sell them at in Deutschmark. The Germans guessed the eurozone periphery countries would greedily ignore the reasons behind these windfall prices and borrow at German low interest rates to buy discounted German goods. These fake prices are the reason why there are so many German cars, white goods and even televisions here in the UK. They may cost less than they should but are they that good? In my experience they are not the ne plus ultra they are sold as being. Now the cat is out of the bag about their grand plan to dominate the european industrial market  you would think the Germans would offer to pick up their share of the cost but no such offer has been forthcoming. They have obligingly said though that they will agree to some sort of banking union with all the banks coming under the scrutiny of the ECB but only so long as the ECB does not get to supervise the smaller regional banks for whom responsibility will rest with their respective central banks. The reason for this is because Germany is paranoiac about the solvency detail of their smaller regional banks becoming known to the world. Their regional banks could well be insolvent in light of the sub-prime and Greek debt they bought before the crisis. If the state of Germany's smaller regional banks were to come to light Germany would be forced in to having to mount a huge rescue operation or see many of such banks go to the wall. So instead of being european minded ( a state of mind that has only ever lived in the arses of european hypocrites) Germany is behaving like every other nation and putting its own interest first. The EU myth was always a farce but has now become seriously bad for our health in its anti-democratic prejudice, rigidity, lack of competition, internal wrangling, corruption and excessive cost. The EU pretends to be something it is not, never has been and cannot be. As always I'm amazed by our decency and forbearance in politely not pointing this out. It has been wonderful for a lot of third rate bureaucrats and other nonentities like Barroso and van Rompuy who could never have made it in their own countries - alright Barroso and van Rompuy were Prime Ministers of their respective countries for a few months but this does not destroy my point, it strengthens it.  All the EU is is a group of countries in a certain part of the world that have a history of trading and fighting between them. Rather than just getting out we should be working to bring the whole diseased structure down before it starts a war.      

Bravery Lacking

One issue that Ron Suskind raised at Chatham House on Tuesday was the inability of any politician to tell the economic truth as it is. The closest we have got to it in this country is Cameron's speech to the Tory Party Conference last week in which he said that it was sink or swim time as he warned the country about deepening austerity. He was confirming what Osborne had already said in his conference speech in which he pronounced that he would be looking for significant cuts in welfare spending. This is as far as our leaders dare go in admitting that we are truly living in tough times and that there is no alternative to cuts in government spending. It is a great shame that proper cuts weren't made when the Coalition came into power as we would have been over the hardest part by now instead of having it still to come. It seems that not only did the Government not appreciate the depth of damage done by the previous administration but was also scared that we would react badly to real cuts. If we were given the bad news straight we would have accepted the necessary medicine on the basis that taking it quickly in the right dose stops the situation getting worse and then having to take more medicine. If the purpose of their pussyfooting around was to try to keep as many people employed as possible then I would say they have succeeded well since the private sector has taken up the slack caused by the reduction in numbers of civil servants. More civil servants need to go and apart from other cuts we need to slash the amount we pay to the EU including to the CAP which is hugely to our disadvantage costing UK households in excess of £300 a year. The other item which desperately needs cutting is household energy bills which amount to something like £1,200 a year for which we have to thank that lump of lard Mr Ed Davey, a fine example of a LibDem although he's not a liberal and not a democrat. If he were a liberal he would believe in a free market in energy and if he were a democrat he would be prepared to listen to those who have a well researched but different take on climate change.      

Confidence and Obama

Ron Suskind at a lecture this evening at Chatham House believes Obama lost his confidence following a dispute with his advisers on how to handle the banks. Initially Obama had relied on people like Paul Volcke for advice on how to handle the banks. Volcke and his cohorts had advised that the banks should be nationalised and brought down to size. No longer should they be too big to fail and neither should they be allowed to be both a commercial and investment bank. Unfortunately Obama was persuaded to change advisers with Tim Geithner as Treasury Secretary. Geithner and his cohorts both supported the status quo in the banking sector and bank bail outs and, despite Obama requesting a Swedish as opposed to a Japanese solution for the financial crisis, Geithner and co. wore him down to the point where he gave in. All the research carried out by Obama which had led him to demand his advisers prepare a Swedish style plan was for naught. In Suskind's opinion this took the stuffing out of Obama to the extent that he lost his confidence with the result that he simply failed to engage with a confident Romney in the first televised debate. Obama will likely do better in tonight's debate as he has a better grasp of foreign affairs than Romney but Suskind's guess is Obama is likely to fail in the third debate. It does not seem to matter what a politician does or says that wins him votes but how he presents himself. A candidate who comes across as confident in what he says will win more support than a candidate who appears hesitant or uncomfortable or who lacks confidence. It is possible Obama will hide his lack of confidence in the third debate but according to Suskind Obama is not an actor and can only be true to himself.  

Scotland The Brave

Yesterday Cameron and Salmond signed the accord to enable the Scottish  Independence  Referendum to be held on the 700th anniversary of the Scots victory over the English at the Battle of Bannockburn. Salmond hopes the choice of date will boost the independence vote by reminding the Scots of how they can beat the English. The Scots are not fools though and Salmond's choice of date will not persuade them to vote in favour of independence anymore than by allowing 16 and 17 year olds to vote. 16 and 17 year olds are supposed to be more romantically attached to their country and more fervently patriotic and thus more likely to vote for independence but if the polls are anything to go by they will vote in the same percentages, for and against, as their elders. Even though it is disagreeable to be on the receiving end of what is in effect a divorce petition that generates a desire to tell the Scots to 'get lost', sentiment and reason tells us to hope that the referendum is lost and that we remain one nation. If the referendum is won the Scots still intend to use the English pound in the same way as the Irish did following their independence. The Irish though swapped the pound for the euro as soon as there was a chance to do so, which is a decision that many of them must now be bitterly regretting as a result of the total failure of the euro as a currency. The Scots have posted a desire to switch to the euro as soon as circumstances allow. No doubt the euro will have a false dawn or two when, if the SNP are still in charge, they will decide to make the transition and, I predict, bitterly regret it. Marry in haste, repent at leisure and all that. Should the vote be in favour of independence then the amount of national debt, the portion of the North Sea oil and gas fields and other such shared assets and liabilities to go to Scotland will have to be negotiated. This could last for months and could leave a bitter taste with either the English or the Scots or both. If the two countries are to split we will have to look for the silver linings. There is one that immediately comes to mind and that is that the SNP are much keener on green issues than the Tories in whom I detect a shift towards a more sceptical approach. Such shift is still far too little for my liking but has been enough to frighten Blair's discredited climate change guru Stern into writing an article in the FT this morning calling for Cameron to embed decarbonisation of the power sector in a framework for the reform of the electricity market. Stern does not of course mention the cost of such an unnecessary policy to be added to the 6% or so increase in the cost of energy we are all going to have to suffer this winter caused by the green stratagem that has already been imposed on the UK.          

BBC Scandals

The Jim'll Fix It show was a great put off as far as I was concerned. I could never understand the adulation with which it seems he and his show were greeted. To me it exploited the stories of not only the unfortunate but also the naive and having seen it once I never watched it again. I do recall though being told when the country was going through one of its paedophile scandals some years ago that Jimmy Savile was guilty of child abuse, that the police knew about it but decided not to do anything because of the help and pleasure his show brought to millions. At the time I was sceptical and thought what I had been told was tittle tattle and likely untrue. I do not know whether the police were involved in the cover up of Savile's crimes but it is now certain the BBC protected Savile from his just deserts. Any private organisation that has behaved like the BBC has done would be the subject of a police investigation to find those who authorised the cover up or rather perverted the course of justice and aided and abetted a criminal to carry out his crimes. I will fall off my chair if the BBC and its responsible executives are charged with anything or suffer any other consequence for their actions. It just goes to show that the BBC is above the law that the rest of us, including private companies, have to abide by. This is why the BBC can continue its bias against the Tories, the Republicans and even the natives of this land contrary to its statutory duty to be impartial. This is why it can continue its bias in favour of the climate change scam, the EU, immigration and the Labour Party. The BBC just carries on its dishonest way with impunity and will do so until it is wound up. Patten's inquiry will be a damp squib and the BBC will get away with it once again. I accept it is not possible for each of us to be impartial all of the time. In order to achieve any kind of impartiality it seems obvious therefore that a plurality of providers is required. Thus the BBC should be replaced by private companies which like the newspapers can follow their own political star and we the public can choose which particular flavour suits us best. The solution is simple but will any politician dare administer the medicine? Probably not but at least the BBC with 60% of the market could and should be cut down to less than a 50% share thus giving space in which Sky and/or other providers can grow. The obligation for providers to be impartial should be abandoned as should the iniquitous licence fee.

The Nobel Peace Prize Joke

Thank goodness the Nobel Peace Prize is not a British affair as one can imagine the jokes at our expense that would be bandied around for awarding this much debased leaden award to the EU. There have been one or two awards of this decoration that have been appropriate but in recent years I cannot recall one where I have felt this was so. Prior to this year's award to the EU the most inappropriate was the award to Obama who should have had the grace to refuse it but being the vain person he is decided to accept it. The prize has been given to the EU for keeping the peace in Europe. They couldn't be that ignorant surely? They must know that peace in Europe has been kept by Nato? Surely the Prize committee must be having another of its little jokes like the award to Bummer before he'd even been President for more than 5 minutes. With the euro crisis tearing any goodwill between nations apart the Peace Prize award to the EU is truly surreal. This spotlight on the EU brings back to us all its grotesque failings. Its huge cost, its corruption, its democratic deficit and the arrogance of its bureaucrats. Who in their right minds would have set up a currency union before having a political union? Who in their right minds would have set up the common agricultural policy? Who in their right minds would have introduced the carbon emission restriction policy that is not only unnecessary but is going to cost us billions? Funny too that the Norwegians voted against joining the EU. Clearly Norwegian voters are more savvy than those on the Nobel Peace Prize committee who have demonstrated a romantic view of the world. They wouldn't be socialists would they? It is thrilling to know though that I am in good company  with many distinguished commentators who also see the award as a farce. See Ambrose Evans-Pritchard's piece on this here, Iain Martin's piece here, Daniel Hannan's piece here and The Commentator's blog here. It is not only the Nobel Peace Prize committee that needs its collective head examined but also the Nobel Literature Prize committee. How could it possibly have given the literature prize to Mo Yan? From what I have read about him I understand that he is a vociferous supporter of the Chinese regime. This may be somewhat exaggerated as his books have somtimes been banned by the authorities.        

Cameron's Turn

Our energy regulator Ofgem is reported as saying that we can expect power cuts in winter 2015/16 as spare capacity drops from 14% to 4%. According to the Department of Energy etc (run by our wonderful LibDem Secretary of State, Ed Davey) this is not going to happen since the Energy Bill when enacted will ensure secure supply. Only though if we import more gas. Importing gas will have the effect of putting up prices as will the useless wind farms that are being built. The eco fascists like Greenpeace will be thrilled that we are going back to the middle ages. No doubt others will welcome the sense of all being in this together as we struggle to keep warm. However I wouldn't like to bet on the majority of us being so community minded when our mobiles, iPods and tablets and the like fail to work because we can't charge them. At that stage we will no doubt be One Nation but not in the sense Miliband meant. What did Miliband mean though when he used the phrase as no one, not even Disraeli, really knew what he meant by it when he used the phrase first. The expectations for Miliband's speech were so low that as Bruce Anderson said in his piece in ConservativeHome here any half decent speech was bound to be greeted as a great success. Despite its length and vacuousness it was delivered with a certain charm and so achieved acclamation. Although some might now regard him in a different light I doubt that Miliband's candle will burn with the same glow for long since he's the same oddball as he was before he made his speech. The media as well as many of his MPs are now piling the pressure on Cameron to produce a speech that is also greeted with acclamation of the order of Mitt Romney's surprise success against Bummer (and what a bummer of a performance Obama gave). With the economy still in difficulty and various other problems such as the train franchise fiasco there's no doubt Cameron has a tough call but if he's clever he will admit to the mistakes, point out that by contrast neither Miliband nor Balls have apologised for the financial disaster Labour left us, that the deficit reduction programme has been working although not as well as was hoped but that it will continue and that the reform of education and welfare will continue as well. Cameron should also say that we can sort out the mess we inherited and that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Cameron also needs to adopt a much more sceptical tone on the EU and on energy and tell us exactly what he will do on these issues that is vital for this country's good.

Old Labour Is Back Again

So Ed Miliband will not break with the Unions since, as he told Andrew Marr on the BBC on Sunday, by keeping its link with the Unions Labour remains connected to the ordinary working man and by implication to all those wage slaves out there in the world. If Miliband believes that twisted logic he will believe in anything. He maintained with a straight face that keeping faith with the Unions had nothing to do with the Unions being the Labour party bankers nor that it was because he only became leader of the Labour party thanks to the Trade Unions block votes. The two Eds want to take us back to the days of Attlee when Labour constructed the base for a socialist society by extending rationing, imposing the disastrous NHS, nationalising all sorts of industries and condemning us to years and years of decline that shamefully, until Mrs Thatcher, the Tories went along with as a result of fear of the Unions and a disbelief that the tide could ever be turned and that we could become a free market economy again. Thatcher's job has not been completed. We still have a third rate health system in which the wishes of those employed in the sector take precedence over those of the consumer. The two Eds also continue to blame the excesses of the banks for the global financial crisis that started in 2007 and from which we are still struggling to extract ourselves. They naturally refuse to acknowledge Labour's own dire part in that disaster and like all those of the left live in a world of self delusion that they and they alone can save the world. However as wonderful as they paint their vision of the world, and socialists are good at that kind of false caring propaganda, reality breaks in every now and again when over taxing and over  spending has to be reined in. Labour then leaves it to the Tories to clear up the mess. It amazes me the numbers of voters who get taken in again and again by the socialists but it is after all human nature to want the easy soft life paid for by others. No socialist, despite the evidence, accepts either the Laffer curve or a free market economy. Their attitude is lets soak the rich; the rich can pay for the necessities and also the fripperies of the poor; the rich can afford it. What an unbelievably irresponsible attitude. Aren't we all equal in the eyes of our maker and if that means anything isn't the rich man owed as much respect as a poor man and if that's so doesn't the rich man deserve to be treated as fairly as the poor one and isn't it in all our interests that those that have the knack of doing well be encouraged to do so rather than spat upon? Miliband's attempt this afternoon to take the One Nation mantle from the Tories and to claim that on Labour's return to power they will restore the NHS to how it was before the Tories pushed through the Blair reforms can only make one smile.          

The Renegers - Germany, Netherlands and Finland

It is not difficult to understand why the Germans are so terrified of inflation and will do anything to prevent it escalating above a percentage point or two. There is an interesting piece on this German attitude to inflation and debt, that is foreign to us, in the Open Europe blog today which you can access here. According to Ambrose Evans-Pritchard ('A E-P') in the Telegraph today the extent to which to Germans as well as the Dutch and the Finns are prepared to go extends to breaching an agreement reached in good faith by the Spanish in exchange for accepting the austerity terms attached to the bail out which agreement provided for the ESM bail out fund to take over the cost of recapitalising Spain's banks. If the ESM were to take over such cost it put German and Dutch banks at severe risk of collapse. A E-P's essential  article can be read here. Rajoy will never save his country from ruin if it remains in the euro and any moral reason he felt Spain was under for doing so has now disappeared as a result of the Germans, Dutch and Finns reneging on what had been agreed about the ESM takeover of Spanish bank support. As I said yesterday the euro must now be terminated with extreme prejudice in order to get us all out of the mess it has helped create. Roger Bootle is also saying something similar apparently in Fortune Magazine. I do not have a link but I do have a link to a piece by Charles Crawford that gives a brief idea of what Bootle thinks here.

Lower Taxes And Energy Costs Needed Urgently

Allister Heath's article this morning in City A.M. was one of the most depressing articles I have ever read about our economy. If you haven't seen it you can read it here. It is difficult to see how matters can be turned around in time for the next election without some kind of miracle. Miracles don't happen but there is one light flickering at the end of a long tunnel which if it is real could well help the world recover its economic health more quickly than otherwise looks to be the case. The flickering light of hope is the implosion of the euro. Although only said sotto voce at this time Germany's exit from the euro is now being talked about (by Martin Wolf of the FT for one) as a less scary option than other courses of action. Furthermore the euro intensified troubles in Spain, which threaten its status as a country and at the worst could lead to a military coup, means Spain would benefit from its exit from the euro - a far less awful outcome than the loss of its democracy. It just needs one country to exit the euro for others to see that such action will not lead to the catastrophe prophesied by euro fanatics. It will not be a painless process but at least those countries that do choose this route will regain their currency sovereignty, be able to devalue and eventually achieve a healthier economy - see Iceland for example. Once one country demonstrates the advantages of leaving the euro others will follow. Growth will then develop and it will be this that will help the world and the UK recover from this continuing financial crisis. It really is urgent that the euro breaks up without further delay. Fiddling around with ideas of ever closer union is like Nero fiddling while Rome burns. One thing for sure though that the UK does not need in this time of gloom is increased taxes. We desperately need lower taxes and lower energy costs too. Cameron and Osborne, despite the LibDems objections, must have the guts to push tax cuts and shale exploitation through as a matter of urgency. There is not a moment to lose.  

I Can Swear If I Want To

I am a great fan of Janet Daley and read her articles in the Sunday Telegraph avidly. Janet is a Tory supporter but what helps to make her interesting is that she is originally an American and used to be a socialist. Her background therefore enables her to see things from a different perspective to most of us. It was a surprise therefore to read her blog in the Telegraph this afternoon in which she maintains a lot of Tories are extremely difficult to get on with because of their Mitchell like attitude and that it is the Tory modernisers who are the worse because most of them are toffs. Janet goes on to say that Labour members are infinitely more polite and likeable as people. My experience of politicians is nowhere near as extensive as Janet's but my take on them is that they are all as equally unlikeable as each other and can only think that Tory politicians behave in the way they do with her because they find her, as one well known political editor of a national newspaper told me unkindly, "Janet is barking mad".  Whether Mitchell told the Downing Street Gate policeman he was a 'pleb' or not is frankly neither here nor there but it is Mitchell's appallingly arrogant behaviour that deserves censure and he should resign as a result. Someone in Mitchell's position should set an example. The other thing that rings a wrong note in this affair is that under the Public Order Act the policeman could apparently have arrested Mitchell for swearing at him. Why shouldn't we be able to swear at policemen or anybody else for that matter? What puts a policeman above the rest of us that we all have to bow and scrape to them. I think it was a Labour measure that brought in this law and like a lot of Labour restrictions on the freedom of the individual it should be abolished. It was Blair who was responsible for bringing in law after law restricting our freedoms in order to demonstrate that Labour was even tougher on law and order issues than the Tories. He hoped that by donning some Tory clothes those on the left of the Tory party would continue voting for him and much to my amazement sufficient numbers did just and thus enabled him to win three elections. Blair is now trying to ensure that his son Euan is given a safe Labour seat at the next election so that the Blair dynasty lives on. Yuk. You can fool some of the people .............

Cable Talks Nonsense

Vince Cable was interviewed by Jeff Randall on the latter's show this evening about Cable's announcement concerning the business bank Cable had announced this afternoon during his LibDem Conference speech. Anyone with only a modicum of knowledge about how banks work would have been astonished by Cable's complete lack of knowledge of the subject as became evident by Randall's questioning. Cable defended his idea by saying business banks were something that other countries relied on including the German banks but obviously didn't know that the German banks still have undisclosed losses from the sub-prime debts they bought in the USA. Cable did not seem to know either who would end up carrying the can if the business bank he wants to set up with a £1 bn of taxpayers money were to make losses until at Randall's prodding he finally realised it would be the taxpayers. He also mentioned government guarantees but it was difficult to tell whether these would be in addition to the £1 bn or whether the bank's capital would be made up of a £1 bn guarantee. From the vague way he talked about guarantees it seem the bank will be capitalised with both cash and a government guarantee since he he said that if there were losses this could result in a diminution of the bank's capital and the call on the government guarantee. If true one wonders what the amount of the guarantee would be and under what circumstances a call could be made against it. Cable did say that the Government would not be assessing risk but this would be done by other banks. One question Randall didn't ask in exactly this form is what makes Cable think that another bank, if it's not risking its own money, will be as cautious in assessing risk as it would be if it were the lender. Cable's response was that banks were not lending to SMEs and the business bank would do so. He failed to mention that one reason banks are reluctant to lend, apart from credit worthiness issues, is because the capital requirement for banks has been strengthened resulting in banks having less money to lend. Altogether Cable was unimpressive. How he or the third rate Ed Davey can be thought of as replacements for the awful Clegg it is beyond me. Truly the LibDems lack any politician of any stature and deserve to be routed in the next election. It is not surprising to see that they are behind UKIP in today's poll.    

Money Makes The World Go Round

The public finance figures out today aren't wholly bad since they show that the deficit has been reduced by some 25% since 2010. However Government borrowing for August is the same as last year and the deficit for the first 5 months of the fiscal year that started in April is £10.6 bn more than for the same period last year with the likelihood that the deficit for the year will be £10 bn than projected. The reason for this is down to the lack of growth and the consequent lack of sufficient increase in the revenue stream. This glitch in the plan to cut the deficit by 2015 is said by Mervyn King to be OK so long as the targets have not been met due to a global economic slowdown. It is true that there has been a global slowdown made far worse by the euro crisis which has been handled in such an incompetent way it is surprising the whole thing has not yet collapsed in disorder. Instead of breaking up the euro in an orderly solution it is being aloud to survive for some incomprehensible ideological reason and no doubt to save the faces of EU bureaucrats. Whilst on the subject of markets (which was how the EU was originally sold to us - as a Common Market) you should read Jeremy Warner's article in today's Telegraph here in which he states that the idea that there will be no war between nations that trade with each other is an illusion and he instances a book published in 1910 which supported that theory and which was proved dramatically wrong only 4 years later. Warner warns that the same thing could happen all over again. This is surely a reason why the merger of BAE and EADS should not be allowed. There are too many sensitive issues involved for this country for our independence on defence matters to be compromised in any way and the fear must be that as the bigger partner EADS will want to take our ideas and exclude us from developing them in a manner that suits us and our needs. The time for a decision to be made about our involvement in the European Defence Agency has also arrived and the answer must be 'No' to continuing as a participant. There is an interesting post about this on The Commentator blog here. If UKIP were to have an electoral pact with the Tories as proposed by Farage today then there is little doubt that we would resile from the EDA and refuse to allow the proposed merger between BAE and EADS to go through. It would also mean we'd get a simple In/Out referendum before we negotiated any new arrangement with the EU. Having an electoral pact with UKIP sounds like a good idea!

Does Clegg Have A Screw Loose?

Iain Martin makes a good point in his Telegraph piece today about Clegg, which you can read here. He thinks Clegg may be stupid and it is difficult to argue otherwise. In other times one would ask whether Clegg was gung-ho. Would Clegg attack when it might be better to make a tactical withdrawal? The evidence, which consists of the way he managed the rise in tuition fees in direct contradiction to his pre-election promise, demonstrates that he does not think things through. Neither it has to be said does Vince Cable who is blowing his mouth off this evening about further cuts saying he will not agree to them and neither will he agree to a two year freeze on benefits. The main point about the Coalition is to cut the deficit and this can only be done by cutting spending, making room for tax cuts and thus encouraging those with more money in their pockets to spend more and thereby nurture growth. Simples - but not to the obtuse Secretary of Business etc.. Jesse Norman MP in the Financial Times today expressed the opinion though that the cost to the Government of capital investment is significantly less than the private sector could ever hope to achieve. Norman asserts that the Government should maintain fiscal consolidation but significantly increase capital investment at the same time. In his view £25bn of capital investment at current interest rates would cost just £250m whereas for the private sector the cost would be £375m to £500m or 50% to 100% more. He gives an example of what he means by saying that for every 10 miles of privately financed road the Government could give you 15 to 20 miles. The trouble though with Norman's point is that by Government making the investment it crowds out the private sector and thus no wealth is created for the benefit of of us all. It is to be hoped that Osborne does not listen to Norman on this point even if the latter makes sense about continuing the fiscal consolidation. Norman is of course also entirely correct about Larry Summers, Paul Krugman and the Labour party being wrong big time about how to deal with the current financial problems Labour left us with. Other problems the last Government left us with are smaller by comparison but it is good to see that the Coalition is sticking with its schools, health, welfare and other policies. Now that Ofcom have decided that BSkyB is a fit and proper licence holder the Government must not turn down News Corp if it were to rebid for the shares it does not already own in BSkyB despite Ofcom's statements about James Murdoch.    

Give Romney A Break

Romney is apparently gaffe prone to such a degree that it is now a given that he will lose the election as a result. What is it though that he has actually said? In one instance he told his audience of donors that the Middle East will "remain an unsolved problem.... and we kick the ball down the field and hope that ultimately, somehow, something will happen and resolve it. We don't want to go to war to try and resolve it imminently. So the only answer is show your strength. Again, American strength, American resolve, as the Palestinians someday reach the point where they want peace more than we're trying to push peace on them... and then it's worth having the discussion. Until then, it's just wishful thinking." Seems to me that Romney's assessment is spot on and that his comment about not going to war is responsible. Romney also said that Palestinians are committed to the destruction and elimination of Israel, that they have no interest whatsoever in establishing peace and that the pathway to peace is almost unthinkable to accomplish. Again these are accurate statements so where are the gaffes here? Romney has been refreshingly honest since we all know that the only peace Palestine is currently prepared to accept is one which involves Israel disappears completely. We are told that Romney made another gaffe when he said that "47% of Americans pay no income tax. So our message of low taxes doesn't connect. And [Obama] will be out there talking about tax cuts for the rich. I mean that's what [the Democrats] sell every four years. And so my job is not to worry about those people - I'll never convince them that they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives." Again where's the gaffe in this? It reads to me like another accurate statement. Romney is also being criticised for saying that the debt burdens of Western countries were caused by being over generous to too many out of an inadequate revenue stream. Osborne has been saying the same thing and is also being criticised for telling it as it is. Thomas Pascoe has an interesting piece in the Telegraph today on this which you can read here. Romney's statements demonstrate that he is a realist which after all the dream rubbish propagated by Obama is like a breath of fresh. One can only hope that Romney's honesty will be seen as attractive to the swing voters who decide elections since with all the potential flare points in the world we need a tough United States not the weak one that has been projected by the Obama regime.          

The Dog Van Rompuy

Nigel Farage is reminiscent of the Club bore or (as some might unkindly say) of this blog. Even though what he says may be something with which one agrees his manner of declaiming his views, despite his bravery in uttering them, is off key somehow.  There is little wrong with his message but an awful lot wrong in the way he says it.  This is why he does not have a greater following and this is why the Tories will never take UKIP seriously. If Boris became leader of UKIP then Cameron would really have a fight on his hands but unless something dramatic happens Boris is never going to abandon his position in the Tory party. Nor is Boris going to become Tory leader for the very reasons Simon Heffer sets out in his article in the Daily Mail which you can read here. It is a pity that Boris does not seek the UKIP mantle as then the Tory policy on Europe would have to change and we'd get the referendum we deserve which would be a simple In or Out one. The Scots will have an In or Out referendum on independence so why can't we have one too on a question is equally as serious? Concern about Farage's qualities as leader of UKIP does not mean that he should not have all our support in what is an appalling miscarriage of justice by the so called nonentity called the European Parliament. Appalling though not surprising that Farage has been found guilty and fined  by the 'Parliament' €2,990 for being rude about van Rompuy by saying he had the charisma of a 'damp rag'  or a 'low grade bank clerk'. I would say Farage insulted low grade bank clerks by comparing van Rompuy to them although I doubt they can sue for such an insult. Low grade bank clerks have always been most helpful to me whereas I would say van Rompuy is a piece of excrement of the kind that gets stuck to the bottom of one's shoe and proves difficult to dislodge quickly or at all without sticks and paper. This verdict tells us an awful lot about the EU and its pathetic self important little 'Parliament'. Already we know it does not believe in democracy and now we see it does not believe in freedom of speech. Guido has a post on this which you can read here. It is curious though as Guido says that not more has appeared about this case in the UK newspapers. Indeed Guido's post was the first I had heard of it. It is an absolute outrage and one wonders what the European Parliament would do if Farage refuses to pay the fine. Stick him in some prison maybe. We would then need to send a gunboat to that excuse of a country Belgium to rescue him.

Banking Regulation, QE3, Conflicts and Kate

Daniel Hannan has an interesting piece here about EU regulation and how in the long term it will lead to another crash. He's right and it is urgent that we leave the EU as that is the only way we can hope to have more sensible regulation. We simply cannot allow ourselves to be led by the nose down a path that we know is going to swallow us whole because we are too polite to call a spade a spade. Contrary to our nature we are going to have to tell the rest of the EU we know more about financial markets than they do and that we need the freedom to regulate our way in order to ensure the City continues as a big revenue driver for the UK, indeed the biggest revenue driver. There was another article this morning which is worth reading here and which is by Allister Heath of City A.M. on QE3 in the U.S. and the consequences of the same. Quantitative easing will result in a disaster and despite the various economists supporting it there are apparently more who oppose it. It is possible the majority is wrong but it is nice to be with them for once. We need genuinely free markets and not the kind of crony capitalism that gives us the likes of the arrogant evil smelling Tim Yeo who whilst chairing a select committee on Energy and Climate Change is also on the board of TMO Renewables, a green company. CCHQ are apparently looking into the conflict of interest question but like Ceasar's wife the chairman of a select committee should be above suspicion and as he is not he should resign. Guido has been after Yeo for some time now and has already made him resign as a director of some other 'green' company. Guido held a poll today asking his readers whether or not the photos of Duchess Kate topless should be published which you can see here. The result was 'no' which was how I voted on the basis that it is not in the public interest to see the photos as Kate did nothing wrong. It is a pity that Guido has not had a poll as well on whether when our lady representatives visit muslim countries they should wear a headscarf. This I know is done out of politeness but it has to be said that when the wife of a muslim leader visits this country she always wears a headscarf rather than appearing bare headed. Where is the quid pro quo here and does the wearing of a headscarf by say Duchess Kate feed the muslim belief that their religion is superior and that we should all become muslims? As a matter of principle no female representative of this country should wear a headscarf in a muslim country.    

Obama Fails Again

The world is getting smaller in many ways and particularly in the West. It is not getting small enough  though as far as religion is concerned and certainly not in those places peopled by overwhelming hordes of savage, ill educated fanatics like the unwashed rag heads of Libya, Egypt, Yemen, Pakistan and so on. With all the experience of the past few years about how any criticism of Mohamed can lead to violent demonstrations it seems remiss, to say the least of it, that the U.S. State Department didn't appreciate that the film "Innocence of Muslims" could cause the riots that have so far resulted in four deaths. The film was made apparently by a Copt living in California who often posts anti Muslim videos on YouTube and who must be known to the FBI or whatever agency it is that is responsible for overseeing people doing those kind of things. The U.S. authorities must therefore have had some idea about when this film was going to hit the street. It beggars belief therefore that not only didn't anyone think the film would be seen as inflammatory but that security was not extensively upgraded at all US Missions in Muslim countries before the films release. Bummer Obama was sleeping on his watch. Romney is right to say that Bummer Obama's appeasement policy simply isn't good enough. Bummer Obama has given the impression that the U.S. is withdrawing from its super power role and of course the vacuum that this has caused will lead to violence. For this reason alone I would vote for Romney if I were an American. The other reason would be the economy. QE3 will prove to be a damp squib just like QE1 and QE2. If these had worked there would be no need of QE3 but they didn't so why QE3? Why throw more good money after bad? What needs to be done as here is deeper and quicker cuts. Not more borrowing and postponement of the cuts until some future date as the world, particularly in our case, will soon cease to believe we are determined to sort out our finances and force us to pay a lot more for our borrowings.