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.