The longest journey starts with a single step

It would be churlish not to congratulate David Cameron for refusing to agree to yet another power grab by the European elite.  It may have been dressed up as another attempt to stabilise the euro but as they say; "there are no problems only opportunities".  This was an opportunity for the european elite to divest the UK of both sovereign powers to control our own currency and of a large amount of that currency.  It was an opportunity that we and in particular Mr Cameron could not afford to accept.

For having the courage to say no, we should offer our congratulations to David Cameron but even more so to all those rebel Conservative MPs who just a couple of weeks ago voted in favour of a referendum on our EU membership.  They more than anyone deserve our thanks for helping Mr Cameron discover that courage.

We should however be in no doubt that this is just one step on a journey which will take many years and much courage to complete.  On the question of Europe can I remind you that...

We are still members of that corrupt and undemocratic organisation known as the European Union, we still squander billions of pounds every year on policies and projects of dubious merit and lavish generous salaries and benefits on European bureaucrats, who so inefficiently implement them. 

The euro is still not stabilised and consequently still poses a huge risk to this country.  The other EU countries have agreed only to try and draft and sign up to a new treaty by March 2012.  I doubt the markets will give them that long.  Even if they get that far, I doubt if all 26 will end up signing the treaty.

The problems of Europe and the euro are still very much with us; but we have at long last taken a single step in the right direction.

Best Wishes,
Will

Another Pig to the Trough

May I introduce you to Anthea McIntyre, who has become the UK's latest MEP.  She was however not elected; she has been appointed by the Electoral Commission.  David Lidington a Foreign Office minister announced that after analysing the European elections results from 2009 the commission decided Miss McIntyre would have won if an election had taken place.   

The UK was awarded one of the eighteen extra seats created in the European Parliament as a result of the Lisbon treaty . 

Miss McIntyre - who has unsuccessfully stood for election  on a number of previous occasions - said she was thrilled  by the decision.  I'm sure she is since MEPs receive a salary of £84,000 plus other costs and expenses including a generous pension scheme which pushes the total cost to the taxpayer to more than £2 million a year per MEP.

When will hard pressed tax payers get a break?  Weighed down by those who abuse our generous welfare system.  Saddled with public servants who work fewer hours, earn more, retire earlier and receive more generous pensions than private sector employees.  Cheated by expense swindling politicians from local councillors to MPs and members of the House of Lords.  Fleeced by bankers who keep their gambling profits for themselves but expect tax payers to cover their losses.  The last thing UK tax payers need is yet another politician with their snout in the European trough.  Is there anybody at all who believes that Anthea McIntyre will make even the smallest scrap of difference to their quality of life.  It is rather like employing another sommelier for the first class dining room on the Titanic.

Lets hope the ship goes down soon.
Best Wishes
Will

Here's a Blairite sound bite for Cameron - Priorities, priorities, priorities

Mac in the Daily Mail is spot on with this one.



Has anyone told this "Conservative" "led" "government" that the tide has turned.

Best Wishes to all our service men and women
Will

Four Precious Days to unravel Twelve Years of Madness

Almost a year ago on 30th November 2010 I wrote

"I will be surprised if the euro still exists in it's current form in 2012 never mind 2013."

 While few would deny that it has been a tough year for the euro; it is still with us.  Will it make it into 2012?  I wouldn't bet on it and here's why.

The euro  is run by Germany; France dances around as if they are somehow important but basically Sarkozy is just a performing poodle, Merkel is the show girl, she calls the shots. 

Most of the past six months have been spent with world leaders notably China, USA - yes the UK as well - telling Angela Merkel to get a grip on the problem, by which they mean Germany must underwrite the debts of other euro zone countries.  Merkel meanwhile has been ignoring these pleas and relying on shovelling austerity medicine down the throats of Ireland, Italy, Greece and Portugal.  It's not been a pretty sight we have had bloodless coups in Italy and Greece which are now governed by unelected off shoots of the EU and we have had riots mainly in Greece but also in Italy, Spain and Portugal.  The really bad news is that the austerity medicine is not working Greece is just a couple of weeks away from default - it won't happen more taxpayers money will be thrown into the black hole - Portugal needs a second bailout and interest rates on Italian debt have nudged eight percent. 

It all change this week when the really powerful people told Merkel to get a grip on the situation.  The bond markets spoke when they failed to invest in German bonds to the tune of over €2 billion.  As a consequence interest rates on German bonds rose above UK gilts.  Merkel will not ignore these voices.

Merkel now knows austerity measures for the PIGS will not work on their own.  She must either gamble the economic prowess of Germany by underwriting the debts of all euro zone countries.  A decision that will be hugely unpopular in Germany and will certainly end her political career.  Alternatively Merkel can attempt to unravel the euro in a controlled manner; this is also a high risk option but she may well believe that at least the risks are shared with the other euro zone countries, not to mention most of the rest of the world.  That way everyone has a stake in a successful outcome.

Banks across Europe and many other countries around the world will close on Friday 23rd December and not reopen until Wednesday 28th December.  Four precious days to unravel twelve years of madness.

I'm sticking with my prediction.

Best Wishes

Will

Not Once in 32 years

Update to my earlier post; I have just found this graph on the Daily Mail web site. 

Over the years this adds up to a fair bit.
Best Wishes
Will

What about my Children?

One of the big news stories today was that according to figures published by the ONS (Office for National Statistics) Britain now contributes £50 million a day to the European Union.  That is £18.5 billion a year or to put it another way three times the value of the "government cuts" that generated so much left wing anguish at the march for the alternative earlier this year.  Perhaps some saving on our EU contribution would be a real alternative.

Our receipts from the EU are a little over £8 billion making the UK a net contributor of £10.3 billion this year.  In fact in not one single year during the past thirty years have we ever received back more than we paid in.

In addition to the standard EU contribution this year we have also agreed to pay an additional £22 billion in payments to the EU and to the IMF in order to bail out Ireland, Portugal and Greece.  That is £40.3 billion of taxpayers money this year alone, in order to belong to a club most British citizens don't want to be members of and to support a currency we didn't join!

I was rather struck by the following simple and heartfelt plea posted on an Internet forum in response to this news story.

"Wasting our money and breaking promises!  Well done, Dave! Lets print more money and borrow and borrow and give the EU even more! Your children will be OK Dave, but what about my children? 

- Margita, London, 24/11/2011"

I do hope Dave is listening, but fear that he isn't.
Best Wishes
Will

Speaking up for democracy - Take 2

It is a different style which you may or may not prefer; but the message is the same.




For the entire life of the European Union there have only ever been two net contributors; yes the UK, but always primarily Germany.  Why should any European country which has been a net beneficiary of the German taxpayers largess, believe that the fate of Greece and Italy does not await them?
Take care of your freedom and democracy, for once lost the price of regaining them is high.
Best Wishes
Will

Speaking up for democracy is not the lunatic fringe

As usual Nigel Farage speaks to a disinterested audience in the European Parliament, they try their best to ignore him. Where are the cheer leaders, surely somewhere there must be some MEP's who still believe in democracy.

For the life of me I cannot understand how we have reached a position where both Greece and Italy are governed by unelected off-shoots of the European Union; yet there is so little dissent.  Why is it that speaking up for democracy appears to be such a fringe activity?

Speaking up for democracy is not the lunatic fringe.  Millions died for our freedoms; for Gods sake, for Greeks & Italians sake and for our own sake, we must care for and protect our democracy and freedom.

If we don't do it now, we will pay for it later.

Best Wishes

Will

Death of Democracy

Mario Monti the new prime minister of Italy appointed by the EU to replace the elected prime minister Silvio Berlisconi announced his new cabinet today.  Not one member of his cabinet is an elected politician.  Who would ever have believed that in twenty first centuary Europe a major country such as Italy would be ruled by a totally unelected government? 

It will all end in tears.  How can it possibly be otherwise?

Best Wishes

Will

If ye break faith with us...

Have the political elite kept faith?

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Since 1914 millions have fought and died fighting for our freedom, our democracy and our way of life.  Have our political elite kept faith with those who died?  I think not; but would encourage each and everyone of you to look around you, think hard and make up your own minds.
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
Best Wishes 
Will

The joke that is Europe

Of course the ongoing Euro crisis has produced its fair share of humour, in response to the out break of anti EU humour the European Council has decided that it should have an official approved European joke so...

A joke was proposed by a Belgian to be the Official European Joke, in order to improve the relationship between the nations, as well as promote our self humour and our culture. The Joke went as follows: 

European paradise is when you are invited to an official lunch. You are welcomed by an Englishman. Food is prepared by a Frenchman and an Italian puts you in the mood and everything is organised by a German. 

European hell is when you are invited to an official lunch. You are welcomed by a Frenchman. Food is prepared by an Englishman, a German puts you in the mood but, don't worry, everything is organised by an Italian. 

The European Council met in order to make a decision. Should the joke be the Official European Joke or not?  

The British representative announced, with a very serious face and without moving his jaw, that the joke was absolutely hilarious. 

The French one protested because France was depicted in a bad way in the joke. He explained that a joke cannot be funny if it is against France. 

Poland also protested because they were not depicted in the joke. 

Luxembourg asked who would hold the copyright on the joke. The Swedish representative didn't say a word, but looked at everyone with a twisted smile. 

Denmark asked where the explicit sexual reference was. If it is a joke, there should be one, shouldn't there? 

Holland didn't get the joke, while Portugal didn't understand what a "joke" was. Was it a new concept? 

Spain explained that the joke is funny only if you know that the lunch was at 13h, which is normally breakfast time. 

Greece complained that they were not aware of that lunch, that they missed an occasion to have some free food, that they were always forgotten. 

Romania then asked what a "lunch" was. 

Lithuania and Latvia complained that their translations were inverted, which is unacceptable even if it happens all the time. 

Slovenia told them that its own translation was completely forgotten and that they do not make a fuss. 

Slovakia announced that, unless the joke was about a little duck and a plumber, there was a mistake in their translation. 

The British representative said that the duck and plumber story seemed very funny too. 

Hungary had not finished reading the 120 pages of its own translation yet . 

Then, the Belgian representative asked if the Belgian who proposed the joke was a Dutch speaking or a French speaking Belgian. Because, in one case, he would of course support a compatriot but, in the other case, he would have to refuse it, regardless of the quality of the joke.  

To close the meeting, the German representative announced that it was nice to have the debate here in Brussels but that, now, they all had to make the train to Strasbourg in order to take a decision. He asked that someone to wake up the Italian, so as not to miss the train, so they can come back to Brussels and announce the decision to the press before the end of the day . 

"What decision?" asked the Irish representative. 

And they all agreed it was time for some coffee.

While I appreciate that this is an outrageous nationalistic slur on so many of our fellow european friends and neighbours it does at least have one small merit.  It does not bring  countries to the brink of bankrupcy neither does it condem millions to a lifetime of debt and poverty and that is no joke.

Best wishes
Will

Did he really say reform the EU sometime in the future?

Not just two or three years ago, not five or six years ago, not even nine or ten years ago but almost fifteen years ago the then prime minister Tony Blair declared that he would place Britain at the heart of Europe.   I have no idea where he thought we had been before then.  By my reckoning, we have always been one of the major economies of the EU, have always been a net contributor to the EU budget and have always implemented EU policy even when we did not agree with it or indeed even when it damaged our own national interest.  However, there we are; perhaps I am mistaken, perhaps we were always just a minor character in the great EU theatre.   

What puzzles me about David Cameron’s idea that we should stay in Europe and seek to reform it, is just what does he think we have being trying to do for more than thirty years?  Did the UK not urge the EU for years to reform the Common Agricultural Policy?  Did the UK not try to reform the common fisheries policy?  Did the UK not advise against a common currency?  Did the UK not urge the EU to strive for great democracy?  Did we not advise the EU to improve financial controls so that the auditors would sign the EU accounts?  Something I might add that has not happened for at least twelve years.  Have we not just committed £12.5 billion to assist the bailout of a currency we declined to join?  That is by the way, more than twice the savings being made from government cuts.

The question is not really what does he think the UK has been trying to do for thirty years.  The question is not even, why he now thinks we might achieve something at some unspecified date in the future that we have clearly failed to achieve in over thirty years.  To be quite blunt the question is; exactly what planet is he living on?

Best Wishes
Will

Saint Crispins Day

Saint Crispins Day is nearly upon us, it's on 25th October to be precise.

MP's gather at Westminster to decide whether or not we citizens will be allowed to have our voices heard on the question of our continued membership of the European Union.  To give us that voice MP's must defy their leaders.  So let us remind our MP's of a fictional speach penned by one William Shakespeare and spoken by Henry V on the eve of the battle of Agincourt.

This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered-
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.

The question for each of our MP's now is just how cheap do they hold their manhoods.
Best Wishes
Will 

Time to say Goodbye

David Cameron will be in Brussels this weekend for talks on how to preventing a collapse of the euro.  According to reports in this mornings press Britain will tell European leaders that they have five days to save the world economy from catastrophe.  Meanwhile at home the conservative party are falling over themselves in an attempt to prevent a meaningful debate on whether the UK should

1. Remain in the EU on substantialy the same terms as currently exist.
2. Stay in the EU and attempt to reform the community.
3. Leave the EU.

Given that:-

1. The EU has brought the global economy to the very brink of catastrophe.
2. That for at least two decades British politicians have been talking about reforming the EU from within.  A process that has achieved precisely nothing.

I am inclined to agree that there is little point in having the debate since there must surely be almost universal agreement that the UK should leave the EU.  There can only be a small minority of diehards who still think that the EU is a force for the good.  Shame that they all seem to be sitting in the House of Commons.
Best Wishes
Will

Short sighted man applies the wrong solution at the wrong time

Main stream media sources including Sky news, BBC news and most national newspapers are reporting that the governor of the Bank of England has said that Britain could be in the grip of the "most serious financial crisis ever".

Sir Mervyn King is reported to have said

"That the global and UK economies had been turned on their heads in the past three months alone ...

The situation could be even worse than the Great Depression of the 1930s...

Making it crucial do the right thing."

Which according to Sir Mervyn King means pumping more cash into the economy.

There are several hundred people I could name - myself amongst them – and several thousand more whose names I don’t know who now feel qualified to apply for the post of governor of the BoE. We could all have told him over a year ago that the UK was heading for a financial crisis of epic proportions. Most of them did tell him exactly that if not in person then via their online blogs.

And just for the record pumping more cash into the economy is rather like giving a dying man a couple of aspirin. It’s not going to achieve anything.

Best Wishes
Will

It can't be right, can it?

A good friend of mine is a freelance IT worker with his own limited company.  He tells me that two months ago his client asked if he would work for an extra couple of hours one Saturday morning, he agreed to do the work for a fee of £100. 
He raised an invoice for his client in the sum of £100 plus VAT at 20% total £120; which the client duly paid.
At the end of the month he paid himself the additional £100 as a result his monthly payroll figures increased by the following amounts.

Income Tax	£40.00
Employers NI	£13.80
Employees NI	£2.00
Net Pay	£44.20
Total	£100.00

On the way home from work that Saturday lunchtime he stopped off at his local petrol station to top up with petrol spending £44.20, equal to just under 33 litres of petrol at £1.35 a litre.  The total spend can be broken down as follows.

Fuel Duty	£19.32
VAT	£7.37
Petrol	£17.52
Total	£44.20

Out of the total £120.00 that he invoiced his client the government received in various taxes £102.48 and he received petrol valued at £17.52.  That can't be right, can it?

He has made a mistake somewhere in his calculations, hasn't he?

Best Wishes
Will

Possibly the five best sentences you're ever likely to read.

A friend recently emailed me the following five sentences.  I have no idea where they came from, but I though they were worth sharing with you.   

1. You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity. 
2. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving.
3. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.
4. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it!
5. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that is the beginning of the end of any nation.

Best Wishes

Will


Update
A bit of searching round the Internet leads me to believe that these words were first spoken by the American baptist preacher Dr Adrian Rogers in 1984.  They seem rather apt for the UK in 2011.

A Defining Moment?

As the main party leaders outline their long-term responses to the recent riots and looting, the stakes could not be higher.  The leader who most closely captures the public mood could well go on to fashion our nation for generations to come.

David Cameron seems to capture the public sense that decades of refusing to make clear distinctions between right and wrong, of failing to support traditional family life, and failing to offer children real opportunity in education has produced generations of youngsters who lack aspiration, lack any notion of work ethic and indeed lack any sense of moral values.  On the other hand, he has not grasped that lack of moral responsibility afflicts the higher echelons of society and not just those living on benefits on inner city council estates.    He needs to take a closer look at the way MPs responded to the expenses scandal and compare that to the rapid and robust response we have seen over the past few days towards the rioters and looters.   He needs to ask why bankers are paying themselves billions of pounds in bonuses while the share price of their banks are falling through the floor and millions of taxpayers are continuing to suffer because of their greed.  Cameron also needs to ask why those responsible for hacking the phone of Millie Dowler are still free; no rapid and robust justice for them.  Cameron has never looked more susceptible to accusations of being an Eton toff and a two nation Tory as he does right now. 

Ed Miliband seems to understand that a lack of moral values extends from the House of Lords right throughout every stratum of society to the poor inner city estates of Tottenham and Brixton.  Miliband does not seem to understand how it hurts ordinary working people that so much of their hard earned cash is taken to pay for benefits cheats and feckless parents who bring children into this world expecting others to pay for their shelter, clothing, food, health care and education.  Neither does he seem to understand that thirteen years of labour government - the overwhelming majority of which was during times of prosperity - not only failed to improve the lives of ordinary working people things actually became worse.  The divide between the rich and poor increased, social mobility decreased, more children grew up in poverty.  Does Miliband have what it takes to slay some of the lefts sacred cows such as comprehensive education would he bring back grammar schools?  Whether he likes it or not millions of ordinary members of the public know that grammar schools drove social mobility.  Tens of thousands of sons and daughters of factory workers, railway workers, labourers, steel workers  and miners; became teachers, lawyers, politicians, doctors, dentists and vets thanks to grammar schools.  Grammar schools were not perfect everyone absolutely everyone knows that; but rather than improve them perhaps by bringing in a second or even a third chance to enter grammar school at the ages of twelve and thirteen, the political left choose to destroyed them.   That was a spiteful act of criminality.  Regret and sorrow is not enough Miliband needs to show that labour is prepared to ditch its useless politics of envy and concentrate on providing real opportunity to as many people as possible.

Can either Cameron or Miliband seize the moment and fashion this country into a single nation or will we be riven by the politics of avarice, envy and immorality for another fifty years?  Time will tell; but some of you may know that I have spoken warmly of Iain Duncan Smith.  These were his words this morning:

"We've got to stop nit-picking, playing games with this, pretending there's some kind of political advantage to be gained...     The truth is we are all in this one together and we've got to get out of it together."

Perhaps his time has finally come.
Best Wishes
Will

UPDATE

Just in case you wondered IDS belonged to a select group of MP's whose expense claims were pretty well beyond reproach details of this group including IDS are here.

Moral Authority its an absolute prerequisite.

A distinction needs to be made between our initial reaction to the rioting that is taking place in many cities and how to deal with it in the longer term.

In the short term we must crack down hard, and quickly prosecute those responsible.  Robust policing and all night sittings of magistrates courts are excellent examples of this approach. They will hopefully bring this spate of criminality to an end within a few days.

In the long term a more thoughtful analysis is required; and with this in mind I recommend Peter Osbourne's article in today's Daily Telegraph "The moral decay of our society is as bad at the top as the bottom.   Here are three short extract that gives a flavour of his thinking.

" I believe that the criminality in our streets cannot be dissociated from the moral disintegration in the highest ranks of modern British society. The last two decades have seen a terrifying decline in standards among the British governing elite. It has become acceptable for our politicians to lie and to cheat. An almost universal culture of selfishness and greed has grown up."

"The Prime Minister showed no sign that he understood that something stank about yesterday’s Commons debate. He spoke of morality, but only as something which applies to the very poor: “We will restore a stronger sense of morality and responsibility – in every town, in every street and in every estate.” He appeared not to grasp that this should apply to the rich and powerful as well." 

 "Certainly, the so-called feral youth seem oblivious to decency and morality. But so are the venal rich and powerful – too many of our bankers, footballers, wealthy businessmen and politicians."

I have blogged before - see Nadine's attack on scroungers lacks credibility - on the "absolute prerequisite for good governance that our elected representatives are honest."  Nadine Dorries spoke in yesterdays commons debate on rioting and looting.  What can I say, pot, kettle, black; I give up in despair.  Nadine's expenses looting record can be found here.

Politicians can talk about parenting, robust policing, education, unemployment, cuts and any other social or economic ill they and their political perspective deem appropriate to blame for the lack of morality shown by the looters.  It will matter not one iota what they say; until they deal with the unfinished business of MP's expenses they simply do not have the moral authority to govern.  No ifs, no buts; it is an absolute prerequisite for good governance that our elected representatives are honest.

Best Wishes
Will

If only they had listened eight months ago

Just over eight months ago on 24th November 2010 Nigel Farage made a speech see below.  Today as markets close with the economic crisis spreading to Italy and Spain and the whole European project on the verge of collapse his words seem entirely prophetic and far from the ramblings of a fanatic as so many of his detractors attempt to portray him.

Of course it is no coincidence that the markets have reacted just as the ruling elite have gone on their month long summer vacation.  If they do not fly home from their holidays tonight and take decisive action tomorrow and over the weekend we can expect some very unpleasant repercussions when the markets open tomorrow and again on Monday.


I do not think this is the end of the nightmare there is more to come; but I do believe we have entered a new phase.  
Best Wishes
Will

The Storm Cone by Rudyard Kipling

Like most nations, we in the British Isles have a collective wisdom that derives from national identity and history. In the case of Great Britain, part of this is our long seafaring tradition. Rudyard Kipling captures some of that wisdom in his 1932 poem 'The Storm Cone'.  

As the euro zone storm continues to build, we should remember that the financial crisis blowing in from continental Europe will not recognised national boundaries any more than an Atlantic storm will stop when it reaches the English Channel.  All we can do is draw on the wisdom, insight and strength so brilliantly captured by Kipling.

This is the midnight-let no star
Delude us-dawn is very far.
This is the tempest long foretold-
Slow to make head but sure to hold

Stand by! The lull 'twixt blast and blast
Signals the storm is near, not past;
And worse than present jeopardy
May our forlorn to-morrow be.

If we have cleared the expectant reef,
Let no man look for his relief.
Only the darkness hides the shape
Of further peril to escape.

It is decreed that we abide
The weight of gale against the tide
And those huge waves the outer main
Sends in to set us back again.

They fall and whelm. We strain to hear
The pulses of her labouring gear,
Till the deep throb beneath us proves,
After each shudder and check, she moves!

She moves, with all save purpose lost,
To make her offing from the coast;
But, till she fetches open sea,
Let no man deem that he is free!

Good Luck and Best Wishes to you all.
Will

Six of one, half a dozen of the other

One of the things that most annoyed me about the labour years, was Gordon Brown's tax on the dividends paid to pension funds.  It was the previous conservative government that first breached the principle that pension fund earnings were untaxed, on the basis that the pension once paid is classed as taxable income.  It was however Gordon who drove a coach and horses through the principle.  I have not, and never will, forgive the labour party for taxing my pension twice; once while saving for it and again when receiving it.  In my mind that extra tax is going to support public sector pensions, which will be a lot more generous than anything I will ever receive.

Last night the conservative government voted to increase Britain's subscription to the IMF by 88% or £9.3 billion.  The conservatives claim that the increase was agreed by the last labour government.  Labour reply that the agreement was finalized only six months ago.  It speaks volumes that they are both falling over themselves to distance themselves from the decision; yet still £9.3 billion of our money will be spent supporting the euro.  A currency that we as a nation declined to join.  Under this government we have now spent over £22 billion supporting the euro, over £8 billion to bailout Ireland, over £4.5 billion to bailout Portugal and an increase of £9.3 billion to the IMF to support the Greek bailout.  In my own mind I am certain that the conservatives have not fought Britain's corner with anything like the vigour that they ought to have. 

The choice seem to be between

1. Spendthrift labour pouring money into public services for little or no improvement in the service while paying benefits to fit health people at the same time as employing immigrants to do the work that the benefit claimants should be doing.
2. Spendthrift conservatives pouring money into supporting the euro; so that Greek workers can retire at 50 instead of working to support their own currency.

I imagine myself in ten years time, retired (I'll be over 65 by then) on holiday in a miserable B&B in Clacton-on-Sea.  I sit watching the rain falling from grey skies into an equally cold grey north sea.  I dream about how nice it would be to holiday on a Greek Island with warm sunny skies and clear blue Mediterranean seas.  I sit in a taverna with a glass of retsina watching the luxurious yachts in the harbour, I can see the bankers and politician sipping cocktails, they discuss how to write off billions of pounds in outstanding taxpayer loans.  I turn and and chat happily with all those public sector holiday makers and Greek pensioners in their early fifties, we watch the sunny setting over the sea.  Perhaps we would talk about who to vote for at the next election.
 
Best Wishes
Will

Italy Wobbles

Italy has wobbled, she hasn't fallen but the currency and bond traders are watching and they know she wobbled.  If you listen carefully you will hear the sound of knives being sharpened.  There is a killing to be made.  

The power of the currency markets should not be under estimated.  Almost twenty years ago on 16 September 1992 (commonly referred to as Black Wednesday) Britain was unable to keep sterling above its agreed lower exchange limit measured against a basket of European currencies.  The British government were therefore forced to withdraw the pound sterling from the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM). But only after HM Treasury had spent £27bn of reserves trying to avoid the inevitable withdrawal.  In just a few days George Soros, the most high profile of the currency market investors, made over 1 billion US dollars in profit by short selling sterling. The German government after first agreeing to help sterling failed to give the promised support. 
Taking on the combined wealth of all the euro zone economies will not be as easy as taking on the pound sterling but the euro has a fatal flaw and is badly wounded.  The markets are powerful, greedy and merciless, they will be patient and wait for the right moment but sooner or later they will strike; it will not be a pretty sight.

Best Wishes
Will

Full of courage, a real man's man?

I have spent some time reading the words of the conservative government on two separate, but related issues.  Firstly on Sunday 19th June David Cameroon personally delivered a father’s day message to absent fathers.  This is what he said:

"I also think we need to make Britain a genuinely hostile place for fathers who go AWOL.  It’s high time runaway dads were stigmatised, and the full force of shame was heaped upon them.  They should be looked at like drink drivers, people who are beyond the pale. They need the message rammed home to them, from every part of our culture, that what they’re doing is wrong"

Leaving aside the fairly obvious point that if the courts gave more fathers custody of their children (it’s called equality you know) there would be fewer absent fathers and rather more absent mothers.  Cameroon really should apologies to the tens of thousands of absent fathers trying to maintain contact with their children.  They heroically battle not just against their ex-wives and girl-friends but against a legal system that is heavily biased against them.

Cameron clearly either knows nothing of or cares not a jot for the pain, heartache and abuse heaped on absent fathers trying to obtain and enforce contact orders.  Shame on him for delivering such a cheap shot on what for so many fathers is one of the saddest days of the year.

Turning now to a rather different type of absent father; I refer to service men returning from military service in Afghanistan - no not those marching proudly down the high street - but those who currently return via Royal Wooten Bassett.  They have become rather an embarrassment to this government so in future aircraft bearing the mortal remains of Britain’s finest will be routed via RAF Brize Norton instead of RAF Lyneham; where rather than leaving by the main gates, hearses will be ushered out of a side entrance and via back roads away from towns and villages  to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.

Andrew Robathan, government minister for Defence Personnel, Welfare and Veterans explains.

"The side gate was seen by the Ministry of Defence and the police as the most appropriate way to take out future corteges.  I am not sure taking coffins in hearses past schools, past families, past married quarters is necessarily the thing that everybody would wish to see .  .  . the focus must be on the families of the dead service personnel.  They are the people who care most. That is where our focus is."

What a pathetic excuse for a government.
Best Wishes
Will

Sometimes it's good to be wrong

I admit to being wrong on two out of the three most significant political issues in the past two or three years now I pray that I will also be wrong about the third and most significant issue.  My score card reads -

1. MP's expenses: I seriously believed that there would be a day of reckoning.  But due to the widespread level of fraud and deceit, it is hard to imagine how retribution and reform could have been less harsh or less effective.  (Score, zero out of one.)
2. A reforming conservative government: I felt certain that given the sheer scale of Blair and Brown's failures that the country would elect a conservative government which would reverse the growth in public sector spending, curb the excesses of the welfare state, reform health and education and look after our armed services. Wrong, no conservative government but instead a coalition government, pathetic or non existent reforms and higher taxes.  (Score, zero out of two.)
3. Bloody unrest in Europe: I fear the current euro crisis will  lead to bloody unrest, possibly civil war or God forbid out right international war on mainland Europe.  (Score, the jury is still out.)

I was wrong on the first two counts due to over optimism for a satisfactory outcome.  I pray that I will now be wrong on the third count due to rather to much pessimism.

Best Wishes
Will

By way of contrast

Daniel Hannan speaking at a debate at the Royal Geographic Society on 17th May 2011.  The motion was  ‘Germany no longer needs Europe: the dream is over’; I regret to say the motion was defeated but just compare the quality of the debate with yesterdays post.

Best Wishes

Will

And they wonder why so many British citizens dislike the EU

I have nothing further to say.  Mr Guy Verhofstadt ex prime minister of Belgium speaking at the european parliament says it all for me...

Best Wishes
Will

Drinking themselves (and us) into oblivion

The political elite of Europe are behaving like immature youngsters at a late night party.  They are drunk and know they will have a hangover in the morning.  The only question is do they stop drinking now and have a moderate to bad hangover or do they carry on drinking?  If they carry on drinking the onset of the hangover will be delayed but when it comes it will be so much worse.

The euro party is over so why are they still drinking? 
Best Wishes
Will

Nightmare continues but eurozone leaders still refuse to wake up

Greece is rapidly approaching a national debt of €300 billion, the population of Greece is just 10 million meaning that every person (Men, Women and children) living in Greece is supporting a debt of €30,000.  If we consider not the entire population of 10 million but only those working in the wealth generating part of the economy ie excluding pensioners, children, those employed by the public sector, the sick and infirm; then the debt is going to be in excess of €90,000 per wealth generator.

Eurozone leaders are determined to protect the euro and European banks whilst condemning tax payers to a generation of poverty.  There is no easy solution it is going to hurt, but the longer they delay the worse it is going to be.  The nightmare is not going to go away until Europe's leaders wake up.

Best Wishes
Will

Theft is Theft and Raid is Raid

As I blogged exactly one year ago, Ian Duncan Smith has a difficult but essential role to play in the coalition government. As part of his departments drive against benefit fraud his department recently released a list of the ten most bizarre excuses benefit fraudster have used.

1. I wasn’t using the ladders to clean windows. I carried them as therapy for my bad back.
2. We don’t live together, he just comes each morning to fill up his flask.
3. I had no idea my wife was working! I never noticed her leaving the house twice a day in a fluorescent jacket with a “Stop Children” sign.
4. My wallet was stolen so someone must have been using my identity. I haven’t been working.
5. I didn’t know I was still on benefit.
6. I didn’t declare my savings because I didn’t save them. They were given to me.
7. He lives in a caravan in the drive. We’re not together.
8. He does come here every night and leaves in the morning and, although he has no other address, I don’t regard him as living here.
9. It wasn’t me working. It was my identical twin.
10. I wasn’t aware my wife was working because her hours of work coincided with the times I spent in the garden shed.

Releasing these pathetic excuses, would under normal circumstances have played an important role in convincing the public that a crack down on benefit fraud was long overdue; even if it means some inconvenience to genuine claimants who may have to be assessed.

However, the job of driving through these changes is made more difficult by the government’s failure to act in a number of other areas.

1. MP’s Expenses
2. Bankers Bonuses
3. Tax avoidance
4. The wasteful European Union

The Internet is full of postings about duck houses, moat cleaning, and second homes allowances; not all of them relating to events over two year ago, here is just one example...

"All those excuses seem better than that offered by multi millionaire David Laws MP who has helped himself to the best part of 100K.

Just hiding my gay lover whilst paying him mega bucks of public money as rent' 

Some people believe whats good for the goose....  

If you are a lying cheating politician or one of the elite - its sorry, oops, won't do it again, a 'mistake'."

Meanwhile bankers who, when the gambling pays off keep the profits for themselves but expect the tax payers to bail them out when their gambling fails are back paying themselves eye wateringly large bonuses despite owing us all billions of pounds.

In the Alice in Wonderland world of European finance tens of billions is 'lent' to countries who have no hope of ever repaying the money.  The EU is now well into it's second decade of auditors refusing to sign their annual accounts and details emerge of the euro elite chartering private jets, funding luxury holidays, hosting lavish parties and buying expense gifts all at our expense.

It takes a rare skill to make the public feel sympathy for benefits cheats but I do believe this government has succeeded.  I leave you with one final thought posted on the Internet.

"All I can say is:

Don't ever put me on a jury involved in theft because I'm not going to find ordinary people guilty of a crime our elite can walk away from. 

One law for all. No exceptions."

Best Wishes
Will

A billion here, a billion there; it soon adds up to real money

If anyone thought my back of an envelope calculations on November 20, 2010 Dream on; it's to late to wake up now, the nightmare is about to start were a bit over the top they should take a look at this article published in The Irish Times on May 7, 2011, written by Morgan Kelly the highly respected professor of economics at University College Dublin.

Kelly calculates that Ireland's debts will exceed €250 billion by 2014, equivalent to more than €120,000 per worker; or 160 per cent of gross national product.  He goes on to say -

"Economists have a rule of thumb that once its national debt exceeds its national income, a small economy is in danger of default (large economies, like Japan, can go considerably higher). Ireland is so far into the red zone that marginal changes in the bailout terms can make no difference: we are going to be in the Hudson."

As I said at the time - "Simply put, the Irish cannot repay that size of loan."
So far the UK have saved £6 Billion through government spending cuts and thrown £12 Billion at propping up the Euro currency.  There's more to come...
Best Wishes
Will

Good Money after Bad

Having participated in the EU bail out of  Ireland - the UK's share was nearly £8 billion - the madness continues and the we are now about to contribute some £4.4 billion towards the EU bail out of Portugal. 

We will not see this money again, any more than we will see the Irish bail out monies.  Portugal's debts are growing faster than its GDP; until that process is reversed there will be no prospect of debt repayment.  If, and its a big if, debt repayment ever happens the IMF will be first in line for repayment.  Prudence (remember her) suggests that we are not going to get this money back, ever. 

By a strange coincidence the total bailout money spent so far - there is more to come; Spain, Italy and Belgium are all candidates for bailouts - in propping up the Euro is exactly twice the £6.2 billion savings made by cuts in government budgets.

Forget the March for the Alternative, how about a March for no Bailouts
Best Wishes
Will

Cleaning up Politics

If memory serves me correctly, during the General Election last May David Cameron campaigned to cleanup politics.  He was largely but not exclusively referring to the MPs expenses scandal.  I wonder therefore how it is that in the Finance Bill published on 29th March 2011 there is a specific clause that excludes Members of Parliament from legislation regarding tax avoidance by means of disguised remuneration.  Hidden deep in the small pring of this 390 page Bill is sub clause 554E (8) which reads:

"Chapter 2 does not apply by reason of a relevant step taken by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority in relation to a member of the House of Commons."

There has been some comment on the inclusion of this strange clause in the Finance Bill, mainly from fringe internet blogs; the only comment I have found in the mass media is this item from Ian Cowie of the Daily Telegraph.  To the best of my knowledge neither the BBC, ITV or Sky have reported on this matter.  In my opinion this indicates that the health of our democracy leaves much to be desired.  However even if there are only a few of us asking the question it still needs to be asked.

Why do MPs need to be exempt from a law designed to prevent tax avoidance?
Best Wishes
Will