Last week leading economists declared that the United Kingdom is now officially back in a “double dip recession” : strange that, since most of us were unaware that we’d escaped the first dip! Basically, the country has been in the economic mire since the dark days of the “credit crunch” of 2008 and not a lot seems to have gone right since then in spite of the removal of the bungling Brown government . Sadly, the Coalition haven’t taken us much further towards the promised land and the repeated cock-ups of the dynamic duo of Prime Minister Cameron and  Chancellor Osborne don’t exactly fill the country with confidence or optimism. It really is starting to look like doom and gloom and one wonders is there anybody who can provide us with the positive, honest and competent leadership we so desperately need?

Still, we can always look to the soap opera of Europe to cheer us up and gain comfort from the knowledge that whatever happens, at least  we are not in the euro: mind you, it’s doubtful that anyone else will be soon, so disastrously is the European Union handling the economic crisis.

Here are two recent examples of European corruption; call it incompetence if you are feeling generous. Firstly, the European Commission’s draft budget was recently published calling for a 6.8% increase in spending. In the middle of the worst recession in living memory that is almost unbelievable in itself but yesterday the Sunday Times revealed that the Commission has just agreed a £10 million four year deal, with a private Belgian airline, to fly European officials all over the world on EU business. Evidently the airline’s charges work out, on average, at £16,000 per hour per flight. Why can’t these officials travel on scheduled flights like normal (perhaps there’s a clue in that word) people? Even first class flights wouldn’t approach those figures.

Secondly, the Commission’s budget states that, amongst its “tough” decisions on savings is one to cut its workforce by 1%; a tiny proportion you have to agree. However, even that turns out to be a gross exaggeration since, as Open Europe reveals in its fortnightly bulletin, the proposed staff reductions for ALL European Union institutions next year amount to a loss of only 6 (yes, six!) jobs out of 41,000 (www.openeurope.org.uk).

Of course, we know that the European Commission is unelected and clearly feels no responsibility to the likes of you and I but even so, I can’t help but wonder, what planet do these people come from?