Category Archives: Europe

A Brave New Start

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The British people have voted, in a fair and democratic (words unknown in Europe’s corridors of power) referendum to leave the European Union. Not everybody voted to leave, of course, but in the long term those who voted to remain, along with the rest of Europe, will thank the British (not for the first time in the history of this continent) for what they did on June 23rd, 2016.

As this blog has said regularly, since its inception 5 years ago, the European Union is and always was doomed to failure and even if the British had voted to remain it would merely have delayed the inevitable. We have now got our country back and there are millions in Europe who are envious of that fact. Let’s see if the politicians of France, Italy, Holland et al have the courage to offer their peoples a similar right to choose.

Inevitably, I suppose, there have been recriminations and harsh words spoken following the referendum result, perhaps the most insulting being that those who voted to leave are somehow racist, nationalist or “Little Englanders”. I’m sure there are some who fit that description but it’s no more accurate than describing Remainers as misguided, idealistic, condescending, self-deluding dreamers. Some of them are not.

Many of us voted out because we believe in democracy and in the right of a free people to choose how they are governed. It doesn’t mean we don’t like Europeans nor desire peace and harmony any less than our compatriots. That is ridiculous.

We must now move on, work together and find a government and prime minister in touch with the needs and desires of his (or her) people. There will undoubtedly be tricky times ahead and we will certainly feel some economic discomfort but, like a mill pond, its tranquillity shattered by a stone, the waters inevitably grow calm and life goes on as before.

A Message to the Undecided

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That the European Union is corrupt, grossly inefficient, over-regulated and undemocratic is beyond dispute. The fact that those in the Remain camp talk of future change from within the Union indicates that they are in agreement.

The question is do they really believe that, by continuing its membership, the UK will succeed in bringing about such change, having singularly failed to do so since it joined in 1973? If they do then it is, at best, a triumph of hope over experience or, at worst, an attempt to pull the wool over the eyes of those unable to see the truth for themselves.

However, irrespective of the EU’s inefficiency, corruption and lack of democracy, irrespective of the debates on economics, security and immigration, irrespective of the disgraceful bullying threats of our arrogant, condescending Prime Minister and his unprincipled cronies, we need to ask ourselves one question.

Do we trust ourselves to govern our country (as we have done for over 900 years) or would we rather pass on that responsibility to an unelected European elite?

If we trust ourselves we vote to leave, if we don’t we stay. Simple really.

False Credit

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Of all the recent nonsense spoken about Europe one of the standout pieces was the assertion by our Prime Minister that credit for the lasting peace on the continent since the end of World War II lies with the European Union.

The European Union may well provide comfort to France, which by 1940, had, on three separate occasions since 1870, suffered the indignity and humiliation of seeing German troops marching happily on French boulevards. It undoubtedly provides comfort too to a reunified German nation coming to terms with its brutal and savage past.

But as for providing the peace and security enjoyed by us all over the last 70 years Cameron needs to look west rather than east since the only reason a devastated post-war Europe was able to resist the Soviet Union and avoid further conflict was the strength and presence of the USA.

Today is the 72nd anniversary of D Day (June 6th 1944) the day when a huge force of Americans, aided by British and Canadian troops, began the invasion which, less than a year later, would bring peace to the continent and an end to Nazi tyranny. The cemeteries of Normandy bear witness to the sacrifice made by those men. Europe’s politicians would do well to not lose sight of that fact.

 

Abusive Politicians

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As the European Union Referendum campaign gains momentum the rhetoric has predictably become more emotional and abusive. Still, that’s politicians for you, never that far away from the kindergarten or school playground.

Much of the talk has been of economics, with each side wheeling out their financial “experts” peddling scare-mongering theories as to how much it will cost us if we stay or leave.

It would be naïve to hope that the majority of voters would look to how their votes would affect the country as a whole (and future generations) rather than the short-term impact on their pockets, but that’s human nature, I suppose.

Perhaps it was ever thus and perhaps people really can be bought or sold. If that is the case then they can hardly complain if things don’t turn out quite the way they’d planned.

Dirty Politics

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Politics is a dirty old game sure enough and our Government and the Prime Minister are past masters, not that it always does them much good. In fact both need to understand that the British people don’t take kindly to being patronised and tend to react contrarily when faced by scare tactics.

In the 2014 Scottish referendum, the Chancellor of the Exchequer travelled north to tell the Scots that if they voted to leave the UK they wouldn’t be able to keep the pound. This perceived arrogance and negative campaigning almost had the opposite effect since many undecided Scots, outraged at being treated like naughty school kids, evidently voted to leave, making an almost certain Stay vote a lot closer than it need have been.

During the recent contest to choose the new London Mayor the Conservative candidate, Zac Goldsmith, and his backers conducted a smear campaign against Goldsmith’s Labour opponent, Sadiq Khan (a Muslim human rights lawyer) by alleging that he had links with Islamic terrorists. I have no idea whether or not the allegations have any substance but the tactics failed and the electorate, clearly less than impressed by this negative campaigning duly elected Khan to office last week.

Now, our Prime Minister, in a sure sign that he feels he might be losing the EU referendum argument, is trying to scare the British people by telling us that if we leave the EU it could be a threat to peace in Europe and therefore to us in the UK, conveniently ignoring the facts that we are members of NATO, hold a seat on the UN Security Council and boast a nuclear deterrent.

It almost beggars belief that he and his fellow pro-European Union supporters are prepared to sink so low. Perhaps they should be equally prepared for defeat in June’s referendum when the nation sends out the message that, actually we are not all complete idiots.

Europe’s Official Language

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To encourage a positive vote in the forthcoming referendum the European Commission recently announced that English will be the official language of the European Union. The UK Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a 5 year plan to gradually convert to “Euro-English”.

In the first year, “s” will replace the soft “c”. Sertainly, this will please the sivil servants. The hard “c” will be dropped in favour of “k”. This should klear up konfusion, and keyboards kan have one less letter. There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year when the awkward “ph” will be replaced with “f”. Fotograf is far more logikal than photograph.

In the third year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible. The EU will enkourage the removal of double letters which have always been a deterent to akurate speling.  Also, the silent “e” in the languag is troublesom and will also be removed. By the 4th yer people wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing “th” with “z” and “w” with “v”.

During ze fifz yer, ze unesesary “o” kan be dropd from vords   kontaining “ou” and after zis ve vil hav a reil sensibl riten styl. Zer vil be no mor trubl or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi tu unterstand ech uzer.

Ze drem of a united europ vil finaly be relized und efter ze fifz yer, ve vil al be speking German like zey vanted us to do in ze furst plas. Zank ze Lord und Angela Merkel!

(NB. Furst sen on ze internet about 5 yers ago. Amended und adapted fur zis blog)

Don’t Meddle

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During his recent visit to London, President Obama announced that the United Kingdom would be better off staying in the European Union and that if we left we would be “at the back of the queue” as far as trading with the USA is concerned.

This obviously delighted our pro-EU Prime Minister but certainly did the opposite as far as opponents of the EU are concerned, several of whom directed some pretty sharp comments at the President by way of a response.

It’s not really a good idea for a foreign statesman to meddle in the affairs of another country, no matter how well-intentioned his motives may be. I wonder what the response would be if a foreign leader stood before the cameras in Washington DC and, however politely, suggested to the Americans how they should run their country?

Actually, I don’t wonder at all, I know what the response would be; the speaker would be greeted with a not-so-polite suggestion as to where he could stick his microphone, and quite right too!

Message to the Undecided

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According to the media many people have yet to decide which way they are going to vote in the European Union referendum on June 23rd.

To listen to politicians both for and against the EU is to be bombarded by facts and figures based on speculation, surmise and, predominantly in the case of the pro-EU politicians, scaremongering. Nobody knows for sure what the financial cost will be one way or the other and frankly, the cost is irrelevant, as are the arguments on safety and security

The only relevant issue in this debate, and one that few have highlighted, is the issue of freedom. We, the electorate have to decide whether we want our country to determine its own future or have decisions made for us by a federation of European states.

As an independent United Kingdom we are governed by the political parties we vote into power and who we can vote out again after 5 years should we be unhappy with them. It is called democracy and accountable government. No such democracy or accountability exists in the EU where we are governed by unelected members of the European Commission accountable to nobody.

It may well be that we will be financially better off by staying in the EU (a moot point) but so what? You cannot put a price on freedom and, throughout history, peoples and countries (including our own) have fought to gain or protect their independence and freedom. We must not allow ourselves to be bought and sold on the whim of political idealists or fat-cat businessmen getting rich from trading in the EU. Freedom is price-less.

Here is a useful analogy for those yet to decide. If you were an animal would you prefer to be one which is fed, watered and cared for in captivity with a third party responsible for your welfare? Or would you rather be outside of the secure fence, free to come and go as you please, making your decisions freely and with sole responsibility for your own destiny? I know which one I would rather be.

British Steel

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The staggering collapse of the British steel industry, like coal, formerly one of the pillars of all that made this country wealthy and prosperous, has been painful to behold. Like anybody else, I feel desperately sorry for those people who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own.

The fact that for the last few years our steel industry has been run by a foreign company, Tata of India, was initially hard to digest but welcome nonetheless if it kept the industry active and people in work. Sadly, it hasn’t worked out and, following the loss of thousands of jobs at the turn of the year, it was announced last week that thousands more will follow on the back of losses of £1 million per day.

The main reason is said to be the flooding of the market by cheap Chinese steel with which the West cannot possibly compete. There are those who say that our Government must intervene and save the jobs, a familiar refrain but one that has to stack up economically. In spite of the wishes of the Far Left it cannot just be left to the government to keep its citizens in full time employment. The lessons of the former Soviet Union clearly demonstrate that.

However, there is something that any government can do and that is to tax foreign imports so harshly that the home market can flourish once more, even if it means a more expensive product for the consumer. In the USA the steel industry faces a similar problem and the government there has responded with taxes in excess of 250% on foreign steel to try to protect the American industry and its workers.

Our government should do the same thing although the problem we have is that we are bound by the rules of the European Union. It is up to them to deal with the problem, meaning that British jobs are at the mercy of the unelected mandarins of Brussels. Another factor to be considered when voting in the June referendum.

The Wealth of Nations

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On the back of the English £20 note is a picture of Adam Smith, the famous 18th century Scottish economist, philosopher and author, whose book “The Wealth of Nations” radically changed the way people thought about wealth and national prosperity.

Smith was a great believer in free trade and the economic and social benefits that it could bring to a nation and its people. However, he once remarked that –

“It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest”.

A statement worth bearing in mind when we hear of certain leaders of big business urging the UK to remain in the over-regulated European Union.

We must never forget that capitalist self-interest outweighs all other interests, including democracy and freedom, time after time.