"The Euro Has Been A Massive Success..."

"Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened." - Winston Churchill

...so argues Ken Daly, husband of former Tory MEP Margaret Daly in the Euro crisis discussion on BBC's Sunday Politics (West) show below:



One can only wonder what would constitute a failure - the bar must be set pretty high. But blinded by ideology, Mr Daly will cling onto his beloved project 'till the bitter end. And one imagines that when it all collapses he will be in a rocking chair somewhere, bitterly lamenting to anyone in earshot, that there was nothing wrong with the EU it was just implemented wrong.

The discussion, which begins circa 2:20 minutes in, also features Tory 'Eurosceptic' David Heathcoat-Amory - who currently has a book out titled; "Confessions of a Eurosceptic". Bearing this in mind it's interesting that despite being prompted numerous times by the presenter, not once does he explicitly argue for us to leave the EU completely. Instead he concentrates on Euro membership and its failings.

The argument to actually leave was made by Labour's former MP David Drew, who is also vice Chairman of football club Forest Green Rovers, (a club which banned burgers and other meat products last year at their ground). David Drew does correctly identify the disconnect between the people and politics because of the "power draining away to Brussels".

But Drew aside, the whole discussion had the air of arguments that haven't moved on in 20 years - riddled as it was with EU cliches. Note the constant references from the BBC presenter of "banging on about Europe" - I lost count of how many times this was mentioned, or that it is an 'obsession'. Spot also the irony as the BBC presenter says (with some feeling) that no-one cares about the EU - this during a programme on the issue because of the Eurozone crisis which is dominating the news.

As is usual, events are moving faster than politicians can keep up with them, as the Eurozone, and possibly the EU itself, balances precariously on the precipice of disaster, our MPs are faffing about over whether to promise some kind of referendum or not. They are so far behind the curve that not even binoculars are enough for them to see it.
 

This does mean however, there is one instance where we can emulate EU strategy - the beneficial crisis. As our MPs naval gaze and the Eurocrisis continues, we can use it as an opportunity to leap into the void and show a way forward. July 14th hopefully will produce the beginnings of that way forward.