Thursday 27 February 2014

Bob Hope And No Hope...

Those of a tennis persuasion will recognise the above illustration of a tennis court but will also notice instantly an unusual difference – one court is significantly bigger than the other.

Sometimes, though rarely, tennis matches have been played on courts like this, especially during the so-called “battle of the sexes” – notably a match between Martina Navratilova and  Jimmy Connors in 1992. Women's champion Navratilova was allowed to hit into the doubles court while men's champion Conners was not (albeit the doubles alley was slightly smaller than a normal doubles court).

Such changes to the rules to benefit one competitor over another clearly make any competitive match a mockery of the sport and thus cannot be taken seriously.

And this leads me neatly onto the Tories and the EU...

As Merkel visits London to meet Cameron, we have to endure more fatuous bollocks:
British Prime Minister David Cameron meets Angela Merkel, leader of the European Union's most powerful state, in London on Thursday looking to gauge his chances of marshalling broader EU backing for his plans for reform of the bloc.
As Richard North notes: "What will escape most commentators is the rather obvious fact that the EU currently boasts 28 members and that, in order to initiate the treaty revision procedure under Article 48 of the TEU – necessary for any meaningful reform – a simple majority is needed, i.e., 15 member states...and even then "any changes proposed could be vetoed by any one member state, either at the signature or (in effect) the ratification stage".

It does get really tedious keep hearing the Tories trying to treat our EU membership as an "A La Carte" menu. One would assume the name “Single Market” might give the game away – a single market can only operate with a single set of rules. But…no…apparently not.

The Tories seem to think that other EU member states will allow us flexibility which as a consquence will give the UK a competitive advantage - that, in short, the view other EU member states will show eagerness to agree to let the UK to use a smaller tennis court this side of the net. The moment the EU concedes to different countries playing by different rules is the moment it collapses. Such demands for reform really is beyond naivety.

With EU reform the Tories have got two hopes...we're run by children - it's about time they grew up.

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