Intolerant And Selfish?

According to our dear leader; Van Rompuy, who was democratically and directly elected by the peoples of Europe, is not really interested in power, believes that he should be accountable to the people, isn't paid £250,000 (more than the UK Prime Minister) and didn't use EU official cars to take his family on holiday, has just decided that everyone else in Europe is not as altruistic as himself:

"This long march to freedom and justice. This is not then the time for us Europeans to become less open, less tolerant, more selfish or materialistic..."

If only we could all be like him.

CIA Warns Of Miltary Coup In Greece

Richard North at EUReferendum highlights a CIA report which warns of dire consequences in Greece if its austerity measures continue:

Letting the cat out of the bag, however, is the German popular daily Bild, which has got hold of a CIA report warning that the tough austerity measures and the dire situation in Greece could escalate and even lead to a military coup.

This in repeated in the Turkish press and you can bet your sweet life that Ankara is monitoring the situation very closely. A military junta on its doorstep, perhaps looking for foreign adventures to keep minds off domestic troubles, is not what is wanted at this juncture.

As Richard rightly points out that a Greek default is a matter of when, not if and the likely European consequences of a Greek default make for very sober reading economically and politically. There are no good options at this point, which is reflected in the fact that the British media and most UK MPs are all doing their hardest to pretend that it's not too much to worry about (with the added exception now of an opportunistic Labour party who resides in opposition). And EU politicians are too busy panicking and bickering.

A bit like the brazen bull; there's lots of noise and heat and the outcome is inevitable - can we just get it over and done with?

British Understatement

From Calling England:

It reminds me of the famous story from the Korean war where 600 British were under attack from 10,000 Chinese soldiers, and the British brigadier; Thomas Brodie reported to the American Commander that the situation was "a bit sticky, things are pretty sticky down there" i.e. hurry up with them reinforcements - now! Needless to say to the Americans the phrase; "a bit sticky" didn't quite have the same urgency.

Ferrets And Sacks

In news not entirely unexpected, Sepp Blatter has been implicated in the latest corruption charges surrounding Fifa;

World football's governing body has been plunged deeper into crisis after its ethics committee widened a bribery investigation to include Sepp Blatter.

The Fifa president will appear in front of the ethics committee on Sunday with Mohamed bin Hammam, his Qatari rival, who is accused of offering cash bribes, and Jack Warner, the Concacaf president who has clung to a pivotal role at Fifa for 28 years despite a string of alleged scandals.

...this battle of the Fifa presidential election is turning out to be very messy indeed and Jack "the clown" Warner (corrupter-in-chief) has had further allegations made against him. I suspect though despite it all Blatter will win the election on Wednesday unopposed- such is democracy within Fifa, (I wonder if Cameron regrets this).

Yet this leads me on to a wider point. Yes, Fifa is a wonderful example of how unelected international bureaucracies are corrupt precisely because there are no checks and balances, but also at fault is the compliance, or apathy, of those it represents; note the silence since from UEFA over the scandal of the world body of football (UEFA President Platini is rumoured to be in line to replace Blatter)

And then we come onto the FA - run by unelected buffoons since 1863. An organisation who thinks that the "fit and proper persons test" is really just a measure of the size of your cheque book, that it's a good idea for England to play Germany in 1935 at White Hart Lane (home of 'Jewish' team Tottenham Hotspur) 2 months after the Nazis passed the Nuremberg laws, and who gave away control of our top diversion in 1993 to the Premier League to 'get one over' their political rivals; the Football league, and then could not control the monster it created. Added to this the FA has had a long and illustrious track record of applying different sanctions to clubs for the same crime depending on how rich that club is, for example recently; Luton and QPR were both found guilty of a breach of FA Football Agents Regulations, A1:

A. GENERAL
1 A Player or Club must not at any time use the services of, or seek to use the
services of, pay, or seek to pay, either directly or indirectly, an Unauthorised Agent
in relation to any Agency Activity.

Luton Town was bankrupt but admitted its guilt, QPR is owned by billionaires and lied to cover up its guilt, one was given a "smack on the wrist" fine and the other was deducted 10 points - no prizes for guessing which punishment went to which club.

The worst apathy though is the fans. We all know that the organisations of the FA, UEFA and FIFA stinks but the reaction that presides most of all is a shrug of the shoulders. If Blatter wins on Wednesday there will be some indignation but little else - ultimately he will be President because he can.

Your club run by crooks? Run by more crooks? And by even more crooks? Managed by fascists? As long as the team keeps winning, and you get your tickets for the World Cup in Brazil in 2018 then no-one cares. That's how they get away with it. And on a bigger scale that's how the EU gets away with it - apathy.

Greek Youth Follow Spanish Example

Not A Smart Cookie

From midnight tonight, the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) (Amendment) Regulations 2011 comes into force. This amends the 2003 Regulation and enhances the powers of the Information Commissioner particularly regarding internet cookies.

The amendments require companies and website owners to gain explicit permission before setting a cookie on an internet user’s computer. Failure to abide by this Directive could lead to a fine of up to £500,000 for a serious breach.

This amendment has been controversial for a number of reasons. Firstly there's the catch-22 situation. When visiting a site a message will appear; "do you consent to cookies from this site". If you click 'no' the website cannot leave a cookie to remember your response so when clicking on a second page on the site, another pop-up window will appear requesting your consent again - and this will happen continually until you consent. Shopping online with EU websites, as a consequence, will become an unpleasant and intrusive experience, which leads onto the second point. These rules will not apply to non-EU sites, making them more of an attractive experience and putting EU sites at a commercial disadvantage, not least also because of the additional over-heads of complying with the rules.

My Europhile Tory MP; Ed Vaizey (Minister for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries) has previously expressed his concerns, regarding this directive:

"...a good example of a well-meaning regulation that will be very difficult to make work in practice."

Concerns that also included traditional Tory friendly words like:

"I am not a big fan of regulation."

"...it is so important for us to adopt a flexible approach"

"...a one size fits all solution will not cover everything"

But as Mr Vaizey's open letter this week makes clear, he has every intention of complying:

DCMS looks forward to continuing its close collaboration with the ICO and other stakeholders on the development of appropriate technical solutions to this challenging and difficult provision. We remain firmly convinced that the UK implementation is correct that it is good for business, good for consumers and addresses in a proportionate and pragmatic way the concerns of citizens with regard their personal data online.

And:

"...there will be no immediate changes to how UK websites operate as a result of new EU rules".

There will be no immediate changes, which only means that we will comply eventually, and we must because the Information Commissioner has told us so:

British businesses have one year to make sure their websites comply with updated rules governing the use of cookies, the UK's data protection authority has warned.

...the cookie consent laws will not be enforced immediately, information commissioner Christopher Graham said on Wednesday.

"We're giving businesses and organisations up to one year to get their house in order," Graham said in a statement. "This does not let everyone off the hook. Those who choose to do nothing will have their lack of action taken into account when we begin formal enforcement of the rules."

We therefore only have a year's respite before the EU Directive is implemented, and in many cases it will be implemented earlier.

So an unelected bureaucracy issues laws that are then implement by an unelected quango in the UK regardless of the wishes or concerns of the elected representative, to the detriment of British business. Therein lies the state of British democracy.

"I'll Do Anything To Survive"

For 11 years Sepp Blatter has been President of FIFA and he has not achieved that without dubious practices - his tenure has consistently been dogged by allegations of corruption. For almost a decade, in order to hold on to power at FIFA, Blatter has without question relied on Jack Warner to provide 35 votes that he controls in the Caribbean and North and Central America. In return Blatter has turned a blind eye to Warner being able to make himself, and his family, millionaires; plundering football in his region and FIFA itself.

However, Warner's controlled bloc of votes (including the USA) has come at an increasingly high price, which has lead to less than opaque corruption:

One of Fifa's most senior executives could profit by more than £10m from World Cup ticket sales in a scandal that will horrify supporters and raise fears that some senior officials ­ and individuals within sponsor companies ­ are exploiting their positions to milk the tournament for personal gain.

In a move that has caused outrage in Trinidad & Tobago, who face England in the group stage, the Caribbean nation's entire ticket allocation has been allocated to a travel agency owned by Jack Warner, a Fifa vice-president who is also the president of CONCACAF and a special advisor to the Trinidad & Tobago FA.

Now it seems that with an impeding FIFA Presidential election, and with further evidence of corruption swirling around FIFA, Blatter is dropping his ally, and also his Presidential opponent, in the smelly stuff in a very naked attempt at self preservation:

Fifa presidential candidate Mohamed Bin Hammam and vice president Jack Warner have denied wrongdoing after Fifa opened disciplinary proceedings against them following bribery allegations.

Blatter is up to his eyeballs in this stuff and I don't believe that Jack Warner will let this go without a fight. Cue the popcorn.

This Is What Standing Up To Europe Looks Like

Question: Do you want to throw away lots of hard-earned taxpayers' money trying to save the Eurozone, even though it's illegal to do so:

Those who said 'No' (46):

Baker, Steve Bayley, Hugh Bingham, Andrew Campbell, Mr Ronnie Carswell, Mr Douglas Cash, Mr William Clappison, Mr James Cooper, Rosie Cryer, John Davidson, Mr Ian Davies, Geraint Davies, Philip Davis, rh Mr David de Bois, Nick Donaldson, rh Mr Jeffrey M. Drax, Richard Gardiner, Barry Goldsmith, Zac Gray, Mr James Harris, Mr Tom Henderson, Gordon Hoey, Kate Hollobone, Mr Philip Hopkins, Kelvin Jenkin, Mr Bernard Leigh, Mr Edward McCartney, Jason McCartney, Karl McDonnell, John Mitchell, Austin Nuttall, Mr David Percy, Andrew Reckless, Mark Redwood, rh Mr John Rees-Mogg, Jacob Shannon, Jim Sheridan, Jim Simpson, David Skinner, Mr Dennis Stewart, Bob Stringer, Graham Tomlinson, Justin Turner, Mr Andrew Vickers, Martin Walker, Mr Charles Wollaston, Dr Sarah

Those who said 'Yes please' (267):

Adams, Nigel Afriyie, Adam Aldous, Peter Amess, Mr David Andrew, Stuart Arbuthnot, rh Mr James Bacon, Mr Richard Bagshawe, Ms Louise Baker, Norman Baldry, Tony Baldwin, Harriett Barclay, Stephen Barker, Gregory Barron, rh Mr Kevin Barwell, Gavin Bebb, Guto Benyon, Richard Birtwistle, Gordon Blackman, Bob Blackwood, Nicola Blunt, Mr Crispin Boles, Nick Bottomley, Sir Peter Bradley, Karen Brake, Tom Bray, Angie Brazier, Mr Julian Bridgen, Andrew Brine, Mr Steve Brokenshire, James Brooke, Annette Browne, Mr Jeremy Bruce, rh Malcolm Buckland, Mr Robert Burns, rh Mr Simon Burrowes, Mr David Burstow, Paul Burt, Alistair Burt, Lorely Byles, Dan Cairns, Alun Campbell, rh Sir Menzies Carmichael, rh Mr Alistair Carmichael, Neil Chishti, Rehman Clark, rh Greg Clarke, rh Mr Kenneth Clifton-Brown, Geoffrey Coffey, Dr Thérèse Collins, Damian Colvile, Oliver Connarty, Michael Cox, Mr Geoffrey Crockart, Mike Crouch, Tracey Davey, Mr Edward Davies, David T. C.(Monmouth) Dinenage, Caroline Djanogly, Mr Jonathan Donohoe, Mr Brian H. Dorries, Nadine Doyle-Price, Jackie Duncan Smith, rh Mr Iain Dunne, Mr Philip Ellison, Jane Ellwood, Mr Tobias Elphicke, Charlie Eustice, George Evans, Graham Evans, Jonathan Evennett, Mr David Fabricant, Michael Fallon, Michael Field, Mr Mark Foster, rh Mr Don Francois, rh Mr Mark Freeman, George Freer, Mike Fuller, Richard Gale, Mr Roger Garnier, Mr Edward Garnier, Mark Gauke, Mr David George, Andrew Gibb, Mr Nick Gilbert, Stephen Gillan, rh Mrs Cheryl Glen, John Goodwill, Mr Robert Gove, rh Michael Graham, Richard Grayling, rh Chris Green, Damian Greening, Justine Grieve, rh Mr Dominic Griffiths, Andrew Gummer, Ben Gyimah, Mr Sam Hague, rh Mr William Halfon, Robert Hammond, rh Mr Philip Hammond, Stephen Hancock, Matthew Hands, Greg Harper, Mr Mark Harris, Rebecca Hart, Simon Harvey, Nick Haselhurst, rh Sir Alan Heald, Oliver Heath, Mr David Heaton-Harris, Chris Hemming, John Hendry, Charles Herbert, rh Nick Hinds, Damian Hoban, Mr Mark Hollingbery, George Holloway, Mr Adam Hopkins, Kris Howarth, Mr Gerald Howell, John Hughes, rh Simon Huhne, rh Chris Hunt, rh Mr Jeremy Huppert, Dr Julian Hurd, Mr Nick Jackson, Mr Stewart James, Margot Johnson, Gareth Johnson, Joseph Jones, Andrew Jones, Mr David Jones, Mr Marcus Kawczynski, Daniel Kirby, Simon Knight, rh Mr Greg Laing, Mrs Eleanor Lamb, Norman Lancaster, Mark Latham, Pauline Leadsom, Andrea Lee, Jessica Lee, Dr Phillip Leech, Mr John Lefroy, Jeremy Letwin, rh Mr Oliver Lewis, Brandon Liddell-Grainger, Mr Ian Lidington, rh Mr David Lloyd, Stephen Lopresti, Jack Lord, Jonathan Loughton, Tim Luff, Peter Macleod, Mary May, rh Mrs Theresa Maynard, Paul McIntosh, Miss Anne McLoughlin, rh Mr Patrick McVey, Esther Menzies, Mark Mercer, Patrick Metcalfe, Stephen Miller, Maria Mills, Nigel Milton, Anne Mordaunt, Penny Morgan, Nicky Morris, Anne Marie Morris, David Mowat, David Mulholland, Greg Mundell, rh David Munt, Tessa Murray, Sheryll Murrison, Dr Andrew Neill, Robert Newmark, Mr Brooks Newton, Sarah Nokes, Caroline Norman, Jesse O'Brien, Mr Stephen Offord, Mr Matthew Ollerenshaw, Eric Paice, rh Mr James Parish, Neil Patel, Priti Pawsey, Mark Penning, Mike Penrose, John Perry, Claire Phillips, Stephen Pickles, rh Mr EricPincher, Christopher Poulter, Dr Daniel Prisk, Mr Mark Pritchard, Mark Pugh, John Raab, Mr Dominic Randall, rh Mr John Reid, Mr Alan Robertson, Mr Laurence Rogerson, Dan Rudd, Amber Ruffley, Mr David Russell, Bob Rutley, David Sanders, Mr Adrian Scott, Mr Lee Selous, Andrew Sharma, Alok Shelbrooke, Alec Simmonds, Mark Simpson, Mr Keith Skidmore, Chris Smith, Miss Chloe Smith, Julian Smith, Sir Robert Soames, Nicholas Soubry, Anna Spelman, rh Mrs Caroline Spencer, Mr Mark Stephenson, Andrew Stevenson, John Stewart, Iain Stewart, Rory Streeter, Mr Gary Stride, Mel Stuart, Mr Graham Sturdy, Julian Swales, Ian Swayne, Mr Desmond Swinson, Jo Swire, rh Mr Hugo Syms, Mr Robert Thurso, John Timpson, Mr Edward Tredinnick, David Tyrie, Mr Andrew Uppal, Paul Vaizey, Mr Edward Vara, Mr Shailesh Villiers, rh Mrs Theresa Walker, Mr Robin Wallace, Mr Ben Walter, Mr Robert Ward, Mr David Webb, Steve Wharton, James Wheeler, Heather White, Chris Whittaker, Craig Wiggin, Bill Willetts, rh Mr David Williams, Hywel Williams, Mr Mark Williams, Roger Williams, Stephen Williamson, Gavin Willott, Jenny Wilson, Mr Rob Wright, Jeremy Wright, Simon Yeo, Mr Tim Young, rh Sir George

UK Government Censors Youtube

Trawling through Hansard this morning, I spot that John Hemming was again highlighting the ludicrous situation regarding injunctions. However this part of his speech caught my eye (my emphasis):

"We have no true freedom of speech when people can be jailed for complaining about their problems. This country seems to have a penchant for covering up problems that would be discussed openly in others.

Florence Bellone, a Belgian journalist, recorded an interview with Carol Hughes and Lucille O’Regan in Ireland, which was broadcast on RTBF in Belgium. A copy was placed on YouTube, but access in the UK is now blocked as a result of what YouTube calls a “government request”. What can be so frightening about that interview that people in the UK are not allowed to see it, but it can be broadcast in Belgium?"

And sure enough, trying to access the relevant video, titled "Please take me home" prompts the message pictured above. There is fortunately another version available which has yet to be censored, so we can see what the fuss is about, or not. As Hemming rightly asks what's so frightening about the interview - it's nearly all in French anyway (although there is a rough translation in the comments below). Not only that but Hemming himself is featured in the video, so our Government is censoring videos to ensure that we cannot see or hear our own elected representatives being interviewed.

It's another example of the "Ryan Giggs effect" - I wouldn't have bothered searching for or watching the video if it hadn't been subjected to a "Government removal request" and it's wonderful how illiterate governments are when it comes to the internet. Not only can we download the version available and keep uploading it as fast as it's taken down, but a simple use of a proxy server website by-passes the restrictions in seconds.

The Tories Stand Up To Europe...

...by attempting to put a wrecking ball through Mark Reckless' anti-Euro bailout motion today, the Tory Government's amendment replaces the word "requires" with "urges". Despite that the Euro is doomed, that the eurozone contagion is spreading to Spain and Italy the so-called Eurosceptic Tories want to throw more of our money down the drain.

Oh and as an aside our public borrowing is the worst on record.