No Changes For A Decade?

October 2007:

After signing Britain up to the controversial [Lisbon Treaty, Gordon Brown] said he had persuaded EU leaders there should be no more "institutional change" for at least another decade.

September 2011 (my emphasis):

On Tuesday, German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble called for the second time in a week for changes to the treaties.

“Strengthening the eurozone's architecture ... may need profound treaty changes,” he wrote in an opinion piece for the Financial Times.

According to populist daily Bild, the finance minister made the argument for a major shift in fiscal policy-making powers to Brussels, a move that would almost certainly necessitate a fresh opening of the treaties holding the bloc together.

This must be done, he said, “even though we know how difficult a treaty change will be.”

Low Fat Spread

I want to tell a (slightly fictional) story...

Once upon a time I went a bit mad and decided to improve my health. I wanted to change from 'unhealthy' butter to something which I thought was a little more appropriate. My eye was caught by bright, colourful packaging that announced 'Gold Low Fat' spread. The 'low' part was emphasised so clearly that this seemed a good healthy option. After buying however, being slightly cynical, I studied the small print - the nutritional information - and to my horror discovered that it contained 38% fat (within the EU limit of 41% - in order to advertise it as low fat) and that a lot of that fat content was of the very unhealthy kind: hydrogenated vegetable fat.

Well over a third of fat in a product didn't seem to constitute 'healthy' so feeling deceived I traipsed back to the shop for an explanation. 'It is low fat', the shopkeeper insisted, 'it says so on the packet'. Anyway, as a gesture of goodwill, he replaced it with a new and improved version. Immediately I noticed two changes; the 'low fat' logo on the front of the product had been significantly increased (thus more prominent) and, reading the nutritional information, so had the fat content - this time to 39%. Apart from that the contents had remained the same.

Again I return to the shopkeeper with my concerns - there appeared to be a deliberate and renewed attempt to deceive customers on the nature of the product he was selling. He, by this time, was getting a little cross. But he came up with a newer apparently better alternative - a 'low fat lightweight' spread. Again the packaging had been changed, now it was covered in lots of cute pictures of trees and countryside scenes and the words 'low fat' now adorned most of the box. Inspecting the contents, however, revealed that the fat content had now increased to 40%. I decided to boycott this shop, buy my product elsewhere and in the meantime inform everyone I knew of the misleading nature of the original shop.

Within days I receive an angry letter from said shop accusing me of losing him customers and business and that really he did sell 'low fat' products if only people stopped reading the nutritional labels.

Anyway going off on a tangent Autonomous Mind has a great post on Tory euroscepticism and Roger Helmer MEP's 'strategy' on exiting the EU - basically vote Tory because they are low fat, no really.

Watered Down?

Apparently according to the Telegraph:

David Cameron may overrule Vince Cable by diluting controversial new EU employment laws to be introduced next month, The Daily Telegraph can disclose.

Ohhhh goody Cameron is standing up to Europe! Only, no-one really believes that and reading further down the article confirms our cynicism:

The Prime Minister’s office secretly commissioned its own legal advice on the Agency Workers Directive, which concluded that the impact of the new laws could be moderated.

Moderated eh? How?

A well-placed source said: “The advice showed that there are elements of gold-plating of the EU directive that could easily be stripped out. For example, people who set up their own firms and then contract their services to other companies need not be covered. These changes could be done relatively easily through regulations.

Ah right so the UK has added to this Directive, which means Cameron can remove the additions pretend that he's fighting the EU but the original EU law goes ahead as planned anyway? And we are supposed to be grateful?

The hopelessness of stopping the original Directive is subsequently revealed:

Another Downing Street source said that the advice had not provided the “golden bullet” that Mr Cameron had hoped for. “These are very difficult issues, both politically and legally,” the source added.

But no matter:

A Downing Street spokesman said: “We are now looking at every part of employment law as part of the red tape challenge. We want to do everything we can to help employers and drive growth.”

Which in other words means; 'we'll pass the EU Directive as it is, pretend we've stood up to the EU because conference season is just round the corner and we want to look tough on the issue of Europe for the benefit of our stupid members.'

I'm bored.

The Former Mr Large...

...as Angus Deayton once called Nigel Lawson on Have I Got News For You, has apparently called for a tear up of the Lisbon Treaty in today's Times. As the Guardian points out this is the same man who semi officially shadowed the Deutsche Mark because he supported membership of the ERM and whose eventual membership led directly to the recession in the early '90s:

In his assault on the euro, Lawson failed to mention his support for the warm up for the single currency – the European exchange rate mechanism. The former chancellor resigned from the cabinet in 1989 after Margaret Thatcher refused to distance herself from her late economic adviser, Sir Alan Walters, after he described the ERM as "half baked". As I blogged last month, Lawson explained to William Keegan in 2007 why he supported the ERM but not the single currency.

I've only ever (so far) seen my Mum cry twice; once when her mum (my Gran) died and once in 1992 when my Dad was telephoning her constantly to give updates on the interest rates during black / white Wednesday which ultimately led to the UK's exit from the ERM. At those levels of interest rates in the afternoon we were certain to be homeless. I have never forgotten it and will never forgive.

In light of Lawson's comments today Nigel Farage has invited him to join UKIP:

UKIP Leader Nigel Farage is writing to Lord Lawson, Baroness Thatcher's former Chancellor, with an invite to join UKIP after Lawson has called for a fundamental change in the European Treaties and the UK's relationship with the European Union.

So I want to be clear, I don't want the wanker Lawson anywhere near UKIP; if he does join (probably unlikely) then I'm off, membership lapsing - the lot.

Apparently Punching Women In The Face Is Funny

In truth I've never taken much interest in the goings on of either the English Defence League or the United Against Fascists. The Anger of a Quiet Man, though, does a fine job in highlighting the unfair treatment dished out by the media and by the Police against the EDL - a position I sympathise with as a member of another stigmatised group.

And so it's via TAOAQM's blog that I spot this video of so-called anti-fascists celebrating and laughing about a woman being kicked and punched.



Whatever one's political views, those in the video are a disgrace. But I'll bet it'll be ignored by those self-righteous on the left. Scum.

Seatbelt Time

• In 1931 the pound departed from the Gold Standard in September
  
  
• The UK exited from the ERM in 1992 in September
  
  
• The collapse of Lehmans in 2008 was in September.
  
  
• The run on Northern Rock was in September
  
  
• The 1929 stock market crash occurred in October
  
  
• The crash in 1987 happened in October.

Just saying...

Disrupting The Proms

Apparently last night Palestine protesters disrupted the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra's BBC Proms concert at London's Royal Albert Hall. Interestingly during their protest:

"About a dozen protesters in the choir seats stood up with a banner saying Free Palestine and started chanting and singing to the tune of Beethoven's Ode to Joy"

Now I wonder why they chose Ode to Joy?

German Constitutional Court to Be Taken to the European Court of Human Rights

Great spot by Ironies Too:

The case presented by Professor Markus Kerber over the unconstitutionality of the bailouts and other latters now underway in the EU has been bogged down for what seems an age, as reported from time to time on this blog.

Professor Kerber is now ready to take the complaints the the European Court of Humman Rights, presumably over the head of Germany's highest court Read it here.

As noted on this blog a few times the German Constitutional Court is very reluctant to challenge the supremacy of the EU. So with the bailouts being specifically outlawed under Article 125 of the Lisbon Treaty, it has been dragging its feet on the recent complaints of the legality of the Greek bailouts, to avoid making a decision on what looks a clear-cut case. As a consequence of its delaying tactics (aka ostrich in the sand) it is now likely it will be referred to the European Court of Human Rights because such a 'delay' is "an infringement of the constitutional rights to a hearing and statutory judge" (oh the irony):

The plaintiff group Europolis announces that the Constitutional Court of Germany will have to face a judicial review of its proceeding in the case of the financial aid for Greece and the European Financial Stabilisation Mechanism before the European court for human rights. This action seems unavoidable to Europolis after the Constitutional Court of Germany had not admitted the constitutional complaint of June 29^th 2011. Europolis regards this negligence as an infringement of the constitutional rights to a hearing and statutory judge.

According to Europolis, the oral proceeding on July 5^th 2011 was not in line with the common legal requirements. The Court had clarified that the crucial questions of the economic suitability of the European financial rescue plan would not be under consideration. Also, the alleged voidness [sic] of the loan facility agreements because of infringement of European law as well as the problematic purchase of government bonds by the European Central Bank system had been ignored by the Constitutional Court.

“The refusal to allow the complainants to realise constitutional claims infringes the right of due process and a fair trial guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights. That requires a legal clarification by the European Court of Human Rights” declares Kerber.

Once again the institutions of European governments have been shown that they cannot make the final leap to full fiscal and political union but nor can they own up to the obvious - that the project is not working. Instead we are left with lots of fudge - that simply cannot continue.

Thank Fax For That

For some time it's been a source of amusement to me, that the utter panic and chaos of the final day of the UK football transfer window still relies on the fax machine to complete transfer deals - in an industry worth £100millions, in 2011.

Lights Out

From today it has become illegal under EU law, to import or manufacture traditional, and popular, incandescent 60 watt light bulbs. Our unelected unaccountable Government, immune from the ballot box, is in effect trying to tell us how to light our own houses. Well that isn't going to happen in my case, in fact I took recent action of removing the only (still working) low energy bulbs I had and throwing them in the non- recycling / landfill bill. I don't think I'm supposed to do that - whoops.

But as Mary Ellen Synon points out there's more to this ban than simply trying to 'save energy':

On offer in their place at the bricolage were light bulbs for five and six times the price but you know about that wheeze. What no once can know is how many millions the electrical goods industry has spent on their lobbying operation here in Brussels to get this change through, and how much they spent on experts to 'help' draft this legislation. The EU has now made it possible for the industry to expect you and me to spend 30 quid on a light bulb.

There are though two unintended consequences for the EU; firstly it will encourage a flourishing black market which I suspect a significant motivation will be two fingers up at the EU and the second, and probably more important, it makes the EU even more visible. Increasingly the EU no longer hides behind national institutions to conceal its power, it instead is becoming more confident of making decisions that can be directly linked to it.

And this is where the faux Eurosceptics are so far behind the curve that even the Hubble telescope would be useless as an aid to help them find it. They can posture all they want, but as the EU continues to integrate - its effects thus becoming more visible - then the Tory increasingly schizophrenic argument of 'in Europe not ruled by it' becomes ever more ridiculous, and obviously so. The Tory so-called Eurosceptics are being left behind as a relevance at a rapid rate.

It won't be the faux Eurosceptics Tories that get us out, nor the dry details of the another European institution power grab but the likes of the humble incandescent light bulb.