Where is HMS Ark Royal NOW? You Scumbag Politicians!

Irony of Ironies, a headline from the Telegraph, published a few minutes ago! Cameron is strong on words, but weak in both his head, his character and in any positive policies to protect either the welfare or the security of his countrymen!

Libya: Cameron proposes no-fly zone to protect Libyan people from attacks by Gaddafi loyalists

More unrest in Oman - Do Cameron, Clegg and Hague realise where it is?

The BBC reports more unrest in Oman this afternoon, linked here, more dangers for our country with its historically challenged Coalition Government leadership!

Ireland's prospective leader promises to reveal all on EU Bail Out deal.

There is one weapon the existing corrupted EU will find impossible to survive, that is the truth about its workings. It appears this process might be about to begin, with Enda Kerry, the certain next Irish Taoiseach, making the following commitments as reported in the Irish Independent this morning:

In an interview last night, Mr Kenny opened up a potentially significant new approach to the bank crisis, with possible political repercussions, when he said it would be his Government's intention to find out what went on and "who benefited on this".

He said he would have loved to have found out about these matters before now.

"I will do my damndest to make that happen. We will re-open and restore that. I think the people are entitled to know how their country has been run, or not run, as the case may be.

"And in respect of the banking inquiry, whatever has to be done, make the truth known to people.

For British readers, locked in the similarly corrupt grip of Westminster politicians, I recommend this comment from the Irish Times "Angry electorate coldly voted to liquidate Fianna Fáil" by Miriam Lord.

Perhaps in Britain's case the process will soon begin when Ghadaffi goes and the details of the Labour Party Leadership's dealings with that regime start to emerge!

Earlier posts on this blog touching upon 'truth' may be read from here.

Irish election - Sunday evening latest results!

17 Independents and 13 Sinn Fein seats may make a continuation of rule by bribery of the main political parties problematic for the EU. A democratic rejection of EU tyranny has perhaps been born in Ireland this weekend. We must wait the final results of the several recounts with fingers crossed.

FT reports trouble in close British ally South Oman.

The report is linked here. It begins as follows:

Thousands of Omani youths confronted police in the industrial port of Sohar on Sunday after witnesses reported that two protesters had been killed in clashes with the security forces.

The small Gulf state, a close ally of the UK, is the latest country to be rocked by the wave of youth-driven democracy movements that have spread through the region since the fall of the Tunisian and Egyptian leaders.

This blog is increasingly concerned that those leading the present British Government lack any historical perpective of what is now at stake. VoA has a briefer report, free from the FT Money-grabbing Firewall, here.

Boys playing at being PMs

Watch the Sky News video from this link on the fact that Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, in the midst of Government confusion and incompetence last week over the Libyan crisis, stated that he had forgotten he was supposedly in charge while on a skiing holiday in Davos.

The same incompetent and EU stooge, made matters worse during an appearance this morning in an interview on the Murnaghan show, which I will link if it becomes available.

As this blog has always maintained, men who take paternity leave are unfit to run a country!  Even as Deputies!!

At last a Sunday morning, bringing no sense of shame to be English!

No! My headline to this posting does not relate to the well contrived rugby victory, yesterday at Twickenham, stalwart as it was, sport after all is merely that!

The rescue of oil workers from the Libyan desert, shows that there are pockets of decency and daring still alive in my country.

On the last day of next month, a dedication ceremony will take place, of an Operation Frankton Memorial, at Pointe de Grave, France, to mark the heroism of the marines, whom we English tend to refer to as the Cockleshell Heroes.

How fitting that a few weeks before this ceremony, it was the men of the Special Boat Service, read here, who reportedly largely facilitated this rescue!

UK Inflation - the Libyan threat.

Inflation in 1960s and 1970s.



It has been some forty-five years since I visited Benghazi. I was the third officer of a 16,000 ton tanker delivering aviation fuel to NATO air forces in Malta, Libya and Cyprus. The three navigating officers had agreed we would each have one port off-duty, being the junior I was allocated Benghazi. What seemed the short straw, turned out to be a delight. An early morning swim in the crystal clear, warm Mediterranean waters, a bit of sightseeing, gin and tonic followed by fine wine and a superb evening meal topped by an introduction to my first experience of the real art of arabian belly dancing, under scented blossoms and star-filled skies, still remain clear in my mind. I have since then always taken particular note of events in that country.

I have previously described on this blog, the events which led to the surge in inflation in the 1970s and 1980s, illustrated in the graph above. These posts, which destroy the myth that prosperity has ever been due to the EU or its forerunners, may be read from here for the post of November 2007, titled "Welcome to the world of $100 Oil and 'EU' be warned!" The second, more recently, in October 2010, is linked here, also discussed Sovereign Default and Ireland and concluded as follows:

Although tanker charters were not handled on the Baltic Exchange, the renowned philosophy belonging to that institution "my word is my bond" held true, and Charter Parties once agreed could up to that point never be renegotiated. As oil prices began to rise, in contradiction of normal market rules, because it was becoming increasingly difficult to find a home for the annual six per cent oil production increases, the safety net offered to Occidental was no longer needed and Oxy had no need for or proper employment for the chartered tonnage. The company's founder Armand Hammer (Arm and Hammer?) determined that the charters would be re-negotiated and that was effected.

Concurrently fixed price oil contracts could no longer be honoured at the new higher prices, sovereign oil producing states in the West who should have known better, such as the UK and Norway, enforced changes to their Oil Licence and Production Agreements to capitalize on the higher price, as they justified it, to share in the "windfall" profits.

Honesty in contract law became history in energy related industries (although resistance to renegotiating Charter Parties was fought for by some until the mid-nineteen-eighties) thus the seeds of the deep slump, for which Margaret Thatcher is still blamed by certain fools to this day, took root.

If Ireland proceeds to gain consent for changing the terms under which its banks foolishly borrowed money, there can be no calculating the consequences. Feeding greed never pays as can be seen, I believe, in the consequences of the events I describe above.

Ex-Military Chiefs back this blog's call for restoration of minimal self-defence levels.

At 07:56 am only two days ago, this blog posed the following questions to the dreadfully incompetent foursome presently responsible for the defence of our nation:

What indeed of our present coalition leaders, Cameron, Clegg,  Hague and Fox, who are presently engaged in the disarmament of the nation in the midst of a world in growing turmoil, just what in hell's name is their game, grounding trained pilots and declaring redundant those still in training, all in the face of a clear potential Armageddon, scrapping active aircraft carriers to build future seaborne bases for our historic enemy, who has already been handed effective governance and economic control of the nation? Evil or immorality, I know not which, their treacherous actions can be seen far more clearly than their thoughts or motives can ever be divined! What point our MPs and Sovereign watching idly on, as all this is permitted to come to pass?

With the Prime Minister Cameron,ludicrously touring the Middle East, trying to flog yet more arms, (the clear cause of the present crisis, and other crises clearly looming beyond the horizon,) his Deputy  Clegg, was reported to be on holiday and according to Sky News last evening, when asked about Libya, responded that he had "forgotten" that he was running the country. Clear proof that in his heart of hearts Clegg, ex EU as he is, has fully accepted and well knows, that the EU or those nowadays less furtively behind it, are in reality fulfilling that function.

Meantime the Captain of HMS Cumberland let slip on the same Sky News broadcast, that he had been ordered to delay the rescue of British citizens, pending his  taking on board  teams from the FCO and UK Border Immigration agents. (Compare this to the days of our national independence, when helicopters from HMS Hermes rescued British citizens to the USS Trenton during the invasion of Cyprus by Turkey!) Fox and Hague must be removed from office for such a gaffe, worsened by the fact that the nation is already swamped by uncounted and uncountable numbers of both legal and illegal immigrants!

As reported by the Daily Telegraph, this morning, from here, and the Associated Press, from here, some former military chiefs have been apparently prompted*** (see update note) by this blog to finally call for action.
THIS WILL NOT DO? WHERE SPEAK TODAY'S MILITARY CHIEFS, OUR MPS AND THE QUEEN?

(*** I have now located a copy of their letter linked here, date 29/1/11, so they pre-empted this blog but today's questions remain valid, so I have left the remainder of this posting unchanged, as perhaps my words prompted somebody to at last go public!)

EU Bail Out Riots - Coming soon to a country like yours?

Irish voters can once again decide to reject EU dependence

Ireland starts to vote - Default elephant looms!

The following is from a report in the Irish Times from this afternoon, how voters perceive the issue of default will be crucial in the weeks ahead for the entire Euro Group of former nations:

Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland  today, Mr Ó Caoláin said the IMF-ECB bailout is the “elephant in the room” and has to be faced up to directly.

“We cannot wait for the EU to deal with it over the next couple of years and perhaps in 2013 to face up to it finally," he said.

“The question isn’t about Sinn Féin’s alternative…the real question has to be put to not only Fianna Fáil and the Greens but Fine Gael and Labour - how do you expect our people to pay for this? How do you expect them to shoulder the burden that’s been placed on them?”

Mr Ó Caoláin also denied his party would use the country’s corporation tax rate as a bargaining chip with Europe adding that the 12.5 per cent rate is “crucial” as part of the overall package of what Ireland has to offer.

Treasures from the threads - Number sixty

The four presently top rated Daily Mail comments on the shambles that is now Britain, linked here:

§§§

The Hms Cumberland has soldiers and marines but wont dock in case its hostile. Is that a joke?. Our once feared military has become a laughing stock.

- jake, Reading, 24/2/2011 3:02

Click to rate     Rating   435

Makes you proud to be British does'nt it ? The navy running scared the MOD dithering Call me Dave sucking up to the Egyptians Cleggy on holiday somewhere, what a bloody shambles and the foreign office as is usual, not fit for purpose. What a pathetic little country

- Steve Print , Thailand, 24/2/2011 3:01

Click to rate     Rating   418

The British government are a total disgrace. In a moment of real need, British nationals have been deserted. They are more interested in protecting oil and gas future revenue over human welfare. The MOD treat their own soldiers in the same way. Where is your Queen in all this? What is the point to her and her family? British people waken up!

- Gerry, London, 24/2/2011 2:13

Click to rate     Rating   350

In Thailand, the British are held in high regard. Why ? The Thais don't read the British press and stories like this, or where a man is hounded to death in his home, or how your hospitals use office workers to control the running of hospitals, where immigrants are given the freedom of the country regardless of whatever they may have done, how the police on the streets are no more, how ordinary people are hounded for tax arrears, because of the Government tax office mistakes, of incompetence right across the board and Greed with a capital G emanating from the pores of government managers and tax avoiding big businesses. Then a foreign rescue farce // Why am I here ?

- mick blair, thailand, 24/2/2011 2:18

§§§

Are Hague's multiple misjudgements and negligence now criminal?

Wikipedia defines criminal negligence as:

careless, inattentive, neglectful, willfully blind, or in the case of gross negligence what would have been reckless in any other defendant

William Hague MP,

First Secretary  of State and Secretary of State for Foreign & Commonwealth Affairs,

 Has now met such criteria.

Daily Telegraph report on Britain's failures in evacuating its citizensfrom Libya is linked here.

Update 10:00 am. Here is the link to Today on Radio Four, first with an oil worker, rescued from Tripoli airport, where shots were fired over the heads of the crowds,in the plane of the President of Poland which fortuitously had both 50 empty seats and clearly a competent and caring government and next with the pompous, glib and incompetent William Hague, linked here.

Thatcher and Reagan's bombing of Gadaffi.

I was still living in England in April 1986, starting a new business, but increasingly mystified by the growing stupidity and isolationist ignorance of many of my fellow countrymen. The facts about the bombing of Libya are fully detailed from here.

France's President Mitterand, had refused overflight rights to the American bombers which had taken off from England with Maggie Thatcher's consent, (Read Hansard PMQ response, from here). President Reagan went on TV and justified the raid, as follows, as quoted in the above link:

Colonel Qadhafi is not only an enemy of the United States. His record of subversion and aggression against the neighboring States in Africa is well documented and well known. He has ordered the murder of fellow Libyans in countless countries. He has sanctioned acts of terror in Africa, Europe, and the Middle East, as well as the Western Hemisphere. Today we have done what we had to do. If necessary, we shall do it again.

He concluded his address:

We Americans are slow to anger. We always seek peaceful avenues before resorting to the use of force – and we did. We tried quiet diplomacy, public condemnation, economic sanctions, and demonstrations of military force. None succeeded. Despite our repeated warnings, Qadhafi continued his reckless policy of intimidation, his relentless pursuit of terror. He counted on America to be passive. He counted wrong. I warned that there should be no place on Earth where terrorists can rest and train and practice their deadly skills. I meant it. I said that we would act with others, if possible, and alone if necessary to ensure that terrorists have no sanctuary anywhere. Tonight, we have.

 There has been an interesting spat in the blogosphere regarding whether certain university degrees turn out politicians who are intrinsically evil, it is between Samizdata and Counting Cats in Zanzibar, all very worth reading with valid points on either side.

My concern, this morning, is more with the actions of all the West's leaders since President Reagan and Maggie Thatcher left office. As the broadcast news informs us that Gadaffi plans to send his thugs from house to house to individually deal with protesters and their families, what are we to make of the moral foundations of the politicians who have left this man in office without any sanction.  In the very particular case of Blair, Brown and Scotland's Salmond the general indictment is even more severe given the BP issue.

What indeed of our present coalition leaders, Cameron, Clegg,  Hague and Fox, who are presently engaged in the disarmament of the nation in the midst of a world in growing turmoil, just what in hell's name is their game, grounding trained pilots and declaring redundant those still in training, all in the face of a clear potential Armageddon, scrapping active aircraft carriers to build future seaborne bases for our historic enemy, who has already been handed effective governance and economic control of the nation? Evil or immorality, I know not which, their treacherous actions can be seen far more clearly than their thoughts or motives can ever be divined! What point our MPs and Sovereign watching idly on, as all this is permitted to come to pass?

Other links are available from this paragraph from Answers.com, including the fact that less than one in three Briton's according to a poll, approved of the bombing:

In April 1986, Thatcher permitted US F-111s to use RAF bases for the bombing of Libya in retaliation for the alleged Libyan bombing of a Berlin discothèque,^[86] citing the right of self-defence under Article 51 of the UN Charter.^{[87][nb 3]} Polls suggested that less than one in three British citizens approved of Thatcher's decision.^[89]

Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/margaret-thatcher#ixzz1ElcferoP

Potential next Führer now faces criminal investigation.

The following is an extract from the Irish Times, the full report is linked here.

The 39-year-old aristocrat  - full name Karl Theodor Maria Nikolaus Johann Jacob Philipp Franz Joseph Sylvester, Baron von und zu Guttenberg - is a rising star in Merkel's conservative coalition, who tops popularity polls and has so far enjoyed doting coverage in the conservative media and gossip magazines.

Yet Suddeutsche Zeitung  reported last week that Guttenberg, married to the great-great-granddaughter of "Iron Chancellor" Otto von Bismarck, had used incorrectly attributed work from some 19 authors in at least 50 pages of his more than 400-page thesis.

Guttenberg repeatedly has said the thesis is his own work.

"I wrote this thesis myself, and I stand by it, also by the idiotic things that I wrote," he said.

Bayreuth public prosecutors have launched a criminal investigation and the university there has given Guttenberg two weeks to respond to the allegations.

 Earlier posts on this blog on this topic, over the past few days, are linked here and here.

Gadaffi, Going, Going, G......?

Last October I posted some thoughts on the sanctity (or otherwise) of contracts, it is linked here.

I will shortly post some further thoughts and my own personal recollections of the Gadaffi years, but that can wait until he is actually gone. In considering his regime, and the first oil price shock it delivered, which almost brought the West to its knees, the entirety of that earlier posting bears reading in full, others may just wish to consider the following more relevant selective quotes:

In the post WWII years, world crude oil supplies were controlled by the seven "major" oil companies. These seven, sometimes known as the seven sisters, (five American, one British and one Anglo-Dutch) determined which new supplies be brought on stream and when to ensure adequate supply at fixed prices. In order to meet the desire of the larger oil producing states around the Persian/Arabian Gulf to have their national income grow at a reasonable rate, the major oil companies, unwilling to offer any price increases, committed to increasing their liftings from the main producing countries at an annual rate of six per cent.

(It is interesting to note, as a complete digression from my main point in this explanation, that these cheap and growing supplies of fixed price energy particularly aided the nations of Europe, the six Common Market Club members of which were at that time typically involved in endless quarrels over butter mountains, wine lakes and other pointless one upmanship and beggar my neighbour point scoring which they continue to this day. Economic growth was actually fuelled by all this fixed price oil flooding into the market, the paricular US major by which I was employed to seek homes for such supplies expanded its refining base in the late sixties in Europe from two to five oil refineries).

Such a cosy arrangement did not, of course, suit everyone; Colonel Gadaffi in Libya for one fumed at having large reservoirs of light, low sulphur crude oil locked beneath his deserts yet tantalisingly close to the lucrative European markets. Gadaffi brought in smaller but nevertheless international US oil companies (known as independents, typified by Occidental and Conoco) to develop his reserves and bring them to market.

As the monster Gadaffi became seems on the verge of falling, it is interesting to consider from the foregoing, was Gadaffi, at least initially not acting in the best interests of Libya, as he discerned them? Had King Idris, whom he replaced, been doing the same?

Atlas Shrugged - The Movie

Visit this link to view the scene of Henry Rearden returning home for dinner.

Merkel's party crushed in Hamburg

All Chancellor Merkel's CDU could muster in votes yesterday in Hamburg's local elections represented a mere 21.9 %  of the total, read here.

An earlier report from February last year in the same news source, Der Spiegel, suggested Merkel's governing coaltion could itself soon be in jeopardy, read here. Can she survive yet another year with more local elections due next month?

It is a sad day indeed for Britain, when local elections in Germany become of such crucial importance to the future and well being of our own country, to understand why this shoul be please visit the two postings immediately beneath this, linked here and here.

Two Traitors, Clarke and Heseltine, on TV! Plus Karl-Theodor Freiherr zu Guttenberg

Please find time to view the fifty minute video on the posting immediately beneath this at your earliest opportunity.  In it, German Defence Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg is named as the likely favourite as the new German Führer, selected by the Bavarian establishment, to assume control of the 26 former nations of the EU. Whether he will be maintained in that position, following his having now had to abandon his doctorate in the face of charges of plagiarism, remains to be seen, for details of that read the BBC report, linked here. The Wikipedia detail on this individual is here.

For blog readers in England, a more urgent question is that regarding how Britain has been manipulated into a position where our country could fall within the control of such people, without a shot being fired. Two of the main architects of this conspiracy were on TV over the past few days. For the first, please watch the first five minutes of last week's Question Time and the bizarre response to Nigel Farage MEP, by John Major's former Deputy Prime Minister, Michael Heseltine, long dubbed by this blog as "Von Heseltine", for his treachery in removing Maggie Thatcher from office, the last patriotic Prime Minister this country has had:



Hesltine's  treachery is clear in his stumbling nonsensical words and also written all across his face. For the second traitor, see the same Dorian Gray consequences, in the picture of Clarke's encounter with Andrew Marr yesterday, in this Guardian report, a transcript of what he said being  linked here.

Both Heseltine and Clarke, incredibly still hold powerful positions in Britain's present Coalition Government, they should be removed forthwith, together with the other sole surviving member of Major's treacherous Cabinet, William Hague, in the latter case additionally, for an ongoing demonstrable inability to perform his job as Foreign Secretary, as events in Libya and Bahrain are at this moment visibly demonstrating.

The coalition partnership with the EU fanatical Liberal Democrat Party should also be ended immediately, if the Conservative Party itself is to survive what now seems certain to be revealed regarding the mechanics of the nation's delivery into foreign subjugation!

Bletchley Park Codebreaker reveals Germany's New Hitler

My second selected video for this Sunday is somewhat longer at almost fifty minutes, but unhappily with no trace of fiction.



My fictional account of the approaching disaster "Millennium Blitzkrieg" seems to share similar conclusions to those of Mr Beckhough!

8 minutes video to think upon this Sunday!

Emergency ECB Borrowing and Germany's Euro Imperialism (continued).

I blogged yesterday on Ireland's coming default and Germany's Euro Imperialism, here and here. Both topics require further explanation and elaboration.

Something very fishy is going on between Ireland, presently without a government during its election campaign, and the ECB. An article in the Irish Times this morning, linked here, titled "Irish banks spark surge in emergency ECB borrowing" includes this startling information:

The lenders have used about €15 billion in bonds – State-backed IOUs – issued by the National Asset Management Agency as collateral, or security, to borrow the money.

The Nama bonds, however, are being auctioned with the deposits so they could no longer be used to support week-long loans, given that their sale is expected shortly.

This forced Anglo and Irish Nationwide to swap their existing week-long loans with the ECB for overnight borrowings to pave the way for a quick sale to take place.

The Irish Central Bank referred queries to the ECB, which said it did not comment on the borrowings of individual banks. Anglo, Irish Nationwide and the National Treasury Management Agency, which manages the Government’s banking interests, had no comment either.

The study by Richard Conquest on German Economic Policy and the Euro 1999 - 2010, linked from this blog yesterday and again from here, had the following comments on ECB chief, Jean-Claude Trichet's role in the aggressive destruction of the economies of the EU's non-German economies, which I have branded on this blog German Euro Imperialism, which is almost exactly along the lines of the eventual complete economic domination of Europe prdicted in my novel Millennium Blitzkrieg, published in 2000, which predicted that by 2014, with Europe subdued, German ambitions would turn to the USA. The studies more pertinent quotes are below:

From Page 12

The realities of the situation cannot be freely admitted by the political elite because to attribute any of the blame for Europe’s malaise to the Euro would at once confirm the worst suspicions of the financial markets and precipitate a market-driven crisis that would quickly pass beyond the control of any government. Or, indeed pseudo government such as the Brussels establishment. As time goes on this situation will only become more acute and crises more violent and economically destructive. So,for the time being at least, denial by the elite is the most expedient stance – stating and insisting upon that which they know to be untrue.
Most worrying of all, perhaps, is the fact that the President of the European Central Bank, Jean Claude Trichet, speaks in very much the same terms as the political class. He does not pursue an impartial, objective assessment of economic conditions which would allow the formulation of an appropriate monetary policy response. This is after all the proper function of a central bank governor. But no,

From Page 13

rather, he serves an overtly political purpose. It is not for him to say, for example, which countries should remain in the Eurozone and which should leave. He flatly denies the possibility of the latter option, a manifestly absurd and very political position. History dictates that the politicisation of money always ends in disaster and Trichet is working actively to remind us of the validity of this observation

From Page 15

How could it ever have been seriously argued that the fast-growing Spain, with its enormous trade and current account deficits, apparent well before the coming of the Euro, should share a common interest and exchange rate policy with a slow-growing and export dependent Germany, luxuriating in huge trade and current account surpluses? It was always a recipe for disaster but the political class, including Trichet, are in their comfortable state of denial and of course, in receipt of lavish rewards for their incompetence.1

Footnote 1 on Page 15

Can it be any surprise to learn that Trichet is the latest recipient of the ‘Vision for Europe’ award? Previous laureates have included Jacques Santer, Jean-Claude Juncker, Jean-Luc Dehaene and Helmut Kohl, a depressing and dreary collection of functionaries in the ‘leadership’ of Europe. This award is granted ‘in recognition of outstanding achievements in taking Europe into the future’; self-evidently an exercise in fatuity.The first recipient of this self-congratulatory award was Jacques Santer, former EU President, forced from his extravagant sinecure by Paul Van Buitenen’s devastating accusations of corruption and fraud.

From Page 35

This grim situation has prompted intermittent debate in Italy’s political and economic circles about the desirability or not of that country remaining within the Eurozone – whatever fatuous noises Trichet might make on this issue. The problem then is that this debate is now a matter of concern to German economists and politicians.


From Page 55


Unfortunately there can be no such happy ending to the nightmare of the Euro. Although its disintegration would be economically beneficial in the long term, its demise will be extremely destructive in the near to medium term. The example of the UK simply illustrates that there is life after Euro-folly. However, in the same way that we could not expect that the government would deliver Britain from the absurdities of the ERM, so Europe cannot expect that the likes of Herman Van Rompuy, Manuel Barosso, Jean Claude Trichet and the other grandees and potentates of Europe will deliver the Eurozone from the destructive absurdities of the Euro.

Germany's Euro Imperialism

The Bruges Group has released a very interesting paper this morning by leading economist Richard Conquest, the title is "German Economic Policy and the Euro 1999 - 2010" and may be read in its concise 57 pages from this link to a pdf file.

The political elite of the European Union, wedded as it is to an irrational monetary ideology that owes nothing to economic theory or history but much to political Millenarianism, could never admit or allow that monetary causes have added greatly to the malaise of the Eurozone. It is clear that the economic problems of Greece and other Mediterranean-Rim economies, have been greatly exacerbated by a grotesque distortion of monetary policy which takes the form of the Euro itself.

The greatest danger is that to recognise this monetary cause, partial as it inevitably is, would immediately indicate that the Euro is seriously flawed and is unworkable in anything but the short term perspective without serious economic and financial distortions which have already become painfully evident. Because these problems will not be properly addressed then existing financial distortions will continue threatening financial paralysis and the collapse, both politically and economically, of the entire ‘Euro’ edifice. The bond markets are already shouting this from the rooftops – indeed they have been doing this for many months.

Irish Default

There is an interesting column in the Irish Times this morning, which contains some eye-opening remarks as to how their election is being viewed by members of the French and German press, but even more interestingly concludes with these remarks about what is effectively the printing of rogue euros:

The elephant in the room is default. It was reported on Wednesday that since the last week of January, Irish banks have issued €18.35 billion worth of government-guaranteed debt.

This suggests that the banks may effectively be issuing sovereign paper with the approval of the Government, the Central Bank and the ECB. In other words, the banks have effectively increased Ireland’s public debt by about 11.5 per cent of GDP in the last few weeks.

Since they are unlikely to be able to repay this debt any time soon, a future government will have to. To appreciate just how extraordinary this is, €18.35 billion of government-guaranteed debt is more than half the entire tax revenue for 2010 at €31 billion.

The full article by Elaine Byrne, is well worth reading, it is linked from here and it is temptingly titled "Ireland the laboratory for addressing Europe's ills" but leaves the impression with the reader, which is exactly the opposite of that optimistic heading, namely that the EU, viewed in the light of Ireland's experiences, is now so thoroughly corrupted that it is beyond saving!

Those who cannot spare the time to follow the link should note this other brief extract from the article regarding the Irish corporate tax rate:

The rate is increasingly looked upon as a political prize in return for the ECB bailout and a precondition for any revision of interest rates. If Ireland does not accede to German demands for a reformed monetary union or endorse Merkel’s austerity plans, why should the Italians, Spanish or anyone else? The future of Ireland is now linked to the future of the euro zone.

One lonely woman who knows her duty as Prime Minister!

Australian Prime Minister does  it again!! 

It took a lot of courage for  this woman to speak, what she had to say for the world to  hear.  The retribution could be phenomenal, but at  least she was willing to take a stand on her and Australia 's beliefs.

The whole  world  needs a leader like  this!
 
> 

Prime  Minister Julia Gillard -  Australia 

Muslims  who want to live under Islamic Sharia law, were told on Wednesday to get out of Australia , as the  government targeted radicals in a bid to head off  potential terror attacks.. 
  
Separately, Gillard angered  some Australian Muslims on Wednesday by saying she  supported spy agencies monitoring the nation's mosques.  Quote: 
 

 'IMMIGRANTS,  NOT AUSTRALIANS, MUST ADAPT... Take It Or Leave It.

I  am tired of this nation worrying about whether we are  offending some individual or their culture. Since the  terrorist attacks on Bali , we have experienced a surge  in patriotism by the majority of Australians. '  
  
'This culture has been developed over two  centuries of struggles, trials and victories by millions  of men and women who have sought freedom'  
  
'We speak mainly ENGLISH, not Spanish,  Lebanese, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, or any  other language. Therefore, if you wish to become part of  our society . Learn the language!' 
  
'Most  Australians believe in God. This is not some Christian,  right wing, political push, but a fact, because  Christian men and women, on Christian principles,  founded this nation, and this is clearly documented. It  is certainly appropriate to display it on the walls of  our schools. If God offends you, then I suggest you  consider another part of the world as your new home,  because God is part of our culture.' 
  
'We  will accept your beliefs, and will not question why. All we ask is that you accept ours, and live in harmony and  peaceful enjoyment with us.' 
  
'This is OUR  COUNTRY, OUR LAND, and OUR LIFESTYLE, and we will allow  you every opportunity to enjoy all this. But once you  are done complaining, whining, and griping about Our Flag, Our Pledge, Our Christian beliefs, or Our Way of Life, I highly encourage you take  advantage of one other great Australian freedom, 'THE  RIGHT TO LEAVE'.' 

 'If you  aren't happy here then LEAVE. We didn't force you to come here. You asked to be here. So accept the country  YOU accepted.' 

England's Forestry Liberties have confounded many a monarch down the centuries!

Henry III was compelled to sign this, in only the second year of his reign!

In 1297 his son Edward I (Longshanks or Hammer of the Scots as you wish,) was forced to confirm this Charter!

Now David Cameron must be made to learn the power of our unwritten constitution! Withdrawing Forestry privatisation is but one small step in the correct direction, he MUST put his back to the EU and address the country's problems!

Multiple Bank Failures or Hyperinflation Anyone?

The Slog has a rather scary special report on Mervyn King's complacency in the face of rising inflation. Read it from this link, this sample will surely make you bound so to do:

Today, the interest-rate derivatives swap sector is worth $342 trillion. It is, by miles, the biggest market in the world.

The total global economy is around $58 trillion. And given that the Global worth of all the bourses everywhere is only $36 trillion, you can see why, if only a small number of bets were dumb, then it’s all over this time around. Not even the US has the debt credibility any more to bail that scenario out.

And as we’ve all learned to our cost in recent years, most bankers are arrogantly, recklessly dumb. Not only that, the signs are that not just a few bets have gone awry: both banks and multinationals are hooked into low-rate bets bigtime.

The Supreme Court - symbol of England's oppression by the EU - Takes Charge!

The Supreme Court, that outfaces the Palace of Westminster across Parliament Square, this week showed its muscles in clearly demonstrating to this downtrodden, once free country, whom, down to the very smallest detail, now controls the nation that once was England, both to its citizens and all those others who nowadays live therein.

Demonstrating the complete helplessness of the House of Commons, the Prime Minister at Question Time yesterday had this to say about a Supreme Court ruling on paedophilia:

The Prime Minister: My hon. Friend speaks for many people in saying how completely offensive it is, once again, to have a ruling by a court that flies in the face of common sense. Requiring serious sexual offenders to sign the register for life, as they now do, has broad support across this House and across the country. I am appalled by the Supreme Court ruling. We will take the minimum possible approach to this ruling and use the opportunity to close some loopholes in the sex offenders register. For instance, we will make it compulsory for sex offenders to report to the authorities before any travel and will not allow them to change their name by deed poll to avoid having their name on the register.

Well may he waffle, for it was he and all those seated around him, who gave birth to this beastliness!

The choosing by this Court of the issue, on which to first confront Parliament, of forgiving child abusers, is interesting to say the least, particularly given the sordid goings on in the capital of Belgium over recent years, read here, which is the effective back yard of the odious organisation of which this abhorrent and unconstitutional court is a creature.

Happily there are a few in England who already recognise the grave dangers to all our freedoms this Supreme Court represents, keep the symbol of the raised garden spade at the forefront of your mind during the coming challenges:

Germans to control NYSE under merger terms!

In a somewhat different manner I predicted just such a US Capitalism takeover attempt, in my novel Millennium Blitzkrieg, published in New York by Vantage Press in 2000, the  ISBN number was 0-533613213-4 and it was written in the late nineteen-nineties. According to the merger agreement, detailed here, last evening, the control of the New York Stock Exchange will be as follows:

Reuters reports that 55 percent of the shareholders in the merged company will be from the United States, 11 percent from Germany, 11 percent from the U.K. and 23 percent from elsewhere. Current shareholders of the German exchange will control 60 percent of the new company and will own 10 of 17 board seats.

Yesterday I blogged that CME from Chicago might make a hostile bid to save the home of US Capitalism, the latest I have found on that is here.

By the bye, in my book the final assault on the largest US Corporations by the Germans did not occur until the summer of 2014, so there is still much time to see how close I was !

Who is John Galt?

H/T Muffled Vociferations.

A Conservative MEP speaks out on the continuing Coalition betrayals over the EU!

Roger Helmer MEP,in his latest regular e-mail from Strasbourg, hits out at the British Government as now being led by his own party, under the heading, "Wrong, So Wrong on Europe", as follows:

... Conservatives who trusted in William Hague’s reputation as a euro­sceptic must be profoundly disappointed. In the last nine months or so, this Conservative-led government has been handing powers to Brussels faster than the previous Labour administration did before it. We’ve had the EU diplomatic service; a whole new EU financial regulation structure; the EU Investigation Order; and the roll-over on the budget.

With this record, the government has no business to ask us to trust it on Europe, and its EU Bill conferred no new powers on parliament or on the people – in effect, it merely asked us to keep trusting the government, on an issue where it clearly has not earned our trust, and appears to have no intention of attempting to do so. 

Some of these EU measures were provided for in the Lisbon Treaty. Yet we seem to have welcomed them. We Conservative MEPs have been whipped to support them. Cameron has been robust on euro membership – but we’ve seen a £7 billion loan from the UK to Ireland to prop up the euro. 

The City of London has the lion’s share of the EU’s financial services business, yet we’ve agreed for it to be regulated from Brussels and Frankfurt. With that, and our punitive taxes on high earners and our endemic bank-bashing, companies and high-net-worth individuals are already buying tickets to Switzerland. I pay tribute to my colleague Vicky Ford MEP who has fought tooth-and-nail, and with some success, to modify the proposals and limit the damage. But we have conceded the principle, and that’s a gross dereliction of the government’s duty.

Britain finally confronts the EU - but only on school leaver targets!

EurActiv reports that "the United Kingdom, ... is behaving like the difficult child at the back of the class by refusing to cooperate with the commissioner."

The commissioner concerned  is Androulla Vassiliou, the EU commissioner for education, culture, multilingualism and youth. The article continued "Vassiliou said the UK is claiming that it is under no obligation to come up with national targets, despite the fact that it voted in favour of the EU-wide goals when they were agreed by the European Council in the summer of last year."

Britain's Education Secretary is Michael Gove, close confidant of the devious and dishonourable temporary occupant of 10 Downing Street, David Cameron, (even his Deputy PM, Nick Clegg, is recently quoted on Samizdata as saying I need to say this – you shouldn't trust any government, actually including this one) whom, in denying the nation a referendum on Lisbon, having gained his Party's leadership on promises of defying the EU, has in fact more fully committed the nation to deeper EU control in less than a year than many of his predecessors achieved in the full terms of their office.

Now we see the nature of this Coalition Government's defiance of the EU. They will steadfastly, though probably only temporarily, refuse to supply school leavers targets which they are already committed to preparing.

The Bullingdon background, in this matter perhaps, comes into play, the EU Commissioner here involved is from Cyprus, one of the smallest and least significant of EU member countries - is it not telling that when dealing with the EU's largest member state, Cameron is to be seen meekly snivelling in Berlin, Munich or elsewhere he may be summoned, with never the slightest hint that Britain may have a view deviating in any degree from that of Germany and France!

Bullying, I think is the aptest term for such behaviour, nasty in the playground, dangerous in international diplomacy.

EU bail outs, as explained by Mary Ellen Synon

Watch out Portugal, when interest rates hit 7.5 (tomorrow perhaps) then EU dependency awaits you. The following extract, from Mary Ellen Synon's blog, linked here, reveals the real agenda!

It is important to remember that these bailout conditions for Greece, just like the bailout conditions for Ireland, were designed by the EU and not by the IMF. The IMF technique for bailout is first to devalue the currency and oversee spending cuts, then negotiate with bondholders. The reason the EU insisted on being leader in the bailout was to stop that very sensible IMF technique being used anywhere in the EU.

Reason? It would have meant a member state becoming independent of Brussels. The IMF could have helped the member state drop out of the euro. Staying in the euro and paying off all the bondholders, as the EU insists, means recovery has to come the more slow and painful way – by the anti-growth austerity Greece and Ireland are both suffering now.

Of course, this means leaving the people of both countries burdened with loans they can never pay off, and with spending cuts and unemployment levels from which they will not recover for a generation. The bailouts are designed in this way for just one reason, to forge the final link in the chain that will shackle Greece and Ireland, and in turn other eurozone countries, to a centralised European government.

The following later paragraph from the same article seems worth highlighting with red:

The unelected technocratic elite of Brussels see government as being too important, too complicated for the little people to control. Sending in inspectors named Klaus to direct the fiscal and economic movements of the government of a member state is more what the euro-elite have in mind -- what they have in mind now, and have always had in mind.

CME reported to make attempt to save US Capitalism from German takeover.

The leaders of Germany nowadays take less and less trouble to disguise the fact that they already hold the other 26 former nations of the EU under their heel. Now their attention is turning to the US, (see also my recent posting on Thyssen Krupp Steel in America,) where Germany's Deutsch Borse is about to complete a takeover of the New York Stock Exchange.

CME Group, who run the Chicago-based futures exchange, are now reported to be considering making an alternative hostile bid for the home of U.S. capitalism, as may be read from here. Let us hope it materialises!

The Parallel Universes of the European Union!

This week, is already providing a fascinating insight, into the alternative reality to which those involved in the gruesome EU project must exist. A few examples from yesterday:

1) The Finance Ministers of the Euro Group, met to discuss the supposed € 440 Billion EFSF, in reality a mere €220 Billion, the German finance minister announced there would be no agreement in advance of the meeting which instead snubbed the new Slovakian representative for that country's impudence in pointing out the plain truth that the Greek bail out was both unjustified and doomed to failure.

2) The Irish political leaders clash over a tax matter of €5 billion euros, disregarding a hole in the national accounts of €50 Billion.  The Eurozone finance ministers are apparently unanimous that the bail out deal for Ireland will be enforced in full, while Irish electors are assured interest rates will be reduced and the low corporate tax rate maintained.

3) The UK Government re-launches a crazed gimmick called the "Big Society" requiring public services, which can no longer be publicly funded, due to the bleeding of taxpayers' money in shedloads to the EU, (which it pretends does not exist). This Big Society, requires that such services, in future,  will be provided voluntarily by ordinary men and women, (for which read the middle classes) against whom the Government's own Justice Secretary, only the weekend before, had provoked and goaded, via the press, as not being sufficiently awake to the tax and unemployment misery they were about to experience.

EU Solidarity requires denying obvious facts, which itself demands a suspension of reality and thereafter figuratively joining hands to regress together - unified in stupidity.

Treasures from the threads - Number fifty-nine.

The following comment came to a report in the Irish Examiner on Merkel's "invitation" to the Fine Gael party leader to Berlin this lunchtime:



Why travel and waste Tax Payers money, why do we have to do the travelling, let Merkel come here if she wants to keep her Bailout and let the Irish have a voice rather than running over there with a tail between the legs. Has Kenny ever heard of a telephone or Postage Stamp, not that he even needs a postage stamp or pay for a telephone call, we the Tax payer, pay for these as well.

Wasting time with more messing about, he may as well be going to Disneyland to meet Goofy. Deal with the issues in the country first like putting a few Politicians in jail for treason. the treasonous acts they have perpetrated upon the Irish people like robbing our Oil and Gas Reserves worth Billions, the Theft of our Fishing grounds, The destruction of our small Farming Communities and now Berites destruction of our Foresty. None of which is in anyway their Sovereign right.

They are all the same. wasters the lot of them, the ONE PARTY STATE a Family Dynasty of criminals the lot of them

The feelings against any politicians entangled in the EU project seem to be running pretty much the same all across the EU, probably best summarised as 'total contempt'.

Irish Times confirms Kenny's Berlin trip not at his request!

Mr Kenny’s visit to Berlin takes place ahead of the five-way leaders’ debate due to be broadcast live as part of the Frontline programme on RTÉ One at 9.30pm.Mr Kenny is scheduled to travel to Berlin on the 7.30am Aer Lingus flight from Dublin. A number of options were last night being considered for his return journey, including the 1.30pm Ryanair flight from Berlin to Dublin.

What Perty leader would voluntarily make such a foreign trip eleven days before a crucial national general election. The fact that the trip is not at the Fine Gael leader's request comes at the beginning of the article in the Irish Times, from which the above is a quote, as follows:

FINE GAEL leader Enda Kenny has accepted an invitation to meet German chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin this morning amid fresh clashes between his party and potential coalition partners Labour over economic policy.

If the clashes are as severe as it appears, surely any independent party leader's priority is their successful resolution, not running off to Berlin for further orders? Now the sham that national sovereignty has become in the EU and German hegemony is fully revealed!

Likely next Irish PM summoned to Berlin.

This report of a shocking interference in the politics of a supposedly friendly neighbouring state, unheard of in modern times in Europe, was announced in the middle of a quiet Sunday afternoon in Ireland, as may be read from here.

Concurrently it emerged that the opinion poll leading Fine Gael party,  is now unlikely to form a coalition with Labour, but instead draw Independent TD's into Government, it thus appears there will be a few potentially very wealthy independents with well provided constituencies after 25th Feb, unless that is, the Fine Gael gets the comeuppance from the electors, it appears to deserve, after its leader's schmoozing with the German Chancellor. Perhaps it will then have to recover, by revealing the pressure being applied by the EU and Germany, and then itself repudiate the EU Bail Out package entirely, such would be in the best interest of all democrats across the EU!

A good report on the Irish election appeared in yesterday's Montreal Gazette, linked here.

Egypt's example for the non-democratic European Union.

Karl Popper, describes a democracy as a system of government which can be periodically changed without bloodshed, everything else as a tyranny.

The EU has been serrupticiously moving towards becoming such a tyranny for decades. Like most tyrannies, this has been accomplished by duping the disenfranchised people with sham edifices that normally accompany democracies, these are, inter alia; the powerless parliament in Brussels and Strasbourg; press conferences and briefings following closed door meetings; ignored open accounting practises; nepotism and cronyism in official appointments; huge abuses of taxpayers funds etc.

A moment would be bound to eventually arrive in Europe where this conspiracy against the continents' national democracies would be exposed to the general public. This blog believes that such a moment is at hand, it will arrive with the inevitable EU response, which has already been sketched out, to the Irish General Election to be held on 25th February. This open authoritarianism will be, disregarding whatever way the Irish vote, that the deal struck with the former Irish Government WILL nevertheless be imposed! Votes in Ireland for parties rejecting that deal will therefore make clearer the true loss that ALL the EU's former democracies have now already incurred. It will not be possible to hide that reality any longer, even from the hugely ill-informed public the EU has compelled the EU's citizens to become.

Any pretense that democracy, in any meaningful form, continues to exist anywhere across the EU will be exposed as a lie. The deliberate disdain, shown even by national politicians, for national parliaments will stand as evidence to that terrible fact. Witness even Britain, a non-Euro Group member, advancing funds to Ireland which its own civil servants have now refused to emulate, as is detailed in other postings on this blog.

Already in Italy, read here, the comparison is being made, albeit special circumstance over the Premier's "bunga bunga" nights muddy those waters :

The demonstrators struggled to be heard at times amid the din from blowing of whistles and banging of cooking saucepans during the rally in the centre of the capital, aimed at heaping more pressure on the beleaguered Berlusconi. But they did manage to break into song at one point, with a rendition of "Bella Ciao", one of the anthems of the Italian resistance during World War II. Others chanted "Resign! Resign! Resign!" and "After Mubarak, Silvio Berlusconi" during the protest which was held only hours after Egypt's veteran president quit in the wake of mass streets protests in Cairo.

In Britain, as Ken Clarke has obligingly made clear this weekend, the real pain, only necessary for the autocratic EU to survive, has only yet to begin. It is long passed the moment for the United Kingdom to break free and restore our Westminster democracy!

As I urged yesterday, a government of national unity is urgently required, I suggest it be led by a triumverate of three representative elder statesmen, of proven rational euro-sceptic disposition, I suggest two Lord Norman Tebbit and Lord David Owen. Unhappily I cannot think of a suitable candidate from a Labour and/or North of England background, but somewhere surely one may exist?

Irish bail out from the EU crumbling before our eyes!

The Wall Street Journal has the latest on the growing fiasco over Ireland's debts, read here.

The EU media seems silent on the matter, but Euro Group Finance Ministers meet next week and they are hardly likely to be able to maintain the pretence that an incoming Irish Government will stand by the original suicidal terms.

View the startling graphic from the link, actually supplied by the EU Commission, and showing the agreed bail out amount of €67.5 billion is merely half what is needed.

Treasures from the threads - number fifty-eight

Ken Clarke MP.  presently Justice Secretary, interviewed in this item, deserved this comment:

weebrittanychanelta

Today 01:40 AM

Recommended by
6 people

I think Ken Clarke (as always) underestimates the intelligence of the Great British Public.

We have no cash left in the Public Purse, The taxpayer, raped by HMRC and the Treasury don't have the leaway to have more taxes taken from us - we as a nation need to ask ourselves:

Does it do the job we employ it to do?

Is it fit for purpose?

Could we find a more suitable instrument at 1/8th of the the cost?

If the answer is mostly yes - then, the Cull is justified.

If the answer is no, Cull it anyway - the dead don't complain.

Ken Clarke should realise that as a Bankrupt Nation, we can't afford him or his unpopular views - even if he were fit for purpose in modern day Britain.

Since hard choices are intrinsic to his nature, one would assume he would have the decency to Resign, before he is Culled.

Or, does he believe that somethings, no matter how expensive, no matter how out of touch with reality and no matter how Unfit for purpose he actually is that he KNOWS better?

(They say the Biggest problem with Mad people, is that they don't know they're Mad... even when it's plain to see to everyone around them)

"We are the prisoners now, the prisoners of the will of the court..."

Refreshingly accurate comment in the Daily Telegraph, this morning, from one of that newspaper's former editors, Charles Moore, linked here. To continue the quotation from the body of the article, started in the headline to this posting....

"From which it follows that the House of Commons nowadays is no more than an exceptionally expensive debating society."

This now widely recognised fact of life should leave our MPs in a dilemma, none greater than for the self-important, self-centred and incredibly conceited members of the coalition cabinet whose about turns in almost every area of governance, except the absolutely crucial matter of our policy and relationship towards the EU, becomes more stunning by the day.

On 23rd January I warned that Egypt, then being ignored, would soon become the focus of the world's attention, three weeks later President Mubarak is gone, now the attention turns to Algeria. It is in the EU and 10 Downing Street, where the lessons must most crucially be learned. The general public realisation of a leadership's powerlessness, once taken on board, can NEVER be re-established.

It is as plain as a pikestaff that not only are the real leaders of the EU unknown, those ostensibly in charge are both floundering and drowning in the currency chaos. The resignation of Axel Weber, from Germany's Bundesbank, and the presumed ECB heir apparent from the German Central Bank, demonstrates the full extent of the present chaos. The recent ECB commitments, on which subject he is probably one of the very few who is fully informed, seem the more probable cause for his departure than the "personal reasons excuse" he has so far proffered.

In Britain, matters of effective governance must be corrected before the EU tears itself asunder. The fear of being seen in Europe as the cause of igniting the spark that will blow the whole structure to pieces is understandable, but the election in Ireland seems set to fulfill that purpose.

A government of national unity seems necessary for the UK. Senior statesmen from all parties should ready themselves to play vital roles in the difficult days that lie ahead. Ken Clarke and Michael Heseltine, the main surviving members of the conspiracy, which delivered the nation into its present economic bondage, loss of parliamentary sovereignty and foreign dependence, must of course be excluded and preferably be brought to account as part of the bitter and difficult healing process that appears about to begin.

Fantastic Euro-fanatical Complacency!

I came upon this report by chance, it is titled "The End of the Beginning for the Euro Crisis" and is so stuffed full of inaccurate assertions, general muddled thinking and blindfolded stupidity that I had to share it with the readers of my blog. Enjoy your weekend with the laughs this is sure to bring!

Sinn Fein in the Irish Election.

A report that Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister, Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness, contemplated being on the flight from Belfast that crashed in Cork yesterday is linked here. This party, the one most objecting to the EU/IMF Bail Out terms for Ireland, has its election manifesto explained in an audio from the Irish Times linked below:

Britain's Parliament sends an amber light to the EU!

Yesterday's free vote by MPs in the House of Commons was not about votes for prisoners. It was however a vote by 234 MPs to 22, details here, warning the EU and other supra-national legislating bodies, (both judicial, commissional or faux-parliamentarian,) that a substantial number of the elected representatives of the British people are now beginning to heed the deep anger of the electorate at the growing humiliations being heaped upon our once independent and sovereign nation.

This blog chronicles the reasons for such outrage, so that no further explanation need be offered here today, but how can I so definitively assert that votes for prisoners is not a consideration? The answer is simple, I have been personally disenfranchised by the British electoral system from voting in national elections in spite of never having received a parking ticket let alone have the slightest suggestion of any involvement with any criminal court, criminal proceedings nor record of any criminality whatsoever. My crime, while still being a recipient of a ludicrously small UK Old Age Pension, happily buttressed by a much depleted UK private pension, (itself subjected to years of leakage through the outrageous theft of  Gordon Brown and the addiction of the UK pensions industry for obscene levels of commission,) was having made myself absent from the country for a period in excess of a certain number of years (which apparently can sometimes be made to vary at the merest whim of local council election officials).

The end result of these complicated arrangements and uncertainties over postal voting restrictions, was to deprive me of a vote in the last but one general election (in spite of being registered as a voter and being the earliest founding member of a new political party called Veritas, then intended to bring truth back to Westminster's politics) and to thereafter make it impossible for me to ever again vote for another national government unless I switch my citizenship to that of the EU country in which I now reside, or return to reside in the country of my birth which due to the decay and corruption of our democracy, and the collection of huge and unreasonable sums of taxation purely for remittance to the EU, has been brought to the edge of collapse. 

I vote for my local council here in France. I may vote for the overpaid object of disdain that carries the badge of venality, MEP. I cannot, presently however, vote for the Member of the Parliament at Westminster, which my forefathers fought to have indefinitely represent my democratic interests. Votes for prisoners? How totally sick does the above make you feel, Mr Cameron?