15,000 Redundancies - The Deliberate Destruction of Lloyds Bank!

Gordon Brown, should today be serving time in jail! 

The redundancies announced by Lloyds Bank today were a result of his deliberate actions, read Reuters here.

This blog warned, AGAIN and AGAIN, read here. Particularly the one below, quoted (hopefully with working links) in full herewith:

Saturday, March 07, 2009

Warnings for Brown on his Lloyds Destruction

Brown leaked it via Robert Peston of the BBC on 17th September 2008 linked here. On 18th September among many other criticisms this blog stated, (linked here): If the problem is mistrust by bankers of one another, absorbtion of one bank by another will surely merely shift the target of others mistrust.... On 13th October, I blogged twice on the topic (here and here), among my comments were the following: Of course one cannot really say that a deal is continuing when the price has been re-negotiated downwards by 27 per cent but the join-up of the banks seems to be continuing condemning LLoyds not only to nationalisation but almost certain death! +++++ The only other bank presently involved seems to be Lloyds TSB which was perfectly viable before they became entwined in the machinations of the demented Gordon Brown - now presumably the Lloyds shareholders are to be punished/sacrificed for having doubts on the originally hastily cobbled together deal. British taxpayers can neither afford nor pay for this deal which does not direct a single penny towards the source of the problem - the exploded house price bubble...... Things just get stranger and stranger - Where is the Parliamentary Opposition? On 20th October under the heading "Battle for Britain's Banks" (linked here) my post included these thoughts: Last week the Marx inspired British Government declared war on Britain's Banks.... Lloyds and HBOS issues look set to become a side-show this week, although it is disturbing to see Legal and General recommend the merger, Lloyds shareholders should make their own calculations, large finance companies may easily be swayed by their holdings in HBOS when casting their votes a shareholders of Lloyds! The taxpayers can merely look on in horror and trust that all these deals may yet collapse before a single penny of the billions of taxpayers funds pledged, which can never be realistically raised let alone repaid, are actually legally committed let alone begun to be transferred. (Link on latest borrowing added at 11:30 am, here). On 22nd November was this afterthought to a post linked here: Worrying for annuity holders with Legal and General (such as myself) which insurer supported the HBOS takeover and yesterday approved the dilution of their Barclay's equity value - have they really thought all this through? On 13th December (link here) I despaired: The Guardian reports the meeting where the castrated shareholders of HBOS went along with those of Lloyds in agreeing the merger of the two banks which the mazed mainstream media insist on predicting will be a "Superbank" but in fact will result in years of debts for Britain's bankrupt mainly non-voting electorate and the nation's future taxpaying generation. Starting the New Year of 2009 on Monday January 5th (link here) I blogged:

HBOS Pensioners fear for the future

The insane merger of Lloyds with HBOS forced through by the increasingly demented British Prime Minister has hit another snag as HBOS Final Salary Pension Scheme Trustees go to Court a week from today to obtain some guarantees for their future, report here. Thus on the proper first working day of the New Year one of the PM's many demented projects, dubbed by his media apologists as a "Super Bank" we see the shares in the companies involved plunging even below their levels of last year. AND SO IT CONTINUED WITH 5 MORE BLOGS IN JANUARY AND 7 IN FEBRUARY ON AND ON AND ON UNTIL TODAY'S LONG PREDICTED NEWS.

Some sense on Greece AND the USA

EU master plan proceeds exactly according to plan!

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NB Due to problems with Blogger this posting, drafted first thing this morning, was first posted on the site "Orphans of Liberty" Problems with Blogspot Postings, become ever more frequent. I again apologise to all my regular readers!

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The Deputy Prime Minister of Greece, made the following statement in that subjugated nation's one time sovereign parliament yesterday:

"A return to the drachma would mean that on the following day banks would be surrounded by terrified people trying to withdraw their money, the army would have to protect them with tanks because there would not be enough police."

"There would be riots everywhere, shops would be empty, some people would throw themselves out the window."

ALL THAT exactly as the sinister forces behind the EU have carefully contrived and planned over many decades, relying for eventual success on the self-serving greed of national politicians and the desire for a quiet life and free lunches by the citizen's of Europe's former democratic nation states!

Outside that same building the iron fist of the EU tyranny was on full display, as the same report from EU Observer, linked here, goes on to make clear:

Meanwhile, outside the chamber, some 5000 riot police firing volley after volley of tear gas and stun grenades at a largely peaceful crowd, including into a makeshift hospital in central Syntagma Square, those present described the scene as less the quashing of a riot than the suppression of a popular uprising.

A local television channel, Skai TV, has reported hundreds of injuries, the majority arising from breathing difficulties arising from the gas.

Protesters insisted that the majority of people in the square facing down what they described as "chemical warfare" had gathered peacefully, with only small numbers of "provocateurs" challenging the police.

The head of the country's pharmacists' association has accused the police of criminal actions and pleaded for the gassing to end.

The upping of the repression on Wednesday follows on from attempts by authorities to clear the square using gas during a free protest concert on Tuesday night featuring famous Greek celebrities including Vasilis Papaconstantinou, the namesake of the former finance minister.

As thousands sat on the ground, police encircled the concert and sprayed into the crowd for more than an hour, according to eyewitnesses. People held out despite the heavy gassing but eventually were forced to give up.

Three Parasitical Presidents of the EU get Farage's Facts

ECB heads for the rocks!

This blog has long warned that it is the bad debts of the ECB that will eventually have to be divvied out amongst the members of the eurozone that could bring the curtain down on the growing nightmare of the failed European Monetary Union.

Open Europe, in its daily press briefing email, has two items suggesting this point may soon be reached. The first is an article in the Wall Street Journal linked here,from which comes this quote:

By threatening to stop providing Greek banks with liquidity in the event of a rollover, the ECB has interfered with this decision and overstepped its mandate. It has exposed itself to the suspicion that its true motive is to avoid losing money on its stock of Greek bonds. Clemens Fuest, Research Director,Oxford University Centre for Business Taxation.

The second is taken from the Open Europe briefing itself, being a translation from the French original in La Tribune:

In an op-ed in French financial daily La Tribune, French Economics Professor Florin Aftalion quotes Open Europe’s finding that the ECB currently holds €190bn of Greek debt, while its capital and reserves amount to only €82bn. He argues: “When it agreed to participate in Greece’s temporary bail-out during the spring of 2010, the ECB bowed to political pressure. It made a fatal mistake and seriously betrayed the trust placed in it, while taking excessive risks for which European taxpayers will have to foot the bill.”

Greece Austerity Package passes first hurdle!

The Greek Parliamentarians have saved their pay packages for a few more days, possibly weeks and perhaps even months. The end of the agony for the people of the EU will therefore continue far into the foreseeable future.

Ludicrously, financial markets across the world have greeted the news of the passing of the Greek austerity package in their Parliament with rises.

The Central Banks of the world can continue printing their worthless banknotes, while what they can purchase gets ever less.

Coming soon, to an EU neutered ex-National Parliament near you?

More video and comment from Athens last evening and early morning today, from here.

House price falls - IMF picks Lagarde

The latest on still falling house prices are here for the USA and here for the UK.

In a further sign that the West's economy is now clearly in almost terminal decline, with no politician or world leader of clout prepared to address the underlying problems, Mme Lagarde was appointed to head the IMF.

The silver lining in that fact, I guess, being that as a new start will soon be urgently needed in almost every international economic arrangement, the now certain increasing indebtedness and collapse of the IMF will in iteslf be no bad thing and could well speed on its way, the completely new start, towards sound money, that the western economic model so desperately needs.

Meantime in Europe, Cameron and Merkel, lead the way in extending the begging bowl to China, not much mention of human rights these days you may notice!

Underwater mortgage holders and unemployed, indebted graduates, the latter joining 82 others for every job opportunity, as is presently the situation in the UK, must soon show signs that their patience is reaching breaking point. For every home re-possession, how many other homeowners are struggling to make their monthly mortgage payments, with ever dwindling hope of ever recovering even their original deposit - that is the tinder box for the coming moment of truth!

Lightweight in hoop earrings to head IMF!

Following the demise of French heavyweight Dominique Strauss-Kahn it now appears another French citizen, albeit this time a woman and obvious lightweight, will take his place as head of the IMF. This comes as the USA endorses the candidature of French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde.


The old saying about hooped earrings, should perhaps have been taken into account by the world's leaders, with responsibity for the economic cure sickness of the West's economies, the mind boggles at what the UK's 4% responsibility for IMF contributions will now become in printed pounds sterling!

Abracadabra! - Disappearing Debts French Style!

The EU pensioned peers who profiteer from their peoples' penury

Words sometimes fail one, therefore I will firstly quote those of Lord Pearson in the House of Lords yesterday, on the Third Reading of the European Union Bill:

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I think I got as far as saying that three amendments were carried against this Bill which together emasculate it entirely and deny the British people any chance of a meaningful referendum on our relationship with the failing project of European integration, which they do not like.

The point I now want to make about those amendments is that they were largely proposed by noble Lords in receipt of a forfeitable EU pension, most of them undeclared, and they were all carried by the votes of noble Lords who did not declare their interest. I can but suggest that the Privileges Committee revisits this subject before the Bill returns from the Commons and does the obvious thing.

As the Bill now leaves us, there is one other regret that I would like to record. It is that the Government did not respond to a question about the background to this Bill which I put to them twice. The Government's excuse, no doubt in their mind when they designed the Bill, may be that the Bill should not have allowed us to discuss the EU's real defects: its common agricultural and fisheries policies, its wasteful and fraudulent use of vast sums of taxpayers' money and its entirely undemocratic and secret law-making process which now controls so much of our lives. The question I put was this: given that even our political class is beginning to see that the euro was and is designed for disaster- (interruptions, see link)

So, for the third time, I was hoping that the political class has come to realise what a disaster the euro is. Many of us predicted it. It is a disaster which is being visited on the hapless people of Europe, now particularly Greece, but soon on other countries too.

Why cannot the Government see that the whole project of European integration is equally misguided and dangerous? Surely they must admit that the euro was never an economic project; it was a purely political project that was designed as cement to hold the emerging megastate together. Surely they must admit that that cement is proving to be more explosive than adhesive, so-I have put this question twice to the noble Lord, Lord Howell, during our proceedings-why cannot they lift their eyes just a little further than the euro and see that the project of European integration is fatally flawed and should be abandoned, which would make this Bill irrelevant?
Even the EU's claims to have secured peace in Europe since 1945 are almost entirely spurious and wholly irrelevant today, so why cannot the Government and our political class see that democracy-
 
Lord Brougham and Vaux: The noble Lord is stretching the rules of the House rather wide. If he carries on, I shall move the Motion that the noble Lord be no longer heard.
Lord Pearson of Rannoch: Has the noble Lord moved that Motion?



Lord Richard: He said he would.
 
Lord Pearson of Rannoch: If the noble Lord will hold with me for another few seconds, I think that what I am saying is worth having on the record.

I was asking the Government why they cannot see that democracy is the only reliable guarantor of peace and long-term prosperity, and that the sooner we get back to a Europe of democratic nations, freely trading and collaborating together with all their powers returned to their national Parliaments, the better it will be for all the peoples of Europe and, indeed, of the rest of the world beyond. That is entirely in context with the passage of this Bill as it goes to the House of Commons, and as this is the third time I have asked the noble Lord, Lord Howell, the question, I would be grateful for his reply.

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Needless to say, no reply was forthcoming from the Government!

These ennobled pieces of filth, should not only be subjected to an inquiry by the House of Lords privileges committee, they should one day be forced to face the full legal penalties for fraud as is applicable to ordinary members of society! The EU has bought our lawmakers, as is also the case, it would appear in Greece, see my posting of earlier this morning immediately beneath this one.

Playing the ratings agencies for suckers

An item from Reuters, this morning, linked here, caught my eye for this comment:

The FTSEurofirst 300 index edged higher on Monday after France said French banks had outlined an agreement to roll over holdings of maturing Greek bonds, while German bankers also voiced interest in this model. 

I previously blogged that the ECB, under  the arch-trickster Trichet, (one-time 'Saviour of Credit Lyonaise'?????), had been hinting at the Greek privatisation sequestration confiscation programme being potentially linkable to a so-called voluntary rollover of Greek Bonds held by the scumbag bankers.

You bet German Banks would like some secret quid pro quo for "voluntarily" renewing their huge exposure to Greece, (like Deutsche Telcom picking up further shares in the Greek telcom company at a two third discount over that they paid for a similar earlier tranch of shares,) but will the rating agencies allow themselves to be duped in such a blatant fashion?  If they do, with underwater homeowners on both sides of the Atlantic wondering when and what the hell their Governments will do for them, Western Capitalism itself is clearly at the edge of the precipice.

If the Greek Parliament votes for the new austerity package and gets the needed €12 Billion, that will soon be squandered and gone.  Politicians pretending they are acting in the "national" or "wider public interest" will not be believed in either Greece, nor soon after, anywhere else! The voters can see what is afoot, the legislatures by protecting the banks are guaranteeing their own pay cheques and pensions, nobody elses as a detailed reading of the huge cuts for the poorest sector of society, in the new Greek austerity package, makes immediately clear, eg by cutting the level at which tax begins to be payable in Greece from €12,000 to €8,000.

Surely anyone can recognise, that the amounts collectible by such a move will be negligible in any terms, let alone when set alongside the trillions already sent to the Banks!

If the package is passed the Greek crisis will deepen in a matter of days. If the package falls then the Greek Government must surely collapse and the long deferred crisis will surely be seen to have arrived!

An apology for blogging interruption.

Regular readers may have noticed an uncommon silence from this blog (especially during a meeting of the EU Council!)

We took a long weekend at a very comfortable hotel overlooking the Tatry Mountains in one of the former Eastern Countries of the EU. The promised WiFi and internet availability in the hotel failed to work, hence my enforced silence. I did of course form a few impressions, which may well be summarised in a posting in due course!

Normal service will shortly resume for what will be a crucial forty eight hours, as we await the vote in Greece, for all of Europe and indeed, even further afield!

Only one choice for EU Leaders Today and Tomorrow.

Forget the nonsense put out by Commission President Barroso in his agenda ahead of today's meeting. There is only one item that should properly be discussed at the EU Council scheduled for today and tomorrow, which should be allowed to run into the weekend and even on to next week if necessary.



The strong economies mainly in the north can either abandon or permanently subsidise the countries in economic difficulties to the south and west.

The voters of the triple AAA credit rated countries will have to be consulted before taking on such onerous, long term commitments. The leaders of these countries must decide on the terms of how such transfers can be accomplished and thereafter put these to their voters in a referendum. The leaders of the countries presently in, or nearing financial disaster, must similarly consult their voters in a referendum as to whether they wish to hand their governance to foreigners.

Britain must finally choose between a return to independence or submission to and submergence into Europe. Certain countries to the East must make a similar choice.

House of Lords evidence on EU/Euro Break Up

The following should be of interest to my blog readers in view of present developments in Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Italy. The entire report is here.  (My thanks to Anne Palmer for this, and all the other, recent research)

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A break-up?
47.  While the success or otherwise of these proposals will determine whether the euro area is able to survive in the longer term, some commentators have questioned whether it will be able to survive intact the immediate challenges of the financial crisis. Mr Cliffe informed us that while "the political will to sustain monetary union is still very strong",[65] "the markets now put a significantly higher probability on at least some exits from monetary union over the next few years".[66]
48.  We heard two scenarios where a Member State in financial difficulties might leave. On the one hand a state could feel it would be to its economic advantage to leave, regaining the ability to set its own interest and exchange rates. Alternatively, it might be asked to impose "potentially politically intolerable fiscal austerity measures" to remain in the euro.[67]
49.  Witnesses suggested that a voluntary exit by a country in difficulties was highly unlikely since countries were better off in the euro than out.[68] They noted, however, that the fiscally strong countries in the euro area might leave, splitting the euro area in two. Professor Buiter put this view: "The only real risk for the euro area falling apart is not the fiscally weak and uncompetitive countries leaving; they'd be mad. It is the fiscally strong and competitive countries leaving".[69] Mr Cliffe and Mr Persson told us that it had been suggested that the Germans, perhaps along with some other core euro area members, might wish to leave at some point.[70] This view, however, was dismissed by Ms Barysch: "when the initial debate [in Germany] has calmed down a bit, you will find a nation that remains very much committed to the European project because it doesn't see an alternative".[71]
50.  Sir Martin Jacomb, Chairman of the Canary Wharf Group, argued that the euro area would survive simply because "the political imperatives to keep it going are too great".[72] Professor Buiter concluded that he was "optimistic about the survival of the enterprise [the euro]", albeit "not about the elegance with which that survival will be achieved".[73]
51.  It is important to recognise that withdrawal from the euro area would not be an easy exercise. It should not be confused with leaving the exchange rate mechanism (as the UK and others did in the early 1990s), because of both practical difficulties involved in recreating a national currency and legal constraints. Professor Louis stressed to us that "the monetary union has been conceived as irreversible": there is no formal, legal process for a country to either leave the euro, or to be expelled from the euro.[74] According to Phoebus Athanassiou, Legal Counsel of the European Central Bank, "a Member State's exit from EMU, without a parallel withdrawal from the EU, would be legally inconceivable".[75]
52.  The Minister refused to speculate on whether the euro area would survive in its current form, simply noting that "there is no mechanism for countries to leave the euro", and adding that "it would be quite a big step for that to happen".[76]
53.  Professor Goodhart stated that "the costs, political as well as economic, to a country voluntarily leaving the euro are huge".[77] Mr Cliffe told us that any benefits for a country leaving the euro "would come along with considerable costs" and "there would be severe transitional costs for any members leaving the monetary union".[78] In a paper for the ING Group, EMU Break-up: Quantifying the Unthinkable he concludes that "the numbers are debatable, but the impact would undoubtedly be traumatic". The trauma would be most severe for those countries leaving the Euro, but other countries in the euro area and the wider EU would also suffer, and the report finishes with a warning that "this is perhaps something that policy-makers may care to reflect upon when they blithely talk of exit from EMU as being a policy option".[79] It is perhaps worth noting that those countries currently in difficulties make up only a small proportion of the euro area's combined gross domestic product (see Appendix 6).
54.  We believe that the political imperatives holding the euro area together are strong, and we do not think it is likely that any country, whether fiscally weak or strong, will try to leave voluntarily. We do, however, recognise that it is now conceivable that a country could be forced to leave the euro, or that the euro area could separate into two parts.
55.  Any break-up of the euro area would not only be economically and politically costly for those Member States leaving the euro, but would have a damaging impact on all members of the euro area and the wider EU, not least the UK.

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Spain's Bankia will be sold with 45% OFF

Reuters reports that the pricing for the IPO of Bankia will be at only 55% of Book Value, read here.

The "European Debt Debacle," as Bloomberg TV headlined its reports on the latest EU mess this morning, still continues apace!

UPDATE 1615 GMT: Reuters are now reporting the Prospectus issue has been delayed to next week, but contrary to my report of last evening, that the discount against book value would be 40% - 50%, and that reported above at 55% the range is expected to be between 35% and 55%. Time will tell, or perhaps the whole thing may well be called off - what will that tell us about the state of Spain's Cajas and therefore the Euro?

European Arrest Warrant - The Enforcement of Tyranny!

This blog has recently attacked Viviane Reding the EU Justice Commissioner and one of severla Vice Presidents of that useless body, for her extreme and fanatical views on European Federalism, read here, her latest offering, insultingly delivered in London, being linked here.

Instead of travelling across Europe trumpeting the eradication of democracy across the entire EU, thus almost the whole of a once free and democratic Europe, this woman should steer clear of discussing "islands" and/or  "islanders", subjects on which her ignorance seems almost complete! Time spent considering her job description and pondering on what Justice really means, also seems necessary.

Any definition of Justice, as accepted down the ages, would not include what is described as follows, a radio interview with one of many victims of the European Arrest Warrant broadcast on BBC Radio 4 this morning.

Here (the live link is delayed due to "problems at the BBC) it will be added when available or check the linked page for 07:50 am). Update 1230 GMT., the interview may now be heard from here.

Any having the stomach to read Reding's latest speech, and make it to the end without feeling outraged, may like to note that in my view one change to her last sentence alone would deliver the very sad truth:

Without justice there would Within the EU there can be no justice and therefore quite simply be no neither freedom and no  nor society.

Loss leaders in Spain.

On 13th June the Financial Times stated in an article linked here, that - “There are three big things wrong in Spain – the labour market; the pensions system and the cajas,” says one Spanish bank boss. “But the real milestone in the caja restructuring is the IPO of Bankia. If this goes through then 70 per cent of the problems in the sector will be solved. If the IPO fails, it will take a lot longer.”

Well, as I posted last evening, the details of the first sale of shares will become known today, to avoid risk of failure they will be priced at a substantial discount to the "supposed" value of the savings back according to its own accounts. The Market Watch page of the WSL has more on this latest EU crisis hotspot, linked here.

A decision to launch the shares at a discount of 0.5 TO 0.6 of book value, compared to the 0.8 factor to book value for La Caixa, is evidence enough that failure has already been accepted for this launch as determined by the FT!

Focus shifts to Spain - IMF issues grave warning

As the mainstream media finally catch up with events in Greece, and incorrectly report that the Confidence vote tonight in Athens is crucial, (it is not, the crunch will most likely come a week from tonight), the IMF has shifted attention to Spain, (see also my astute posting beneath this on the Cajas).

AFP has one of many reports now arriving on the internet, with this significant quote:

Spain faced grave economic risks if it failed to crack down harder on spending, shake up the financial sector and loosen up the labour market, the International Monetary Fund said.

The Fund issued the warning two days after about 200,000 Spaniards took to the streets to protest austerity measures and unemployment, and as markets showed deep concern about euro zone sovereign debt strains as Greece flirted with a possible default.

"The repair of the economy is incomplete and the risks are considerable," the Washington-based IMF said in a report summarising a review of Spain's economy by its analysts.

"Downside risks dominate," it said.

A BBC reporter has finally turned up in Athens! Gavin Hewitt or some such name; maybe he should take a plane to Madrid and return to Athens next week. Incredible this demonstration of not just complete ignorance of developing events, but incompetence too. The report he filed on BBC News 24 this evening, with three disconnected personal accounts with no questions asked was modern British journalism at its worst! Rant over!

Spanish Caja to float its shares at 50% - 60% of book value!

The EU madness continues, a report, summarised in this post's headline above, has just been released, linked here, which includes the following:

A Spanish savings bank is set to offer a substantial discount on a stock market listing to lure investors into its planned initial share sale, as fear of contagion of Greece’s debt crisis has caused firms to offer higher returns for the risk of investing in a southern European bank.

Bankia, a Spanish caja that is looking to list in July, will establish a price range on its prospectus – to be published tomorrow – at around 0.5 or 0.6 times its book value, a banker involved in the deal told Financial News. Bankia declined to comment.

Any failure to lure enough investor interest would worsen Spain’s already delicate financial situation, as the country, like other European peripheral nations, tries to avoid following Greece, Ireland and Portugal into a bailout.

Surely it should be obvious, that if the book value is at or near to the real value then none or little discount, even allowing for due caution would be really necessary. Thus this Cajas must be permitted under Spanish accountancy rules and practise, and one presumes,within Spanish law- to carry a book value almost double the real value of the assets it holds.

If this practise is common in Spain, or even permissable, and is in effect for a largish percentage of all the many such savings banks, then why is not Spain near default as well as Greece? Because of another EU contrived blind eye - I'll be bound!

The true depths of Europes debts must be many times the large numbers already being bandied about for the certainty of the Greek default!

How Heath deliberately destroyed Parliament's sovereignty over legislation

The following quote comes from a briefing paper from Lord Kilmuir to Edward Heath in December 1960, sent to me today by Anne Palmer. It is hugely relevant in the light of the present state of the European Union Bill.

The research paper 10/79 may be read in pdf format from this link.

The section on the effect on majority decisions in the European Council to which Britain objected is discussed  as follows:


(a) The position of Parliament
It is clear from the memorandum prepared by your Legal Advisers that the Council of Ministers could eventually (after the system of qualified majority voting had come into force) make regulations which would be binding on use even against our wishes, and which would in fact become for us part of the law of the land. There are two ways in which this requirement of the Treaty could in practice be implemented:-
Parliament could legislate ad hoc on each occasion that the Council made regulations requiring action by us. The difficulty would be that, since Parliament can bind neither itself nor its successors, we could only comply with our obligations under the Treaty if Parliament abandoned its right of passing independent judgment on the legislative proposals put before it. A parallel is the constitutional convention whereby Parliament passes British North America Bills without question at the request of the Parliament of Canada; in this respect Parliament here has in substance, if not in form, abdicated its sovereign position, and it would have, pro tanto, to do the same for the Community.
It would in theory be possible for Parliament to enact at the outset legislation which would give automatic force of law to any existing or future regulations made by the appropriate organs of the Community. For Parliament to do this would go far beyond the most extensive delegation of powers, even in wartime, that we have experienced and I do not think there is any likelihood of this being acceptable to the House of Commons.
Whichever course were adopted, Parliament would retain in theory the liberty to repeal the relevant Act or Acts, but I would agree with you that we must act on the assumption that entry into the Community would be irrevocable; we should have therefore to accept a position where Parliament had no more power to repeal its own enactments than it has in practice to abrogate the Statute of Westminster. In short, Parliament would have to transfer to the Council, or other appropriate organ of the Community, its substantive powers of legislating over the whole of a very important field.

Thus unilateral withdrawal (not as provided for in the Lisbon Treaty) and simultaneous abrogation of all the European Treaties, is the only real means of avoiding the now imminent EU tyranny!

Barroso plans to bring forward €1 Billion for Greece

The EU Commission President, Barroso, has the EU Cohesion Fund in his sights today, as all across the EU the ineffectual leadership scrambles for means to delay the inevitable, to avoid the whole horrible truth being revealed.

More flames, more petrol and yet more taxpayer funds, burnt to no end. One report is here, Some quotes:

"Greece has the potential to access a significant amount of EU money under cohesion policy," Barroso told a news conference....
"There's been talk of front-loading and some of the measures can be taken without the need for a legislative act. For example, the Greek government could agree to review certain aspects of its programmed reforms," Barroso said.

The Commission could also offer administrative help to Greece so that the country could better access the remaining funds -- 14.3 billion euros by 2013 -- he said.

Open Europe notes in new research, out today and linked here, that every household in the eurozone currently underwrites €535 in Greek debt, through the existing loan guarantees. By 2014, and following a second bail-out, this amount could increase to €1,450 per household, as around 64% of Greek debt would by then be held by official creditors (EU, IMF, ECB)

Tomorrow's Sydney Morning Herald spotlights "finger in the damn" Geert Wilders

In a long article about the Greek tragedy, the morning newspaper from Australia, highlights another weakness in the collapsing EU, read here, that being the shaky Dutch Coalition Government. The following is an important quote contained in the report:

In the Netherlands, the leader of the right-wing Freedom Party that props up the minority government, Geert Wilders, said: "Greece should leave the euro zone and reintroduce the drachma. No more Dutch tax money to the corrupt and de facto bankrupt Greek."

Der Spiegel concludes that crushing Europe is the sole solution!

In a five page article, titled "How the Euro became Europe's greatest threat", this  week's Der Spiegel International discusses the travails of the Euro, link,  and the outlook for Europe. After my reading it, I believe a better title may have been "The Euro is Kaput!" That said, the conclusion and the aftermath it portends, is exactly as this blog has ever feared, I quote:

....many politicians specializing in financial and economic affairs recommend bringing about the political union of Europe as quickly as possible, a union with a strong central government.

They argue that if the nations in the euro zone formed a closer union, they could coordinate their financial systems more effectively, thus providing the common currency with a political foundation. This would make it easier to implement reforms in the recipient countries and improve their competitiveness. Just recently, ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet proposed installing a European finance ministry equipped with the right to intervene in the individual member states.

NEVER overlook the fact, that amidst all this talk of greater economic integration, the EU is a democracy free organisation. Allowing this to proceed could condemn generations of Europeans yet to be born to years of servitude, given the powerful new weapons now available to the State with the internet, and the EU's past track record of disregard for its own rules and riding roughshod over referendum results it chooses not to like!

The world is unlikely to have ever seen anything so controlling or grotesque as that which the EU now looks set upon trying to achieve.

Will Greek Government face Confidence Vote without electricity today?

A report on Monday's power cuts, from an English version of the paper Kathimerini, may be read here. Good job that today is the longest day of the year, giving daylight late into the evening when the vote is planned to take place. Let us hope the voting procedures in Greece ape those of Westminster and do not require electricity!

The real crunch vote in Greece will not take place until a week today, when the newest austerity measures are to be voted upon. A Reuters report on that, is linked here, which ominously for the EU leadership, (if such a tag can still be applied to the headless chickens now careering around and between Europe's Capitals) also carries the news that the contrived 'voluntary' rollover of Greek debts would be deemed a default event by the credit rating agency, Fitch!

EU Treaty Article 66 & Surging SE England house price rises.

Last night in Parliament, as may be seen at 6 minutes 15 seconds into the video linked from the posting immediately below, the spectre of the EU Council having the right to ban movements of capital to countries outside the EU, was raised by Gisela Stuart MP.

Such a ban would deal a death blow to the City of London, and the mere fact of the existence of such draconian powers is clear evidence of the treason that has been underway in the Palace of Westminster over many years.

Happily the authority of the European Council, with its ludicrous Gollum-like figurehead Van Rompuy in charge, is rapidly losing the small shreds of authority it once may have commanded. The farce of Jean-Claude Juncker's weekend Ecofin Euro Group outcome, and the horrendous debts incurred by Jean-Claude Trichet's misgovernance of the ECB, all point to an early end to the dagger that has for long been pointed at the heart of the City of London from Frankfurt.

One is tempted to wonder if the rise in property prices, as reported by Bloomberg in this link, now being experienced and anticipated in London and the South East, is a sign of a coming re-inforcement in the world role of the City.

The interjection by Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, into the debate over a Greek default, could well be another sign of the shift that may be taking place; Westminster, having ceded its law-makng powers to Brussels, may find them, once reclaimable, eventually coming to rest elsewhere!

If the EU Council wished to ensure a quick and final end to the EU fiasco, trying to activate Aricle 66 with the City of London in their sights, could perhaps find no quicker means to bring a halt to the Euro's death struggles! Surely such an event would finally end any further monetary transfers to the EU, or would Cameron, Clegg, Osborne and Hague continue to consider only their own personal finances which they clearly hope to promote through their ongoing subservience to a clearly collapsing EU, by their ruthless trampling over the economic well-being of the people of Britain.

Urgent Commons Question on Greek Default

The EU has the power under Article 66 (see from 6minutes 15 seconds into the video clip) of halting capital flows for six months. Only one of several key points from Labour MP, Gisela Stuart, who having been at the Constitutional Treaty Convention under  Giscard d'Estaing, really knows the gravity of Britain's present plight.

BBC risks annihalation by continuing its cover-up of EU Truths

Reuters reports on the mass outrage in Europe's media over the incompetence of the Continent's leaders, linked here.

No such risk for the thoroughly indoctrinated pro-EU BBC, following in their footsteps, as I noted earlier today on their reporting of the latest Greek bail out fiasco. My attention has been drawn to a portion of a report by a BBC reporter who has reorted on the potential for a backlash. He is Paul Mason and the report in question is quoted on the "Calling England" blog, linked here, the quote:

And I will repeat the point about hostility to the media: it's not a problem for me and my colleagues to be hounded off demos as "representatives of big capital", "Zionists", "scum and police informers" etc. But to get this reaction from almost every demographic - from balaclava kids to pensioners - should be a warning sign to the policymaking elite. The "mainstream" - whether it's the media, politicians or business people - is beginning to seem illegitimate to large numbers of people.

Pretty obvious that Brussels fattened and bloated,Patten who runs the BBC Trust, will protect the EU and his pension to the bitter end, just like his fellow EU pensioners in the House of Lords, as mentioned in my posting below.

The EU Pensioners who betray Britain in the Lords.

A good Mail on Sunday exposé which should not have been missed by this blog yesterday, but was (for which my apologies), is linked here.

A halt to these pension payments from the EU would almost certainly follow the EU's collapse, now looking the most likely means of obtaining Britain's restored independence!

Europe at the Crossroads!

Contrary to the complacent news reports on BBC Radio Four this morning, the only way to describe the outcome of the European Finance Minister's meeting in Luxembourg, which continued into the early hours of the morning today, is complete deadlock!

The BBC decided, with absolutely no basis whatsoever that I can discover, that if the shuffled Greek Government wins a vote of confidence, the next tranche of funds due under the first bail out will be paid by the EU.

In fact, as reported by Bloomberg TV and other sources, the Greeks must commit to yet more austerity and a rapid divestiture of Government assets, effectively a seizing of much of their nationalised industries, one of the aspects causing many of the protests across the country.

Italian banks are coming under pressure this morning in the markets, highlighting the ridiculousness of the EU position, for Italy, if the Greeks accept all the harsh terms still on the table, will be one of the supposed "White Knights" riding to rescue the Greeks!

EU Finance Ministers may only provide half the €12 Billion for Greece

The Bloomberg report with the news, summarised in this post's headline, is linked here.

As a seasoned watcher of such events as the present Ecofin meeting, I would suggest that the crunch point to now watch is when the Asian financial markets open, the flaw in this suggestion being that there does not seem to be anyone savvy enough in the present negotiations, to be aware, that such a deadline could prove crucial!

Greek power outages could begin at midnight!

The Irish Times reports this afternoon, that Greek power workers will begin a 48 hour strike at midnight tonight. The report on the Finance Ministers' get together in Brussels is linked here, from which comes the following:

Workers at Greek state utility PPC said they would launch a 48-hour strike at midnight, that may result in rolling power outages, to oppose government plans to sell the company.
"The big battle starts! Everyone join us in our 48-hour strike!" the union said on its website.

Germany proposes doubling the EFSF funds for Greece

The German State Broadcaster has issued a report this Sunday lunchtime proposing a doubling of the funds available to Greece under the EFSF increasing German liability from 123 billion euros to 246 Billion, read here.

What effect this will have in Finland, where the True Finns are holding a party conference without an EU flag in sight, or in the soon to be similarly strapped struggling periphary countries such as Ireland, Portugal, Italy and Belgium, all of whom will have to participate in such a scheme, is unimaginable to this blogging commentator.

Surely these supposed solely contingent liabilities will soon become demands for hard cash, further worsening the plight of Greece's poorer EU cousins?

The Euro Group Finance Ministers, joined by the former Greek Defence Minister, now in charge of that nation's debts, so presumably their new Debt Minister, are discussing the latest situation, no doubt over some fine Belgian cuisine, accompanied by some Burgundy or Claret, and will presumably reach some kind of conclusion before Dinnertime this evening!

Update 1600 GMT/  AFP say that an anonymous German source states this offer has now been withdrawn, although the Deutsche Welle link is still quoting it on my original link above!

What next for the two Jean-Claude Tricksters!

Jean-Claude Juncker, Prime Minister of Luxembourg, but far more "self-" importantly, Head of the Euro Group (the countries now trapped within the sinking euro currency) was last night clearly to be seen in a state of panic as proven by his public utterances: Juncker warns of further contagion, Forbes; Juncker says Angela Merkel is "Playing with Fire  ...with Extreme Consequences" Business Insider; Greece debt crisis likely to hit Italy, Belgium warns Luxembourg PM, International Business Times, etc.

What news, however, from the prime mover in this disaster, the "Turd in the Punchbowl" himself, Jean-Claude Trichet, for this crisis weekend?  So far, nothing, complete silence!

Moody's warn Italy and French Banks on credit review! Spanish debt.

The most concise review of the news of Moody's warning on Italy, that broke last evening as North American markets were closing is linked here, and comes from CBC in Canada. A quote:

Moody's cited challenges which hindered the country's recovery from recession including low productivity, inflexible labour agreements and domestic markets, and the prospects of an eventual rise in interest rates.
"Italy has so far only recovered a fraction of the nearly seven percentage points in GDP that it lost during the global crisis, despite low interest rates, which are likely to rise in the medium term," it said in a release.
It also raised the possibilities that there may not be the popular will to support government attempts to cut its debt load and that foreign lenders may increase borrowing rates if the European debt crisis escalates.

Meantime in Spain, bad loans rose to a 16 year high the central bank is preparing to buy up €7billion of bad debts from the Cajas as the housing market worsens! WSJ link.

At whose door will that seven billion worth of more waste eventually be laid one must wonder.

Slowly but surely the evidence arrives of the fact that the EU is bust, making the obscene speech delivered by Viviene Reding which I linked, with a quote in a post yesterday,  (now again here) even more historic for its utter ignorance and entire insensitivity.

Nigel Farage - a voice of sanity in the growing chaos!

"We are not an island" - EU Commissoner & VP Reding

I was about to post a link to this revolting speech, but on reading a brilliant analysis of our present plight on John Ward's "The Slog", linked here, I felt compelled to include it in a comment to that post, which I therefore quote below:

Read the entire garbage from a speech yesterday by a VP of the EU Commission, Viviane Reding, Justice Commissioner, which begins as follows:

Brussels, 16 June 2011
Your Excellency Mr. Van Rompuy,
Dear Erika,
Dear Danuta,
Dear Meglena,
Ladies and gentlemen, 

AND after much of the usual EU garbage, later continues as follows:

Europe is the solution, not the problem. This is the message and the raison d’être of the European Semester. I hear everywhere calls for an economic government. Well, we have set it up. Because we are interdependent also our national economic and financial decisions must be interdependent. After all we are not islands!
That is why the European Semester foresees common economic priorities, a prior monitoring of all national budget proposals. Can you imagine if a few years ago we would have asked to control national policy measures and their financing structures? It would have been a unanimous “never, never, ever”! Today, we do it. It is this European Commission that put this economic governance in place. It is this European Commission which assesses it and monitors the commitments made in terms of sound budgets, structural reforms and growth-enhancing measures.
Simply put, we are putting Europe’s economic house in order.
This should therefore not be the time for self-flagellation or negativism. It should be the time for strong determination and self-confidence. If we are all responsible – responsible in our words, responsible in our action – Europe has a good chance to get out of the crisis stronger than it was before.
Read it all if you did not enjoy your last meal and desire to get rid of it in a hurry from:
http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=SPEECH/11/446&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

Merkel/Sarkozy antagonism puts 45 minute limit on today's summit!

Little could more accurately reflect the dire straits of the European Union than the fact that in their private first meeting since last October in Deauville, the leaders of the two nations supposedly driving European unity can only stand to be together for 45 minutes, today in Berlin. The following is the schedule as reported this morning by Bloomberg:

The two leaders are scheduled to meet at 11 a.m. in the Chancellery, with a press conference due at 11:45 a.m.

The reporter in Berlin for the Irish Times, has more on the background detail to the meeting, linked here.

As I posted yesterday, the crucial item, that will no doubt not be mentioned at all, is where and how will all the grotesque liabilities incurred by the ECB over the past eight years of Jean-Claude Trichet's misrule, now end up. Massive holdings of promissory notes from bankrupt governments and their banks are still being assumed as having value in the confused minds of both the leaders at today's 'summit'.

In truth, the fog, that has clouded the brains of these all too frail, but power demented individuals, is the only substance holding together all the once admirable dreams of a united Continent of Europe.

The Euro needed their solid backing, had they wished to save the common currency, they would have, therefore, long past had to have been honest with their voters, taxpayers and all the citizens of the EU. They chose otherwise, now the real costs so far incurred in the failed attempts to sticky plaster their EMU have reached such proportions, that honesty is no longer an option.  Further attempts to stave off the inevitable will merely result in more money wasted and deeper eventual misery postponed!

In Britain, the facts of payments made so far in support of the Euro, both via the EFSM, the IMF and directly to Ireland should today be reported to Parliament and a guarantee delivered, that no more funds will be transferred in pursuit of a now clearly impossible goal.

Secrecy over Britain's Share of EU Bail Outs!

Mark Reckless MP,  made several statements, which outside of Parliament may have matched his name, when interviewed by Jeff Randall on Sky News, last evening. At times he was talked over by his fellow guest an EU fanaticalunatic, whose name does not bear repeating, and his host. The main items I understood as being stated were the following:

1.) Britain is now paying real money for the bail outs, not just incurring contingent liabilities. I heard nine billion mentioned in conjunction with July and the IMF.

2.) George Osborne had a secret deal with French Finance Minister, Christine Lagarde, that further payments from the EFSM (to which Britain and non-euro, EU member states contribute) would be halted and future drawdowns for Greece etc., would come from the EFSF, payable by Euro Group members only. This understanding was to be kept secret from Germany.

Two thoughts spring to mind on this. In regard to Item 1 above, why have such figures and their impact not been explained by George Osborne in Parliament,  particularly as the evening before he had made so much in his Mansion House speech, on the tiny receipts of potentially only one billion from the sale of Northern Rock.

Secondly, and perhaps even more significantly, does the world really wish to have as its next IMF MD, an individual prepared to deliver the kind of assurance and secretive side-deal as that alleged by Mr Reckless in Item 2 above?

Is the ECB a 'Bad Bank' or a 'Central Bank'?

A speech made in Amsterdam yesterday, might help throw light on the above question. The speech was made by Lorenzo Bini Smaghi, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB, to an International Risk Management Conference, and is linked from here.

The answer to the question posed in the headline to this posting, however, is unlikely to be found in what was stated.

Whether or not the ECB is really a Central Bank, with all the protections that assumes and clearly spelt out in the speech, or just another bad bank, completely depends on the political decisions now mainly to be taken by Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy!

If the leaders of Germany and France, now have the courage to inform their electorates of the scale of the huge debts the ECB has incurred, and that these must now fall mainly upon the taxpayers of France and Germany, then the ECB will indeed have proved itself a Central Bank.

If not, the ECB will be a Bad Bank, and its sole option will be for it to effectively default!

UPDATE 1750 GMT: Open Europe has rebutted the criticism of its research made in the subject speech by Mr Smaghi, has responded in this post on its Blog.

Lord Pearson of Rannoch - yesterday in the Lords!

From Hansard, linked here:

"The British people are not stupid. They are in fact much cleverer, much more patriotic and altogether nobler than their political class. They also work in the real world to earn the salaries to pay the taxes to keep us, the political class, afloat in the style to which we have become accustomed.....

The British people understand that what is happening to the people of Greece, Portugal, Spain, Ireland and other countries is entirely the fault of the discredited project of undemocratic European integration with its attendant euro. It is not just in this country that the public are moving against EU membership and their political class-and, therefore, I might point out, this amendment. I do not suppose your Lordships have noticed the very recent opinion poll in Norway. Norway has moved a long way: according to this poll, 66 per cent are now against EU membership, with only 26 per cent in favour. Opposition to EU membership is highest among people under the age of 30, with 77 per cent against and only 15 per cent in favour. As the noble Lord, Lord Lamont, has reminded us, opinion is moving strongly in France, Germany, Finland, Holland, Austria-in fact, hardly anywhere in Europe is EU membership still popular.........

" ....the movers of this amendment and the people who oppose this Bill do actually want an integrated superstate of Europe run entirely by the political class, having destroyed the democracies of Europe-which was always the big idea behind the project.



The movers of this amendment and those who will support it are attempting to swim against the tide of opinion here and in Europe. That tide in the end will prove irresistible, so I oppose this attempt to do so."

Yet another fine mess Olli

Olli Rehn, EU Economic Commissioner, talks to Bloomberg - the message - Don't Panic, the EU will have another look at things on 11th July.

So that's alright then!

Here for your enjoyment is another chance to view the video:

Barroso on whether the ECB is Bankrupt!

Trichet's Heir Apparent Struggles on Goldman Sachs

Update 1200 ECT: This video being provided by EurActiv has been heavily cut. I will try to find a version withe the questions being asked included and post it below when I am able.

Video report from Associated Press on Greece

A new government will be formed today and face a vote of confidence without the support of the opposition as the main plank will involve a continuation of EU control and EU seizure of Greek national assets.

IMF agrees that Ireland can give senior bondholders a Mohican

Sensational news in the Irish Times, this morning, linked here! The article begins:

MINISTER FOR Finance Michael Noonan says the Government has a plan to impose “substantial” losses on senior bondholders in Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide Building Society in a significant policy reversal.
He says he has won support for the move from top officials at the International Monetary Fund in Washington, but the difficulty was “what attitude the European Central Bank may take”. He will ask EU authorities to let the Government impose losses on the senior bondholders.

Furthermore, in a meeting with US Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geitner, Noonan also obtained a suggestion of US support for a reduction in interest rates on the first bail out package, being used by France as a lever to get Ireland's Corporation Tax rate raised.

Events in Greece, may make all of this somewhat academic, the burning question might soon quickly become, which former EU nation states might join Greece in returning to their former currencies. Ireland and Portugal seem the most likely candidates, but could Spain, Belgium, Italy and even France not also quickly follow, especially given the affects of the horrendous Mohican Haircuts their own banks are now likely to take.

The following chart of Banks exposures to Greece is from "an article?" in this morning's Daily Telegraph, which lacks any editorial comment, see here!

Country	Total lending exposure to Greece (millions)	Total Government debt exposure to Greece (millions)
Total of 24 countries	145,783	54,196
European banks	136,317	52,258
Non-European banks	9,466	1,938
France	56,740	14,960
Germany	33,974	22,651
Italy	4,085	2,345
Japan	1,631	432
Spain	974	540
UK	14,060	3,408
US	7,318	1,505

Source: BIS Quarterly Review

Citizen's Freedom of Movement EU Style

Athens 15/06/11

Athens 15th June, 2011. Images from Covering Delta. N.B. This particular Irony, these barricades, (presumably EU standard,) were erected to prevent the free circulation of this former nation's, own former nationals!

At the same time, at the other end of the EU, similarly clad EUrobot Police confront protesters in Barcelona, as may be seen and read from this report in today's The Guardian.

Sky News reports Greek PM Papendreou ready to stand down

The report, representing a huge deepening of the Greek crisis, as long and fully anticipated by regular readers of this blog, is linked here.

How to save €63 Billion this year alone!

The EU Budget for 2011 is illustrated above, as derived from a House of Lords document linked here and on this blog earlier today.

With two weeks to go until we reach the halfway point of the year, and a meeting of the leaders of the 27 EU Member States scheduled before the end of the month; why do not the citizens of the EU press for the whole EU monstrosity to be brought to a halt.

Six months of thought, on what, if anything might replace it, may well lead us to assume that we can well do without it, and save ever greater amounts of money which are planned to increase at 5% plus, every year thereafter. This could be just what Europe's strapped economies really need.

On top of these savings, of course, will be vast extra sums saved on the expenses of our own national politicians in their regular trips to Brussels etc., they too and their hangers-on might also free up extra time to devote to their own nation's problems, instead of wining and dining and concluding nothing can be done!

♫ The Pain in Spain is All Incurred in Vain♫

Politicians were today helicoptered in to the Catalan Parliament to avoid protests! Indeed, as per this posting's headline, "The pain in Spain is all incurred in vain," is surely now the case as in Greece, where thirteen months of austerity has all been for absolutely nothing, so too now in Spain, as reported here.

Britain's former Prime Minister, the lying Tony Blair, ensured Parliament could never be surrounded by law-abiding protesters in Westminster, in his disgraceful Civil Contingencies Act, but elsewhere, such as in Barcelona this morning, politicians conniving in the further bankruptcy of their country on behalf of the EU and thus the further advancement of EU subjugation, had to be flown in by helicopter, to avoid their citizen's protests.

The protesters in Greece have announced their intention to surround the Greek Parliament today to prevent the signing of a new memorandum with the EU, which will hand that country's assets to the very banks that have brought about the euro's coming collapse.

EU Madness Explained

A report of insane objectives set out by the corrupt, overspending charlatans in the EU Parliament, reaches such levels of ridiculousness that its Rapporteur offers an "Explanatory Statement" which contains the following insight into the lunacy by which all connected with the evil EU project are possessed.

The report is linked here, and the passage that hit my eye in particular is the following from Page 37 of the pdf document, dated 26th May 2011:

The crisis and severe constraints in public spending have made it more difficult for some Member States to provide sufficient funding not only to develop their own economies but also to help them participate fully in the internal market. This is one of the reasons why EU action is today more necessary than ever. The EU which is less constrained in its actions by day-today economic, financial, and political realities is best placed to carry out long-term planning and to mobilise the required spending.

How is it possible, other than in the realms of fantasy, for the EU to have greater resources than the contributions of the participating member states can provide?

Is it any wonder that all involved in this horrendous anti-democratic and increasingly totalitarian enterprise, pay themselves, award themselves obscene pensions and perks and provide themselves with entertainments and facilities undreamt of down the ages - all in the incredible and obviously mistaken belief, that the EU can somehow produce assets out of thin air by the mere fact of its supposedly mysterious existence.

Shut it down, if you believe we might miss it in some way, then read the entire linked document and be prepared to be horrified!

The UK House of Lords report on the EU Budget after 2014 (MFF) is linked here.

Documents with links, thanks to Anne Palmer!

NHS Stupidity & Political play acting

No reform of the NHS, nor repair ofthe nation's finances, can occur unless the NHS becomes mainly funded through majority self-insurance. Meantime national hypocrisy becomes the order of the day and the end result is as shown in this video:



In the accompanying Daily Telegraph article, the incident is explained with this significant quote:

Mr Nunn had previously written to The Daily Telegraph about the “dress code” imposed on his hospital.

“I now have to half undress to see my patients, and have certainly not been provided with any protective uniform, any more than I was provided with a white coat,” he wrote in 2007.

“While I wholeheartedly endorse any measure to reduce the risk of infection, I cannot see this but as window dressing. The problem of cross-infection in hospitals in Britain is caused by an adherence to the use of open wards instead of individual rooms, and by the level of bed-occupancy caused by the reduction of total bed numbers, and the need to ‘hot-bed’ to achieve government-dictated targets.”