Treasures from the threads - Number 74 Ending the Euro

The Assistant Editor, Jeremy Warner, of the tired old Daily Telegraph,  in an article this morning, calls for the euro currency to be turned off. This has attracted much comment (352 so far) the most recent of which ranks as a Treasure for its short and brilliant perceptiveness:

EnglishMadness
Today 04:40 AM

Germany is the Euro and the land of the Euro gets to build Greek undergrounds and high speed rail links in England. I think it could be us who should be feeling miserable.

Treasures from the threads - Number 73 Crooked Cameron.

An article in the Daily Telegraph, by James Kirkup and Holly Watt, reports widespread dissatisfaction with Cameron and Osborne amongst Tory MPs in Westminster, linked here, has recieved this telling comment:

prwrichardson

18 seconds ago

I wonder if the fuel panic was sufficient to boost output and keep our GDP just high enough to avoid the dreaded double dip recession? The possibility will not have been lost on Mr Osborne

David Cameron and George Osborne are now firmly lodged in the public's mind for the cheapskate but posh, snivelling, insubstantial, second rate tricksters they have always quite obviously been. The electorate and their party ludicrously gave them the benefit of the doubt over perhaps having some principles and/or morality for far, far too long. Who can possibly do so today.

The country must now await the latest maiden speech of George Galloway MP, who will hopefully address the wider spread dissatisfaction and distress across the nation and thereafter the collapse of this dreadful coalition with a General Election and hopefully alongside a concurrent referendum on the question of our future with the EU as it collapses.It is the EU that has corrupted our existing political parties, they and it must be abandoned!

Update 0830 BST It appears the entire Telegraph Group have also decided Cameron must go, read Iain Martin linked here.

Treasures from the threads Number 67 - Eu Treaties

To a post on John Redwood's Diary blog, linked here.

Denis Cooper

Posted November 30, 2011 at 4:46 pm | Permalink

As a point of passing interest, tomorrow will be a very special day for the EU Parliament because the first post-Lisbon EU treaty change will come into force and so it will once again be lawfully constituted.
That’s after a period of two years since December 1st 2009, during which its composition has been in clear breach of the EU treaties as amended by the Treaty of Lisbon, as explained here:
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/pressroom/content/20100223BKG69359/html/Ratification-of-Parliament%27s-18-additional-MEPs-completed
The root cause of the unlawfulness being the refusal of the German government to withdraw three surplus German MEPs, 99 having been elected in June 2009 when the Treaty of Lisbon set a new maximum of 96 MEPs for any country.
I think it’s worth mentioning this, because hardly anybody in this country was aware of this legal problem with the EU Parliament, which could have and arguably should have rendered all its acts null and void, and hardly anybody in this country noticed when a treaty protocol to correct the problem was agreed by representatives of the EU member states in Brussels on June 23rd 2010, and hardly anybody in this country registered that Parliament was being asked to approve that first post-Lisbon EU treaty change through the entirely unrelated European Union Bill, the “referendum lock” law:
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2011/12/part/2/enacted
“Part 2
Implementation of transitional Protocol on MEPs
15 Protocol on MEPs: approval, and addition to list of treaties
(1) The Protocol amending the Protocol (No. 36) on transitional provisions annexed to the Treaty on European Union, to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and to the Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community, signed at Brussels on 23 June 2010, is approved for the purposes of section 5 of the European Union (Amendment) Act 2008 (amendment of founding Treaties: approval by Act of Parliament).”
Likewise it seems that hardly anybody in this country has yet noticed that the SECOND post-Lisbon EU treaty change was agreed by EU leaders on March 25th 2011:
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2011:091:0001:0002:EN:PDF
and that Cameron asked for and got nothing substantive in return for his agreement.
So my answer to the question “What should the UK say to Germany?” is that first of all Cameron should say that he no longer intends to ask Parliament to approve that EU treaty change agreed on March 25th, until there have been further negotiations and a number of important conditions have been met.

Treasures from the threads - Number 64

The quoted comment comes to an article by Janet Daley in the Telegraph Online:

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One of the scariest things about the Norwegian killer was he holds the same beliefs as many people commenting here and on other newspaper sites, namely that immigration has gone too far and the EU is an evil socialist union, these are things that many people agree with but we don't hear hardly any discussion of, especially on the BBC.

In his video (now deleted) the "EUSSR" takes centre stage. These are not fringe lunatic views but the views of millions all over europe and one's that I would certainly agree with.

The difference between him and other commenters is he was cold and evil and insane enough to execute 15 yr old children where as most would find the idea repulsive, I've fought in a war and witnessed killing and bloodshed but that would take a soul far darker than mine.

I generally have a good forsight, and am able to predict where most things are headed with some degree of accuracy in politics, not because I'm nostradamus, but because I usually ignore the mainstream media and read between the lines, as I'm sure many others do.

Now, my point is, how long before we see another attack, not aimed against children, but possibly against Muslims or EU organisations, how long can the people that run the countries of europe keep ignoring the people that live in them.

Somewhere along the line they've forgotten that they're supposed to serve and they now think it's ok to show open contempt for us.

How do we force these discussions of the blog pages and into the mainstream media, to prevent violence from nutters who feel they're not being listened to.

Discussions like this need to be on the BBC evening news, not  on obscure blog pages, we're talking about the slow giving away of our national sovereinty for heavens sake, why in gods name is it not newsworthy enough for the state funded broadcaster.

Until we, the peaceful amongst us, stand up and force this into the evening news, we stand the risk of nutters making political statements for our beleifs.
Something has to change drastically, or more violence will surely follow, especially as the Euro collapses and people's wages wont buy a loaf of bread, there will then be millions of angry people having seen their country's wealth sqaundered by the elites who've ignored them at every turn with nothing left to lose, what do you think they might do?

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WSJ on Atlas Shrugged Premier - Threads treasures N° 62!

An article in the Wall Street Journal, by Donald L. Luskin, linked here, on yesterday's premier of part one of the movie 'Atlas Shrugged' up to this point has gathered 420 comments, many of which are well informed and worthy of further consideration, unlike the entirely predictable chastisement the film has received across most of the liberal media.

I have selected this, from James Kelly, to become this blog's Treasure from the Threads - number sixty-two:

• James Kelly wrote:

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As one who owes Ayn Rand a dept of gratitude for challenging his mind in his early twenties with her thought-provoking books, I agree wholeheartedly with Mr. Luskin's assessment that Ms. Rand was neither left nor right in the traditional sense. Thirty-five years have transpired since I read her works--years that included a twenty-year career in railroad problem-solving/management, direct involvement in Neuroscience, twice serving as a surrogate 'stem cells' spokesperson for the GW Bush White House, and (currently) writing a novel. More sharply than the passions of youth, life has taught me to appreciate Ms. Rands superlative skills in crafting characters and plots that plumb the depths of human nature. However, regarding her endorsement of unbridled capitalism and high-minded captains of industry, I suggest a caveat that scientists have confirmed with functional MRIs: Human have an amazing and disturbing ability to interpret reality to match what they want to believe regardless of facts, reason, or consequences. Sadly, this truth applies as much to our political and social leaders irrespective of worldview persuasion as to the man on the street or executives in corporate board rooms, even John Galt. Can't wait to see the movie!
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