The Bewilderness

The approaching Juncker moment

Cameron appointed Lord Hill as his Commissioner prospective, a pro-European Tory and a former special adviser to Kenneth Clarke. After the isolation, the Prime Minister may have viewed this appointment as an ameliorative measure. It cut no ice with the head of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz. Forgetting the limits of his constitutional power under the treaty, Schulz thundered that Hill would never become a Commissioner because he was a Eurosceptic Tory. Having only the power to vote down the entire set of Commissioners, Schulz soon sulked and backtracked muttering that gender balance was more important. Yet, for Britain, an important moment, reinforcing the Juncker moment. The visceral dislike and instant assumption of British Euroscepticism as an ideological taboo for EU positions means that negotiation for reform is unlikely to happen.

Now, Juncker is seeding the press with further comments on the British position and possibly preparing to render Lord Hill a non-entity. The choice of portfolio marks a clear sign of European perceptions in regard to the position of the UK in Europe. A minor portfolio suggests that Brexit is considered a positive option and there will be no compromise on a halfway house. A decent portfolio marks a negotiating concession. And if Britain doesn't leave, we are then sidelined as a walkover: this is known as the Miliband option and is the preferred future of the supine Liberal Democrats (the party without a backbone so they can U-turn as fast as possible).   

Time to brew the sweet smell of that Brexit coffee

Labour supported the Conservatives in opposing the appointment of Jean-Claude Juncker to President of the European Commission. As a federalist, they were also unwilling to support further integration. Yet the headlines of "Britain isolated" brought some rich comments from Ed Balls on television this morning. As he stated, never had he seen such a "cack-handed" negotiation. (This seemed rather surprising, since there are so many examples from the previous Labour administration: General Practitioners, Treaty of Lisbon, etc etc).

Whilst the news from the continental press remains quiet in the aftermath of this repeat (Britain versus the rest), Labour's opportunistic spin falls on sterile ground, given the messenger (just as Cruddas bemoans his leader's leadership in the Sunday Times). The two initial conclusions from the appointment of Juncker is that there is no European constituency for the repatriation of powers and the appetite for real reform is retreating.

Given the choice between ever closer la la land and reality, the European Council chose a make-believe country called Europe and took the brakes off Brexit.   

All to play for in 2015

The Labour party have not maintained the lead in the polls that they commanded during the years of declining living standards. The parallels with the balance sheet recovery of 1992 are clear. During that election, Labour were also unable to persuade enough voters that they deserved their trust on matters of economic competence. As the recovery has accelerated and living standards have commenced an upward trend, the Conservative party enjoys a tepid recovery in the polls.

This polling trend is, in some ways, indifferent to the European election results or potential upsets in Newark. Since the underlying compass for voters is the economy, psephological upsets magnified by the Westminster bubble are far less influential that real asset bubbles elsewhere. For the Tories, their real risks lie offshore: in China, Europe and the United States. 

Yet, with the economy as ballast, a recovery hits the oddities of the British electoral system. Left-wing Liberal Democrats have tactically defected to Labour in part; anti-Tory distaste trumping devotion to the protest vote. And the protest vote has turned to UKIP: disillusioned with a party now in government. 

The range of outcomes is wide open and complicated by the potential results of the Scottish referendum. That, rather than the European elections, could prove the earthquake that cracks open English politics.

I want to make my mark on the BreXit ballot

The Liberal Democrats promised, once upon a time, in their manifesto that the British electorate should hold an In-Out referendum on EU membership. Soon after, they reneged on this promise. Their reasons for this change have never held water. Their unprincipled nature is clear. Every policy adopted is clothed in sanctimonious and hypocritical language though it is designed for naked advantage. This extends from House of Lords reform to the proportional representation vote.

It is an unedifying sight to watch unelected Lords, put their through the patronage of their parties, conspire to remove the right of the British public to vote on the most important relationship in this polity. Their actions show that they do not trust us and that is reflected straight back at these apparatchiks. 

For an issue of such importance, and as an opportunity which Labour and the Liberal Democrats loathe, the Tory government should use the Parliament Act to force through this democratic measure. We deserve no less. 

Scumference

What is the Labour equivelent of HS2? Overriding the planning rules through central diktat. More central planning through new towns and allowing councils to plan new build on neighbouring councils' land. So, Labour protects its own municipal land and builds on other councils.

And we shoudl believe these scum? after they brought British politics into the sewer. One word we will not hear from this vomit faced hypocrite is sorry: apologising for the damage he did to this country; the lives runied by his government's errors; and the blight yet to be from any. problems caused by his imbecilic policies, giving Labour, that corrupt sump, an opportunity to piss more heavily on some than on others.

What difference is there between the pigs in Animal Farm and Miliband's millionaires in the Shadow Cabinet: both shout their slogans "Two Legs bad ("the Few"), Four Legs Good ("the Many").

This is truly the Cirscumference season 

 

Miliband's Conference hokey cokey

Ed Miliband is under growing pressure to offer an In-Out referendum on the European Union. He could outflank Cameron, show leadership and prevent votes defecting to UKIP, his advisers whisper to him. They can say whatever so like as long as the fool makes a manifesto promise. Mandelson calls it "clinically insane"...must be the rational course of action then!

Independence expectations north of the border

The vote for Scottish independence is a sleeping subject for the politicians at Westminster. With fourteen months till the referendum, there is little discussion of the vote or its implications in London. No doubt calculations are being made within circles gaming both the outcomes of "yes" and "no". Yet on this vote hinges the possibility of a majority Labour government.

Will Labour accede to inevitable demands that its Scottish MPs lose certain voting powers in the event of independence or further devolution? Can Miliband ignore the West Lothian question in the event of a No vote? There will be a huge clamour to raise the issue in 2014. It may even outdo Europe in the minds of recalcitrant Tories. The genuine and just outcome will be a form of federalisation.

The Guardian puffery on Alex Salmond written by an admiring Kevin McKenna focuses upon Salmond's capabilities of differentiating on the Left. The hero-worship of industrialism at the start, the demonisation of Toryism and the usual crap that Scottish national identity embodies the Grauniad's wihlist on social justice detracts from a single valid point. The independence referendum cannot single out grievances or oppression as a starter. Therefore, the campaign becomes akin to a general election campaign and will revolve, as Salmond notes, around expectations and opportunity.

I can only guffaw when I think about how an independent Scotland would dash the expectations of Guardianistas who expect a paradise of social justice that can become a beacon to the oppressed and beighted ignorant English. It would also dash the expectations of the Scottish themselves; and that will be a sadder story.

The Brown Bust, 2010 and counting

The money ran out in 2010. So ran a note by a departing Labour Minister: one finale epitaph on that irresponsible administration. Some will call this a lost decade; but better to rename this: Brown's Bust. 

The Guardian sets out a series of welfare changes that come into effect in the next two months. These changes represent a reduction in the amount of benefits received and reduce the scope by which entitlements can be rewarded. This will not reduce the welfare bill; only its rate of increase. The article is entitled by Patrick Wintour, their political editor, as the day that the Coalition changed Britain. 

Rather OTT, as the alternatives are far less palatable. Reduce benefits in Irish or Greek terms and embrace destitution. That day may still come. Have Labour and its slavish press forgotten that the money to pay for their client state must be raised abroad and, if no money is raised, no benefits can be paid.

Labour opened the sluicegates of debt. All else is incidental detail designed to deal with the consequences.   

A branch is hacked off our tree of liberty tonight

The Independent, in its leader, tries to maintain a moral high ground in welcoming political intrusion (defined as external influence and regulation) by distinguishing between itself and the popular press. The distinction lies between those who provide information at a profit and those who don't. Such organs, who believe free speech is best curbed by rules and regulations, welcomed the Hacked Off campaign and want the right people to be able to gag the Sun.

Our politicians have gagged the press at the behest of celebrities; when the victims of NHS maltreatment or medical cover-ups warned that the new rules could destroy investigative journalism.

Freddie Astbury, president of Thalidomide UK and a victim of the side-effects of the morning sickness drug, said: “With thalidomide we learned the lesson that it’s very important to have a free press.

“If the Lib Dems and Labour introduce a law making it harder to investigate things like this they will be protecting the likes of pharmaceutical companies and not protecting the victims"

The voices of victims will find it much harder to reach the public from tonight just so left-wing politicians can spare their own blushes and that of their pet celebrities. Scum is a useful collective for those who have destroyed Britain's freedom of speech.  

All politicians are scum

The record of the Coalition government and contemporary politics. A minority partner called the Liberal Democrats. They vote for illiberal measures and decided that non-equalised constituencies stand; a squalid organisation placing petty imagined slights above social justice. It is neither liberal nor democratic to retain an unequal system of representation.

A majority party called the Conservatives. The only conserve they have stuck to is the jammy bind we find ourselves in. They forget that Labour policies don't really work. So we seem to be at the Heath stage of the crisis here. And as for Labour: the party of the non-working classes; either public sector or benefits.

A whole swathe of mediocrity: spending our money and impoverishing us by majority rule.