Disapproval for 2006

By Sarah-Jane Hollands, Poetry Correspondent
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I thought long and hard about my New Year's message. 2005 has for me, been a year of personal growth and change, but I don't want to dwell too much on what has gone. I would prefer to concentrate on the year ahead - a blank page with many possibilities.

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Anyone who knows me, will be aware of my love of words, so I thought it apt to choose a poem for my New Year posting.

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This, by Sophie Hannah, is one of my particular favourites and the message is simple - one shouldn't be concerned with the regard one is held in by others.

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My mantra is "those that mind don't matter and those that matter don't mind"

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A happy, healthy, provocative very British new year to you all!

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If People Disapprove of You.

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Make being disapproved of your hobby.

Make being disapproved of your aim.

Devise new ways of scoring points

In the being disapproved of game.

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Let them disapprove in their dozens.

Let them disapprove in their hordes.

You'll find that being disapproved of

Builds character, brings rewards.

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Just like any form of striving.

Don't be arrogant; don't coast.

On your high disapproval rating.

Try to be disapproved of the most.

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At this point, if it's useful,

Draw a pie-chart or a graph.

Show it to someone who disapproves.

When they disapprove, just laugh.

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Count the emotions you provoke.

Anger, suspicion, shock.

One point for each of those and two

For every boat you rock.

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Feel yourself warming to your task -

You do it bloody well.

At last, you've found an area

In which you can excel.

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Savour the thrill of risk without

The fear of being caught.

Whether they sulk or scream or pout,

Enjoy your new-found sport.

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Meanwhile all those who disapprove

While you are having fun

Won't even know your game exists

So tell yourself you've won.

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Finalists, finally!

After a long deliberation and enough in-fighting to do any political party proud, the editor and team of judges have finally picked the winners in our Christmas Photo Competition.
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First prize goes to Mr Vijay Singh, from Mumbai, India, with his shot of refugees receiving parcels from Operation Christmas Child Samaritan's Purse.
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Second place is awarded to Miss Amy Butterfield of Salem, Oregon, USA, with her charming depiction of the local Christmas Grotto.
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Third place was won by Mr Pearce Butson of Perth, Scotland - an area famous for speciality glass products, with his Christmas Moose photo.
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Of the 65 entries we received, these three were voted by the judges as the most interesting and diverse - tip for next year's entrants: a shot of your own Christmas tree is neither inspiring nor original!
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Thank you to all those who took part, your exclusive Tea Time with Troy trailer CD will be with you soon.
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Our three competition winers will also receive a CD each along with their prizes, as detailed here when we launched the competition.

Changing trains

Figures published recently show that 1.07 billion journeys will have been made on the UK rail network in 2005 - the highest annual figure since 1958.

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Well, maybe - but 47 years ago British Railways was an integrated service. How many more passengers would our fragmented service attract if it were once again integrated?

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Indeed.

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Court blogging your honour

We here at veryBritishsubjects have known for some time that blogging is the only way onwards, forwards and upwards; now it seems folk from all walks of life are following in our footsteps.

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This is a question that is exercising some of Britain’s greatest legal minds: who is the blogging magistrate from West London baring almost all in his online diary?

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“Bystander” is a JP who writes of his trials (and tribulations) as a lay member of Britain’s ancient legal establishment. Behind the cloak of internet anonymity, he offers verdicts on all who appear before him, in a style rather different from his sober language in court.

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“What on earth was on his mind?” he wrote when a newly sentenced offender failed to attend his first two supervised appointments and was duly arrested. “Surely even the dimmest little yob could see that he had reached the end of the line?. . . Sometimes we just have to accept that a few of our clients are beyond any reach of what we would call reason.”

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Clues to his identity are carefully pared from his blog: The Law West of Ealing Broadway. He warns readers: “Enough facts are changed to preserve the truth of the tale but to disguise its exact source.” A school classmate is currently serving a 20-year sentence. The blogger’s hobbies are law, aviation, politics and gossip.

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Bystander is among the first of a growing number of British legal practitioners who are discovering the confessional solace of an online diary. There is “Gavin”, whose Diary of a Criminal Solicitor vents the various bitter frustrations inherent in dealing with police stations, magistrates, courts and crown courts. Human Law, which contains sober reflections on IP, IT and Employment Law, opens to strains of Hear Me by the psychedelic rock and hip-hop band the Shamen.

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Legal blogging, or “blawgging” began in the US. Perhaps the best-known web diarist was “Article III Groupie”, who gained a cult following for excitable postings on “superhotties of the federal jury” and the “Bodacious Babes of the Bench”. Now, according to Nick Holmes, a legal web watcher, blogging is starting to penetrate the consciousness of even UK lawyers. Bystander signed off for Christmas with a list of recent business.

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In the last few days he had seen a man of 72 charged with common assault, “a man who is a dead ringer for Ronnie Barker . . . a witness even mentioned it on his statement”, and a prosecution so zealous of the new zero-tolerance policy on domestic violence that it brought a case where “no blow was struck, but a cheap clock was damaged”.

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In Diary of a Criminal Solicitor, Gavin often finds himself “in utter amazement or red-faced with anger” as he negotiates the intricacies of the UK justice system. “You will find me ranting and raving in this blog about anything and everything that gets up my nose,” he writes. There was the client who “announced to the world” in court that he had no previous convictions for assaulting police officers when the record showed four such convictions: “This was a case where I expected to, and did, go down in flames,” he writes.

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The Lord Chief Justice’s office said that no judge had applied for permission to blog but that if any did they would have to comply with the Judges’ Council guide to conduct. That says that a judge “like any other citizen, is entitled to freedom of expression, belief, association and assembly, but in exercising such rights, a judge shall always conduct himself or herself in such a manner as to preserve the dignity of the judicial office and the impartiality and independence of the judiciary”.

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As we head towards the New Year, we invite you all to sit down at your keyboard and begin blogging - it can be life-changing. For help, hints and advice, please contact us on verybritishproductions@yahoo.co.uk

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For those of you who prefer to watch, rather than do - keep your eye on us, we have big plans for 2006 and beyond.

Winging it

Editor, Peter Troy, having just flown with Northern Aviation in the summer.

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Our readers in areas other than the North East of England may be interested in this article, which appears in today's copy of the Northern Echo newspaper and is also on their website.

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This is an example of publicity generated by Very British Productions Limited, and taking up a large section of the newspapers page is worth several thousand pounds at commercial rates. The added benefit of availability on the Northern Echo website obviously means the article gains longevity and reaches a far wider audience than the hard copy of the paper.

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Very British Productions is pleased to have forged strong links with Northern Aviation, having previously arranged Flights of Fancy with them and have forthcoming events in the pipeline, which will also feature on veryBritishsubjects.

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Very British Productions Ltd can be contacted here: verybritishproductions@yahoo.co.uk

Troy's briefs - 005

Troy's briefs - changed weekly.

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Dispelling a Myth. > The EU has kept the peace in Europe.

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The myth is often trotted out that the EU has kept peace in Europe for almost sixty years and if it did not exist, there would undoubtedly be war between the various protagonists.

There is an unresolvable paradox at the heart of the European project. Its aim is supposedly to preserve European values and ideals from …. the Europeans, since the main reason for the formation of the European Union, according to numerous preambles to treaties, is the bad behaviour of the people of Europe in the past.

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Unfortunately, the values and ideals were also created by those badly behaved Europeans in conditions that the European Union is now desperate to abolish, that is small and medium-sized, competing political entities. Thus you get the odd notion that “Europe” will keep the peace against the Europeans.

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The truth of it all is that by the time the aritects of the EU - Monnet, Schuman and the others - got going on the “European project”, in all seriousness the political situation in the world had changed irrevocably.

As early as the Schuman declaration of the need for European integration (actually written by Monnet) in 1950 it was too late. The problem for which Schuman was putting forward a solution no longer existed.

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The ideas of European integration were first mooted between the wars but became particularly powerful after 1945 when Europe was so devastated. Even so the number of people who thought integration was the answer was very small; far more believed that economic reconstruction and the development of democracy would be the answer.

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That is why so much of the early part of the project had to be conducted in secrecy.The early founding fathers’ aim was European integration because that is what they believed in. But the notion had to be sold and the idea of peace was a powerful one after 1945.

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There was another paradox, though a less important one here, in that the idea of peace and need to control aggression was propounded by historically the most aggressive state in Europe: France. The French having been defeated in three successive wars by the Germans, were, therefore, the victims and could point to the Germans as the eternal aggressors who had to be controlled. In fact, with the development of nuclear weapons and the growth of the two superpowers, the USA and the Soviet Union, the question of possible Franco-German wars became a non-issue.

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The enemy of the West was further east, just as the enemy of the West now is in the south and the east. European integration became an unimportant side-issue.

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Not the EEC, not the EC, not even the EU could protect anyone from the Soviet Union without a great deal of American help; they could not fight communism world-wide; and they cannot fight terrorism now.

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The EU can ensure that Denmark does not invade the Netherlands and that’s about it.

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It is not political structures that create political reality but the other way round. The reality was that the West, and within not too many years West Germany became part of the West, was not going to indulge in internecine warfare; the reality was that France and Germany neither could nor would fight each other again.

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The structure of European integration grew out of that and is now looking distinctly rickety.It is easy to go through the facts and point to the truth about peace.

Fact number one: peace was kept only in a small part of Europe, which happened to be under NATO protection and the nuclear umbrella.

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Fact number two: this part of Europe also had American troops stationed in it and was amply provided with American military hardware. Like it or not, and many in western Europe, particularly France do not like it, but a great deal of American foreign policy in the fifty years after the World War II was taken up with the problem of protecting Western Europe.

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Fact number three: the countries that contributed most to the protection of Western Europe and keeping the peace in it were not always those involved in the European project. Apart from the UK, the main contributions came from Turkey and Norway.

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Fact number four: the main crises of the post war period happened outside the whole European project even if they happened in Europe. Where was the peace-keeping qualities of “Europe” when the Berlin blockade was defied, when Eastern Europe rose in revolt, when the Berlin wall went up? Discussing the Common Agricultural Policy, that’s where. There is no need even to mention problems outside Europe, like the Cuban crisis, the Vietnam war, the wars in Africa and Latin America.

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Fact number five: the actual creation of a European Union in the Treaty of Maastricht coincided with the break-up of the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia. While the EU’s influence on events in the former USSR was strictly limited, in the former Yugoslavia it played a baneful part: by trying to construct a common foreign policy through encouraging Serbia under Milosevic to keep the “country” together at whatever cost and by imposing an arms ban on all the other participants, the EU helped to prolong the war and increase the number of victims. Fierce hostilities and massacres were taking place on European soil once again as the European Union was entering what was perceived to be the final stage of integration and, as expected, it was NATO, led by the Americans that imposed some kind of a temporary solution.

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Fact number six: The EU is now systematically undermining the one successful alliance that did keep the peace in Western Europe: NATO, without putting very much by way of protection in its place and all for what? To give itself a notional and structural foreign and security policy.

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So let us forget the EU’s outdated attitudes towards politics, war and peace; it is unlikely to do us any good and unlikely to keep or create peace where it matters.

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Geldof and the Boy King

One assumes that David Cameron, Dave the Boy-King, has been preparing for leadership for a little while (well, longer than the week before the Conservative Party Conference). If that is so, there is precious little evidence of it. He has not put a foot right in any sense of the word since his coronation.

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Clearly, the one thing he has not been doing is reading. Actually, the other thing he has not been doing is listening to anyone outside his media-run circle. Neither he nor anyone close to him bothered to attend a conference this summer organized by the International Policy Network (IPN) on the best way forward in the Third World, especially Africa.

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No, the best way forward is not pumping vast amounts of taxpayers’ money into the coffers of kleptocratic bloodthirsty tyrants, as advocated by the Boy-King’s new best friend, Sir Bob Geldof but to open up trade, to encourage African countries to open up trade between themselves, to help, if we can, those countries to build up free and stable political systems, based on legality and the right of property.

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Nothing else will work. But these are difficult ideas. How much easier it is to say, let’s throw some more money at it. And, of course, it is the taxpayers’ money, so much the easier.

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It seems the Boy-King is unaware of the fact that Live8 (apart from achieving very little except, it seems, for expensive gifts to the participants) was severely criticized at the time, not least by people like the Ghanaian Franklin Cudjoe of the Imani Institute, the South African Moeletsi Mbeki, businessman and political analyst, and the Kenyan economist James Shikwati and many others.

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But hey, what do they know? They are only African writers, thinkers, analysts. They cannot tell the Boy-King and the Compassionate Conservatives (CompCons) what is right for that Continent.

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After all, we have it on the very good authority of Master Oliver Leftwing that the poor need to have money redistributed to them by the all-caring, all-sharing state rather than be enabled to run their own lives and climb out of poverty. What goes for this country, goes with knobs on for Africa.

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Why exactly has the Boy-King brought that ancient rocker and part-time philanthropist with other people’s money, Sir Bob Geldof, into his circle of advisers?

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Sir Bob’s ideas, if one may call them that, have been proved wrong over and over again. When we get people like Richard Dowding of the Royal Africa Society asserting that pumping aid into all those countries has not just not achieved anything but has made matters worse.

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Almost every African country is poorer now than it was thirty years ago, while the equivalent of six Marshall Plans has been poured into the Continent.So, does the Boy-King really not understand what people are saying? Does his existence in the bubble of Westminster and media (not to mention the wine bars of Notting Hill) make it impossible for him to grasp that it is not rock musicians who know about the poor of the Third World, but economists and serious political analysts. They are the people to listen to, and even then one’s critical faculty must be switched on.

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That is not for the new Compassionate Conservative Party (CompCons). Gesture politics and emotions are all, it seems. It is time for somebody in that benighted party to pay attention to the simple truth, enunciated in the Daily Telegraph leader today:
“But public policy ought to be aimed at ameliorating the lives of Africans, not at making Westerners feel better about themselves.”

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Too much like hard work, that, and not nearly glamorous enough.We have now seen whither the Boy-King and his court are heading. His two new best friends are Zac Goldsmith and Bob Geldof, people whose ideas have been shown to be less than intellectually satisfactory time and time again.We shall see a lot of protectionist, interventionist green policies and suggestions of doubling, tripling, what the heck, quadrupling aid to African dictators.We have heard pronouncements from Oliver Leftwing on redistribution of people’s hard-earned money and have been assured that no real reform of the public services is contemplated.

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We have seen the Conservatives fumble over the European budget, an open goal, if ever there was one. In the European Parliament they could do nothing, being part of the EPP, and left the field to Nigel Farage and Roger Helmer.

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In Westminster they managed to lose the ball. The Boy-King showed himself to be ignorant of the most basic aspects of the European project, which can be blamed partly on his researchers and advisers but largely on his own lack of curiosity about the outside world.

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Above all, we have heard what Christmas means to the Boy-King: recycling of wrapping paper and Christmas cards (something that many households do, anyway, without making a song and dance about it).Clearly, his passion for recycling goes further than paper.

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He is recycling old socialist ideas on taxation, public services, education and international development. And, of course, he is recycling old rock singers.

Smack on Asda

It has recently been pointed out by one of our many readers in the US of A that it is not Tesco that is taking over the world but Wal-Mart the vast US based supermarket corporate retailer. Here in the UK Asda (owned by Wal-Mart) has joined the ever growing band of 'high street' retailers (most of course are nowhere near the high street - they lurk monster-like on 'retail parks') which now sells sex toys.

Shoppers of all ages will be faced with displays of serried 'Intruders', 'Trojans' (no connection with your editor), 'Big Boys' and other assorted adult play-things, mostly rubbery and with various rotating features.

Clearly Asda's television advertising campaign has been more long term and subtle than we all thought.
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The traditional advert has always ended with a clean cut yummy-mummy figure arriving at the checkout, turning towards the camera winking coquettishly, sticking her rear out and patting herself on the bottom with a knowing look. No need for any spanking new changes then !

The mid week quote no 13

A multi-coloured mess.

''In the political big tent, a new generation of bright young technocrats - New Labour advisors and Notting Hill Tory MPs - work and play together, unencumbered by tribal differences. They have few differences with the Orange Book Lib Dems. The end of ideology is not just a fact of life; it is a badge of honour. Conviction is a rather embarassing habit that should not be displayed in public. Those beliefs that do exist have been shaken like one of Mr Blair's kaleidoscopes: the Tories champion redistribution, while Labour promises to create a share-ownning, asset-owning democracy. It all looks like a multi-coloured mess.''

Rachel Sylvester -The Daily Telegraph Monday 26 December.

Of Hitler and Henry

Traditional teaching

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By Sarah-Jane Hollands, Education Correspondent
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According to a new report, it would appear that "schools are concentrating too much on teaching about 'Hitler and Henry' and should broaden their pupils' knowledge of history."
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The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority said there has been a gradual "Hitlerisation" of history for pupils aged 14 and over.
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This week new guidelines are to be published on teaching post-war German history, for this nation's secondary schools.
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Regular readers here will know that I am mother to three school age children. I am also parent-governor at their school, I do get involved so I feel qualified to comment.
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I believe there are two main points to be raised here. Primarily, I wonder why the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority is worrying about the European History in our schools, when actual British History is conspicuous by it's absence.
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As we pointed out recently, the Bicentenary of the Battle of Trafalgar passed without comment or mention in my daughter's class.

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Britain has a long and glorious history which is routinely ignored by the various education authorities around the land and the Government repeatedly stands by and does nothing to remedy this pitiful state of affairs.

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My second point is that our children should be learning more, not less about Hitler. The second World War should not be swept under the carpet and forgotten, we cannot pretend it didn't happen and the atrocities should not be glossed over.

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Furthermore, if, as the guidelines are to suggest, our schools should concentrate on Germany's post-war history - what will that involve? West Germany's dynamic economic growth, the collapse of the economy following the taking down of the Berlin wall? The Franco-Prussian alliance aimed at the political domination the EU? Hardly illustrious, is it and certainly not much fun for our young school persons !

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Don't mention the war? Next they'll be telling us not to talk about 1966!

Tallyho !

Tens of thousands of hunt supporters turned out across our green and pleasant land to cheer the men and women in pink today, as the first Boxing Day Hunts since the national ban on foxhunting with hounds came into force, produced what appeared set to be record crowds.

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An estimated 4,000 supporters gathered at Worcester Lodge at Didmarton in Gloucestershire to see off the famous Beaufort Hunt, which has been joined in the past by the Prince of Wales and his two sons.

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Two thousand more watched the pink-jacketed members of the Bicester with Whaddon Chase Hunt set out from Winslow in Buckinghamshire.

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In villages and market towns across the country, thousands more cheered out their local hunts, defying attempts to kill off the sport ten months into the hunting ban.

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Although all concerned said that the hunts were respecting the letter of the new Hunting Act, shooting foxes flushed out by birds of prey or using only two dogs instead of a full pack, The Times reported this morning that police chiefs are demanding new powers to tackle illegal hunting.

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The Times reported that Charles Clarke, the Home Secretary, is being urged by Chief Constables to give officers a right of access on private land to check hunting activity and make arrests. Police also want hunting crimes to be "recordable offences", allowing forces to keep track of persistent offenders.

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However, if Charles Clark, the Home Secretary gets his way it is Chief Constables, who are in danger of being reduced from 42 to 12, that could soon become an endangered species. Therefore, they would perhaps be better off seeking protection from New Labour and their followers.

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Not to be deterred, Britain's oldest surviving hunt club, the Cheshire Hunt, was out in force for the first traditional Boxing Day meet since the ban. Founded in 1762, the club of around 80 horsemen and women in traditional red or black tunics, paraded in the village of Tarporley, Cheshire, before setting off to hunt foxes. Stephen O'Brien, the local Tory MP, (and shadow trade spokesman) addressed the hunters and supporters before they set off. He said: "In the light of legislation, hunts are quite rightly looking carefully to ensure they comply with the law and carry on with the traditions which exemplify the very highest values within our rural and village communities."

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Tallyho - indeed.

Who runs Britain poll

Have you voted yet ?
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The BBC on the Today Programme have put up a shortlist for the candidates in their "Who Runs Britain" poll, the results of which are to be broadcast on 2 January. Amongst the ten chosen by their group of "experts" is Terry Leahy, Chief Executive, Tesco, Rupert Murdoch, Chairman and Chief Executive, News Corporation, and Shami Chakrabarti, Director of Liberty, with "The British People" also tacked on.
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Intrestingly even these "experts" it seems, have seen fit to include a representative of our real government, a certain José Manuel Barroso below.

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The Chrismas Quote - 2005

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The Queen

"This last year has reminded us that we live in a world which is not easy or safe, but it is the only place we have"

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II's Christmas address which was broadcast by the BBC 1500 hrs GMT today. It was recorded in the Chapel at Buckingham Palace.

Full text available on the offical Royal web site

The Sunday Quote - no 140

Sunday 25th December 2005

''China is becoming a considerable threat because of its increased military spending and nuclear weapons. China has one billion people and nuclear bombs whose military spending has been growing by two digits every year for 17 consecutive years.''

Japan's foreign minister, Taro Aso right

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The Christmas Day quote will be posted at 15.15 hrs GMT today. Unlike other commentators the editor of this blog does not feel that it is correct to publish, in whole or in part, Her Majesty's Christmas message until after the official broadcast from Buckingham Palace.

Christmas competition update

As the editor and the team of judges are still sifting through the many quality entries to our Christmas Competition, the results will not be posted until later this evening.

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The winning photographs will of course appear here, the winners will be notified by email at midnight tonight and as promised, every one of our 65 entrants will receive a CD trailer of Tea Time with Troy, very early in the new year, subject to the reliability of the local mail delivery service providers.

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Watch this space!

End of week quote

'' Strict censorship cannot be maintained without terrorism''

Sigmund Stromme - Index on Censorship, 1996.


One of Britain's most succesful blog sites 'coppersblog' has been closed down, please click here for details.

After you Mr Leftwing

So, Mr Oliver Leftwing (Oliver Letwin MP) is living up to his name and wants the Conservative Party to support the redistribution of wealth.

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Well, as a part-time MP and the Boy-King's policy chief – who incidentally claimed £121,734 from the taxpayer in expenses last financial year – one hopes that he will put his money where his mouth is, and redistribute some of the wealth he accrues from his day job as non-executive director for N.M. Rothschild Corporate Finance Ltd.

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Whether he does or not, a week after Tony Blair has excelled in the redistribution stakes, giving an extra £7 billion to the EU to help it out with is annual £7.6 billion administration expenses , not a few Conservatives – including a number of MPs – are now wondering whether they are now in the wrong party.

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Many of them are rather sick of the NuLab habit of taking their money to give to someone else and were looking to the Tories for relief from the kleptomaniac habits of the current government, only to find that both are now singing from the same hymn-sheet.

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As the front page of todays Daily Telegraph comments: ''Mr Letwin's comments represent an extraordinary change in the political landscape since David Cameron became the Tory leader this month. Many members of the Labour Party are disappointed that Tony Blair has consistently refused to say he wants to narrow the gap between rich and poor.''

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However, I wonder if Mr Leftwing, sorry Letwin, realises how many votes he has just cost his Party, and what a tremendous membership boost he has given to UKIP and other minority parties?

Congratulations Mr President

Congratulations Mr President


by Christopher Booker
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When Tony Blair steps down next week from the EU Presidency, he can look back on what has arguably been the most abject failure of his eight years in Downing Street.
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On Tuesday, his weird ranting outburst in front of members of the European Parliament seemed to show he knew it. What other British leader would have so recklessly insulted our own elected politicians – Tory and UKIP MEPs – in front of a foreign audience?
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Since last July Mr Blair as occupied the highest-profile position in the EU system of government: a privilege which will not again be enjoyed by a British prime minister for twelve years. During that time he has achieved virtually nothing - until last weekend when he finally caved in over the EU’s budget.
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Not only was President Chirac left crowing as Mr Blair broke his solemn pledge that the UK’s rebate was ‘non-negotiable’, landing Britain with an additional bill of £7 billion to pay for such items as a new underground for Warsaw and a sewage system for Budapest.To the evident rage of Gordon Brown, Mr Blair also meekly agreed to an overall increase in the EU’s budget for years to come, which will eventually push up Britain’s contribution by tens of billions of pounds – money which, as Mr Brown is aware, could otherwise be spent on schools, hospital and other benefits here at home.
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For the full measure of how far Mr Blair has failed himself and our country in the past six months, we must go back to those heady days last summer when he seemed to have the world at his feet.
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He was not only succeeding to the EU presidency just when, following the rejection of the constitution by the voters of France and Holland, the ‘European project’ itself was plunged into what looked like the worst crisis of confidence in its 50-year history, simultaneously taking over the chair of G8, the club of the world’s richest nations, propelling him to centre stage as a world leader.
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For several weeks he revelled in it. Live-8, the ‘biggest-ever pop concert’, was staged in cities across the world to celebrate Mr Blair’s pledge that he was going to solve the problems of the Third World by ‘making poverty history’.
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Mr Blair told the European Parliament that the peoples of Europe had blown their ‘trumpets round the city walls’ and that it was time for the EU’s leaders to listen - if necessary to rethink the ‘project’ from scratch.
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In particular he pointed to that mighty cuckoo in the nest of all the EU does, the Common Agricultural Policy. This vast, ramshackle support system takes up 40 percent of all the EU’s spending, pouring £30 billion a year into the pockets of EU farmers and bureaucrats. At the same time it inflicts immense damage on the countries of the underdeveloped world, by barring the EU market to their goods, while flooding their own markets with Europe’s subsidised surpluses at prices with which their farmers cannot compete.
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In confronting this monster, Mr Blair had in his hand one key weapon – the famous ‘rebate’ negotiated by Mrs Thatcher, to make up for the grotesque distortions built into the financing of the CAP. Without it, as he pointed out, Britain’s net contribution to the EU budget would be a staggering 15 times larger than that of France (rather than merely two-and-a-half time larger, as it is now thanks to the rebate).
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This was precisely why Mrs Thatcher was so determined to win that rebate, without which by the mid-1980s Britain would have become the largest single net contributor – perhaps the most valuable prize we have ever won from the EU.
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We will happily give up our rebate, said Mr Blair - but only on one condition. There must be a root-and-branch reform of that crazy CAP, to eliminate the unfairness which made the rebate necessary in the first place.
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It really was a trump card, because it had become vital to agree the EU’s budget for seven years, between 2007 and 2013, and Britain held an absolute veto on that, unless she got her way.
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From that moment on, however, Blair’s position began to crumble, The real stumbling block, of course, was that the CAP itself had been designed by France 35 years ago specifically to benefit France more than any other country – disadvantaging Britain most of all, because we import more of our food than anyone else.
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Chirac’s own strongest card was that in 2002 Blair himself had agreed to spending commitments on the CAP, fixed in stone until 2013. Gradually, cleverly, Chirac used this to box his opponent in, insisting that any change to that agreement was unthinkable.
Both players, Blair and Chirac, were equally adamant that their position was ‘non-negotiable’.
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But it was Mr Blair whose nerve first began to crack, as he was manoeuvred into the embarrassing situation where it looked as if he now expected the poor new EU members in the east to hand back money to pay for rich Britain’s rebate.
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Finally, last weekend, it was game, set and match. President Chirac got all he had been playing for, while Mr Blair, for his six months in the EU Presidency got nothing but a howl of derision.
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And for what? The real irony which has gone unnoticed is that, the reason why those former Communist countries to the east are under such financial strain is because it was ruled, not least on French insistence, that their own benefits from the CAP should, initially, be much smaller than those enjoyed by the EU’s established members.
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Yet again we come back to the economics of the madhouse, which demand that the countries of the east must pay money to Brussels to help subsidise farmers in the west. But for this unfairness they could use that money to pay for their subways and sewage works themselves, without having to give so much to Brussels in the first place – thus removing the pressure on Britain to surrender her rebate.
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What makes it even worse is that, thanks to France’s stranglehold over EU trade policy, the EU has also this week been able to sabotage any proper agreement at the world trade talks in Hong Kong. Its selfish protectionism is thus free to continue inflicting damage on the Third World.

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Whichever way we look at it, the weak, vain Mr Blair has been totally outplayed and humiliated - and at our expense. The price we are paying for allowing that man to stay in Downing Street is more than we can afford.

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The Great Deception: Can The European Union Survive? By Christopher Booker and Dr Richard North has just been published by Continuum (£9.99).

Shopping sales slump

Forecasters are warning that it's going to be a cold, cold Christmas for Britain's retailers, as the nation's shoppers hang on to their cash, fearing an economic crash in the new year.

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Many of the big chain stores are being forced to instigate January sales in the week before Christmas in a desperate attempt to lure last-minute shoppers.

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Thanks to higher taxes, we all have less money than ever in our pockets and as the fallout from the EU Budget Rebate agreement rages on, it seems we are generally very wary about spending. After all, somehow we will have to find an extra £2billion per year soon, to fill the EU's coffers.

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The smaller independant retailers are probably hardest hit as they cannot afford to slash prices in the same way as the big multi-nationals, which is a pity, as the independant shopkeepers often provide a level of service that is sadly lacking in the faceless, shameless, charmless corporate chain stores.

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Streets half empty and shops emptier still, as the shoppers stay at home.

Revolting reaction

Well now, by most accounts our Prime Minister lost his cool on Tuesday during a two hour session at the European Parliament. His anger reached a peak when he attacked the UK Independence Party as being 'absurd' for wanting to leave the EU. Gesturing at the line of small Union flags on the desks of UKIP members Mr Blair snapped '' You sit there with our country's flag but you do not represent our countries interests." Later adding, '' This is the year 2005, not 1945. We are not fighting each other any more.''
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Well hang on here. Gordon Brown was none too pleased with our PM's representation of our country's financial interests last week. A source close to Mr Brown left, looking less than impressed, said when asked whether the Chancellor supported the overall EU budget agreement struck by Mr Blair in the early hours of Saturday the curt reply was ''we are not giving a response'', which is akin to saying that the Pratt has f~~~~ed up the deal.
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It is now quite clear that the deal means forgoing the £1billion annually from that part of the rebate that would have applied to spending on eastern European nations. Because of the peculiarities of the way the multi-annual budget pans out, the UK rebate is largely unchanged for the first three years of the financial period 2007-13, Blair's give-away kicking-in only in 2010, when instead of £1billion it will be nearly £2billion, for that and successive years. Worse still, that figure is likely to be "locked in" as a minimum annual deduction when a new budget is negotiated for the period after 2013.
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As Blair mentioned the war, so too can we. An excellent letter published on tuesday in the Metro (London edition) by a regular correspondent who wrote:
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''Gullible Prime Ministers have returned from Europe waving worthless bits of paper before but none has previously returned waving a £7billion bill and claimed a victory. It is a mystery how Tony Blair managed to give up practically everything that was asked for in return for a vague promise from the French that they might not veto Common Agricultural Policy reform at some indefinite point in the future (which they will, in any case).
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I suppose that shows the difference in the quality of leader we have these days. Margaret Thatcher managed to secure the rebate and Blair gave it away for nothing - presumably to secure what he likes to refer to as his 'legacy'. People normally like to inherit a legacy - it is typical of Blair that his legacy will be another bill.''
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Additionally there is superb comment in the Daily Telegraph letters page on Wednesday, Michael Bouet of Crawley, W Sussex, complains that "EU contributions mean loss of public services".
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Things can only get better, for our metropolitan Political pro EU elite, well perhaps not. If EU Commission President Barroso gets his way, and the EU manages to introduce a direct tax – which is what the banner headline in the Express is suggesting today, with the strapline, "How Brussels plans to raid wages". One interesting suggestion in the Express piece though, is that Barroso is likely to go for a fuel tax, "because it can be promoted as a 'green' anti-pollution measure". They may be right, but our friend and expert Dr Richard North reckons that road charging, using the Galileo satellite positioning system, where Brussels can cream off a levy through national collection authorities as the most likely choice of tax.
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There is hope in all this - £2billion is a lot of money and the British public is beginning to wake up to the fact that the EU is hitting their pocket.

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Unpopular taxes imposed by unelected authorities do not go down well with the English speaking peoples. From right, Boadicea's revolt in AD 60 over the Roman death duties tax on her husband's estate, The Peasants revolt over the poll tax in 1381, The English Civil War fuelled by the introduction of Income and Property Tax of 1642, the unfortunate misunderstanding at that tea party in Boston USA in 1770, pictured below left, and Baroness Thatcher's miscalculation over the Community Charge in 1989 all led to revolutionary change.

Barroso forcing the introduction of an EU tax combined with Blair's appeasement of the French last Saturday could well be the beginning of the end of the British people's sleep walking into the EU political project. We will soon know and not before time either.

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PT

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As we struggle to come to terms with the small-print of EU budget settlement, a commission document has re-emerged which shows that Blair's surrender was pre-ordained, ever since July of last year.

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Read: 'When the deal was done'

Doctor's (Merkel) orders

Germany's new centre right government looks set to snub the European Commission (EC) by passing legislation that will protect domestic firms from foreign takeovers.The move comes as the EC attempts to push through a directive to make cross-border mergers easier.

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It will confirm fears that above Chancellor Merkel's promised reform of Germany's economy to a more market oriented footing is likely to be less radical than she claimed while in opposition.

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So much for Tony Blair's vision of "the largest political and economic union in the World" and also so much for the single market.

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A pity British politicians have not adopted the same protectionist attitude to British Industry, but then as good Europeans they wouldn't be inclined to do so.

Eurobarometer - EU support dropping

The latest Eurobarometer survey, released yesterday reveals that support for the for EU membership across member states now stands at 50 percent ( down 3 per cent ), the score for the perceived benefits of membership is 52 percent (also down 3 percent ) and the EU’s image is positive according to 44 percent of respondents (again down 3 per cent ).

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The UK scores, as always, are lower than the average for the EU25, standing respectively at 34 percent (-2), 37 percent (-3) and 29 percent (+1).

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Interestingly, UK confidence in the EU institutions dropped even further than the general ratings, the parliament standing at 27 percent (-7), the commission at 26 percent (-5) and the council at 18 percent (-9).

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Only 13 percent believe that the EU constitution should be dropped altogether, against 22 per cent who believe ratification should continue, the larger proportion who offered and opinion (49 percent) believing that the document should be renegotiated. Even in France and Holland, there is slender support for dropping the constitution altogether, their scores standing at 15 and 16 percent respectively. No need to worry since the contents of the constitutional document will continue to be introduced anyway.

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Thanks to www.eureferendum.blogspot.com

Fishburn - view from the cavalcade

The Prime Minister has recently incensed local businesses in his Sedgefield constituency after claiming, via his constituency press person, that the quality of life in a one County Durham village is better than ever before.

The Daily Express reports today that whilst being driven through the village of Fishburn - two miles from his home in the North East Tony Blair declared he would ''never have dreamed of this level of rising living standards''.

The PM's remarks have been met with derision by local traders. He is joking isn't he?'' scoffs businessman Justin Gowland owner of the area's only computer shop, who is facing closing down unless there is an improvement in his business in the next four months.

Local Butcher Simon Kinghorn concurs adding ''Fishburn isn't thriving, it is only surviving.'' To be fair as Mr Gowland added, '' it is not that fair to spot the rot when you are whizzing through with a police escort''.

Perhaps the local branch of the Federation of Small Businesses may wish to invite the Sedgefield MP to a branch meeting to discuss business prosperity in the constituency. In the meantime any journalists (or bloggers) requiring a very political tour (including an optional flight) of and or over the Prime Minister's constituency, with a stopover for lunch at The Dunn Cow once visited by both French and US Presidents, should contact the tour department of Very British Productions Ltd on ( 07968 257461 or email verybritishproductions@yahoo.co.uk).

Safety cameras health warning

Lee Schramm, a 25 year old ambulance driver has been fined for speeding as a result of rushing to get donor organs to two dying patients. He is the latest victim of the automated speed camera system.

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He was driving a distinctive ambulance unit, with blue flashing lights, when he was flashed by a speed camera for doing 36 mph in a 30 mph zone, while transporting a liver and kidney, for urgent transplants.

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The organs were collected from Gatwick Airport at 8.30am and Schramm had until just 10am to deliver them to the Churchill Hospital in Oxford, some 81 miles away.

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He made the deadline, saving the life of two patients in the process, but now is facing up to the prospect of 3 points on his licence and a £30 fine.

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After appealing and explaining the nature of the journey and the reason for travelling at just over the speed limit, Thames Valley Police informed him that the fine and the points were still valid.

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Mr Schramm commented: "I am a safe driver with an advanced licence. This is disgusting. If I went slower, people could die and that's not the reason I went into this job."

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Earlier this year another hospital driver delivering a donor organ was fined £60 after being caught by a speed camera. Lois Rolt even had a police escort as she transported the lung for an emergency transplant patient.

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A few minutes into her journey, the blue light on top of her emergency vehicle fused and she was forced to request a police escort to ensure she kept her deadline.

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The mother of four was stunned when she received a letter a few days later saying that she had been caught doing 68 mph in a 40 mph zone on the A77, which had incurred the £60 penalty fine.

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Next time the government claims that speed cameras save lives, remember this story - clearly there is more than one way in which these 'safety' cameras can be a danger to our health.

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Clearly learning to love speed cameras will prove to be an uphill struggle.

The mid-week quote no 12

In his autobiography, US classic author Mark Twain right (1835-1910) commented that "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics." This remark was of course made famous by British Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881).

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An illustration of all three kinds of lies in one example was provided this year by no less than The Rt. Hon. Gordon Brown MP, Chancellor of the Exchequer when denying to Parliament that he had leant on the Office for National Statistics to reclassify his Government expenditure in a way that helped him 'meet' his economic objectives.

22 March 2005:

'' It remains independent and will continue to be independent. It is the Independent Office for National Statistics and again I think it is an unfortunate allegation that somehow it is not independent.''

At the CBI conference, 28 November 2005:

''Having reviewed the framework for national statistics, I propose to legislate to make the office for National Statistics independent of government.''

Indeed !

More - every little helps

.We are pleased to report that Private Eye (issue no 1147) has picked up on this blog's concern that Tesco is taking over the country and probably soon after the World. As one of our readers from the US of A commented this takeover can only be thwarted by super mammonite Wal-Mart - a creation of the land of the free. All very terrifying.

The 'eye' reports that Tesco will early next year launch a cross-media splurge on its new online eDiet services, which tells customers what food they should buy to fit their chosen diet routines.

Tesco will be spending a huge amount on TV sponsorship. As Private Eye points out if Tesco is really so very keen to help customers lose weight it might instead pay heed to last week's National Consumer Council (NCC) report which hammered every single one of Britain's supermarkets, particularly Tesco for failing to meet NCC targets on promoting healthy foods.

Thirty-five per cent of Tesco's promotions are for fatty and sugary foods - more than twice as many as for fruit and vegetables. If Tesco made more effort to cut prices on healthy foods, there would be less need for schemes such as eDiets, which consumers are encouraged to pay for.

Oh well, every little helps - get it ?

Now then - what's going on here ?

Sir Ian (Plod) Blair (Commisioner of the Metropolitan Police) has sparked off some amazing behaviour in the ranks of the Police across the realm following his call for a debate on what sort of Police we the public want.

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In Weymouth (glorious birth place of the editor) the strong arm of the law has reverted to some cunning methods of detection. Officers from the southern seaside town dressed up as Victorian carol singers and sung carols outside a targeted house until the door was opened. The team announced their true identity and upon searching the property, discovered £400 worth of cocaine. Quite why the normal dawn raid and constabulary door basher was not employed is not clear, perhaps it is a new seasonal service from our boys in blue.

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Right, well tuned in officers prepare for a house raid.

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Meanwhile at the other end of the country Cleveland Police surpassed all known records of wasting their own police time recently, when a part of a human skull was found by a member of the public on a beach in the North East of England. Senior officers ordered a comprehensive search of the beach near Redcar which failed to reveal any other body parts.

Eventually an anthropologist carbon dated the find and confirmed the skull bone as that of a male of about thirty years of age who died 5,230 years ago. The expert was able to confirm to the plods that '' there was no signs of any traumatic injury and that the bone appears to have become detached from the rest of the skull through natural processes.''

Detective Constable Chris Merchant commented in the local press: ''thankfully we are not looking at a suspicious death.''

One can only marvel at how the Cleveland plods would have conducted an investigation into a suspicious neolithic death had the expert suspected foul play !

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Cleveland Police, motto - Putting People First.

Court short

Today, for the first time in it's 800 year history, the wheels of the British justice system have ground to a shuddering halt, due to a dispute over pay.
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Staff from Magistrates' courts in England and Wales, including ushers, clerks and administrators have staged a one day walk out and more strikes are predicted for the new year.
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If the workers are not being paid enough, perhaps the government should have to fill in a means testing form. Taking the figures from our recent posting on the way Her Majesty's Government manages our money, it currently has an overdraft in the region of £32 billion.
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Maybe it will be necessary to send the baillifs (private) in to the Lord Chancellor's Office, currently occupied by Lord Falconer, or Charlie as he signs himself.

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The Government may well need to ask for time to pay, since last week Mr Blair agreed to pay an extra billion pounds a year to the EU.

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An empty court room above. Some 330 courts are expected to be closed today, due to strike action.

Quality quote

It is unusual for this blog to begin the week with a quote, but when, as has happened recently, a Lib-Dem frontbencher says something meaningful (albeit probably unintentional, irrelevent and totally out of context) it is our duty to share it with our readers.

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"The great leaders of the 20th Century didn't mind courting controversy, but they rarely courted compromise."

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Lembit Opik, MP, right.

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Clearly Mr Opik understands history but has trouble applying it to modern politics.

Armed Met think they're above the law

Editor's weekend comment

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Following an investigation by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) the two armed Metropolitan Police Officers who shot and killed Brazilian electrician Jean Charles de Menezes are likely, we understand, to be charged with murder.

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The Director of Public Prosecutions Ken MacDonald QC will make the decision early next month.

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Amazingly London's specialist armed Police are threatening to lay down their arms in protest. If they do so that would be an arrogant act of disregrard for the process of law, which as Police officers they are sworn to uphold.

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If there is evidence to charge individual officers with murder their co-workers can not expect to be the judge and jury. In this country there is a time honoured legal system which despite the arrogance, occasional corruptness, blatant disregard for the rules, and often amazing incompetence of the British Police, has served the people well.

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The logic of the Police federations position is that serious wrong doing must not be addressed.

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Sir Ian Blair seeks a debate on modern Policing. He will be best advised to commence that debate in his own (armed) ranks urgently.

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I am convinced that the regard the Police will be held in should, as the Daily Mail reports : ''Gun Police strike'', will sink to an irretrievable all time low and their once well-earned respect will turn to contempt.

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Officers of the Metropolitian Police service (especially its highly trained armed officers ) are not above the law, nor must they be treated any differently to other members of the public, we do not live in a Police state. A 'strike' by the afore-mentioned officers defies logic and sound judgement, which in view of the ferocity of the weapons they have at their disposal is deeply worrying.

PT

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Uniformed armed Police on duty in London.

Police Federation chiefs belive that the two non-uniformed officers who fired on the 27-year old electrician were merely ''following instructions from above'' and should not be charged.

Who runs Britain - the mystery

The BBC hasn't a clue how the country is run.

by Christopher Booker, right

The BBC Today programme's series on "Who runs Britain?" has again brought home the astonishing ignorance of most of our politicians and journalists as to how we are now governed.
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Only one or two contributors, such as Daniel Hannan MEP, left, showed any sign of recognising how our system of government has been revolutionised in recent years, so that most of the laws and regulations which rule our lives are now made by a vast, mysterious technocracy in which elected politicians play very little part.
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It has long proved beyond the likes of Jim Naughtie and his colleagues to recognise this, however. They appear to think it is enough just to pit against each other people of opposing views, most as ignorant as themselves, inviting them to engage in a few minutes of trivial argument which leaves the audience hopelessly uninformed.
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Having spent rather too much time in recent years trying to puzzle out this revolution, I am constantly staggered how poorly served we are in this respect. Last week, for instance, we were bombarded with verbiage about "Blair versus Chirac", the EU budget, the "rebate", the "CAP", the "WTO".

But how many commentators could give an informed explanation of how and why France managed to design the CAP in her own interest, so that 40 years later her farmers still receive nearly a quarter of its total spending? Or why, without the rebate, Britain would receive less from the EU budget per head than any other country? Or why the stranglehold that France has on EU trade policy means that the WTO cannot prevent her farmers inflicting such damage on those of the developing world?
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Again, amid the muted response to last week's review of Defence Industry Strategy, how many people bother to ask why we need those two huge aircraft carriers the Royal Navy is supposed to be buying (other than as part of our contribution to the EU's planned "rapid reaction force")?
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How many ask why weare to spend £300 million just on designing these ships, when, thanks to the increasingly doubtful future of the Joint Strike Fighter project, no one even knows what aircraft will be using them?
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Similar questions large and small are thrown up by this peculiar new system by which we are governed (with "Europe" all too often hovering in the wings). But the BBC isn't even remotely interested in doing its homework to provide the necessary background information, then asking the right questions. Much more fun for its smug presenters to stage silly little studio arguments between people as hazily informed as themselves, until it is time to say "I'm sorry, that's all we've got time for".

The Sunday Quote no. 139

The Sunday quote:

''As technology stands, and in the foreseeable future, the manned fast fighter jet will be needed. But, on a cold winter day, a dour Scottish politician decided otherwise, and brought the UK to the end of the line, potentially committing us to a strategic reliance on untried technology built by an untrustworthy partner. And no one said a word.''

Dr Richard North - Political Analyst

From a piece entitled 'The end of the line'

Every little helps

Has anyone other than this blog noticed ? Tesco is taking over the country - if not the world.

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Tesco controls almost one-third of the UK grocery market. While the company boasts about its commitment to fair trade and 'corporate responsibility', a recent report from Friends of the Earth shows that Tesco's practices are putting many UK farmers out of business; while on the high street, some 2,000 independent stores went out of business in the last year alone, unable to compete with promotions, and planning and taxation policies that favour the multiples over smaller shops.

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Friends of the Earth's anti-supermarket campaigner Vicki Hird right, and rising star in the lobbying movement recently lambasted the retail giant: "Tesco is lauded as a British success story but the image is a deceptive one – and it is beginning to tarnish. Farmers and consumers are paying the price of its uncontrolled expansion here and overseas. MPs must act now to curb the growing market power of supermarkets and ensure that Britain's booming supermarket industry does not kill off farmers, consumer choice and the traditional British high street."

Well indeed we agree, every little fight back will help.

More about this corporate monster later.