tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2956830097495837473.comments2023-10-14T13:18:37.330+01:00angels in marblehatfield girlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12673905475452420002noreply@blogger.comBlogger7285125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2956830097495837473.post-3962864406311317432015-08-28T08:20:55.292+01:002015-08-28T08:20:55.292+01:00The use of keynesian growth/demand management poli...The use of keynesian growth/demand management policies should never have been associated with brownian political virtue or that of social democratic progressivism.<br /><a href="http://www.annavoigstones.com/" rel="nofollow">Marble</a>Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13720274091094712578noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2956830097495837473.post-57914435244569161732015-07-20T15:34:17.574+01:002015-07-20T15:34:17.574+01:00"when the President of the European Central B..."when the President of the European Central Bank responded to questions about the German Finance Minister's aims during the latest round of the Greek crisis he remarked that his job was to secure the euro not to respond to politicians' current objectives."<br /><br />Somebody might have added that his job was also to act as lender of last resort to the Greek banking system and not withold ELA as part of the general blackmail and armtwisting being used against the Greek government.<br /><br />So it seems his principles are let us say at the very least, contingent.cuffleyburgersnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2956830097495837473.post-17789825564903557952015-07-16T12:56:03.183+01:002015-07-16T12:56:03.183+01:00Hopefully we or rather they, will manage to avoid ...Hopefully we or rather they, will manage to avoid a general war, but I agree that some violence is virtually certain. I agree with some of what you say, but a collapse of influence will likely happen sooner than we all imagine possible, while the formal thing limps on looking more and more ridiculous.<br /><br />Ultimately, power rests on consent, which may be more or less acquired out of the barrel of a gun, and is greatly influenced also by the contents of wallets.<br /><br />the only question is will it be Germany to walk away first or will it crumble from the edges? My guess is the former.<br /><br />The EU has no divisions (as in tanks), and no ability to generate wealth only to squander it. These facts are becoming alarmingly clear to everybody.Cuffleyburgersnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2956830097495837473.post-36728264194583781922015-07-15T13:44:57.487+01:002015-07-15T13:44:57.487+01:00We must disagree on this Jeff. Germany, the Balti...We must disagree on this Jeff. Germany, the Baltic states, Holland (with and without an 'e')and the EU institutions are not right: Right, certainly, but both wrong and seriously bad.hatfield girlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12673905475452420002noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2956830097495837473.post-31114225572561581762015-07-15T13:40:47.618+01:002015-07-15T13:40:47.618+01:00'...the long decline and collapse of the EU.&#...'...the long decline and collapse of the EU.'<br /><br />We'll never have the satisfaction of seeing an EU collapse, Cuffley. We'll see incoherent (with current statuses and requirements) changes - we're seeing those already; we'll see 'readjustments', 'extra- Treaty agreements' (we've got those already) we'll see 'political agreements are inferior to 'legal' arrangements' (we've got that too right now with attempts to use eurostate bailout arrangements that lapsed in 2013). <br /><br />We'll get nation states traduced, deformed, suffering white colpo di stato (cf Italy since 2013) and, in the end we'll have war. Some would make a case for being at war with Germany and its usual nasties already. What we will never have is the willing abandonment of power on the grounds on incompetence and failure in Europe by the currently named 'European union' elites. hatfield girlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12673905475452420002noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2956830097495837473.post-7411235450184512322015-07-14T12:30:38.659+01:002015-07-14T12:30:38.659+01:00What a sickening episode.
But necessary I think t...What a sickening episode.<br /><br />But necessary I think to start the long decline and collapse of the EU.Cuffleyburgersnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2956830097495837473.post-44252136079129084032015-07-13T21:13:09.946+01:002015-07-13T21:13:09.946+01:00Both sides are right, both sides are wrong, and ne...Both sides are right, both sides are wrong, and neither side is honest.<br /><br />Jeff Woodnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2956830097495837473.post-83452271032691521512015-07-13T10:55:55.125+01:002015-07-13T10:55:55.125+01:00I don't entirely agree.
Merkel's position...I don't entirely agree.<br /><br />Merkel's position is certainly a part of this, but imho the real driving factor is the absolute determination of all concerned to maintain the momentum of "The Project".<br /><br />This determination trumps everything, regardless of cost whether human or financial.<br /><br />Even the Greek political class, it seems, would rather prostrate themselves (perhaps prostitute would be a better word to use) and ruin their country and their people, rather than admit that the experiment has failed. <br /><br />In truth no recovery is possible until they leave the Euro, but that is the one thing they will not do. <br /><br />More clearly than ever one sees that there cannot be any future for Britain in this madhouse.Weekend Yachtsmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04262853091154005651noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2956830097495837473.post-36097671409042667502015-07-11T21:34:45.547+01:002015-07-11T21:34:45.547+01:00Yacht, I have a dilettante interest in German poli...Yacht, I have a dilettante interest in German politics so writing anything there is unnerving. Would you agree that this is abut Merkel's position and security of tenure in office rather than Greek or even EU politics at all? She's been there for three terms and is profoundly irritating to the progressive, specifically SDP, received politics of northern Europe. The decline of social democracy is tied in with their steady defeat in Germany since, more or less, achieving unification. European social democratic movements must be desperate to replace her.hatfield girlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12673905475452420002noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2956830097495837473.post-57864858735983181832015-07-11T21:25:23.650+01:002015-07-11T21:25:23.650+01:00Well, if we like muscular, forceful (and skilled) ...Well, if we like muscular, forceful (and skilled) play it was always Kim, (or Nadal if we prefer) not the grimacing, clumsy scary Scot. But Federer is forever (except for Pat Rafter though).<br /> hatfield girlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12673905475452420002noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2956830097495837473.post-88902201672239401732015-07-10T21:45:06.960+01:002015-07-10T21:45:06.960+01:00Excellent post. OT How much do we LOVE Federer?
Excellent post. OT How much do we LOVE Federer?<br />lilithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05011676751221508167noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2956830097495837473.post-22736007117994565762015-07-10T13:54:33.469+01:002015-07-10T13:54:33.469+01:00And yet it seems today that the Greek political cl...And yet it seems today that the Greek political class has caved in, and that further - endless - "austerity" is to be the lot of the Greek people.<br /><br />One has to admire their forbearance.<br /><br />If this is a deliberate test by the EU to see how far modern people can be pushed before they turn in anger and slay their tormentors, the results must be astonishing to the experimenters.<br /><br />A few more years, or months, apparently.Weekend Yachtsmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04262853091154005651noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2956830097495837473.post-89025429409560136122015-07-06T11:09:34.919+01:002015-07-06T11:09:34.919+01:00I should think anyone would have conjectures on wh...I should think anyone would have conjectures on who and what was on the receiving end of those avalanches of money. <br /><br />I never thought of Brown as anything other than one of those (E Miliband is another) tenacious twerps who cling onto a fairly easy to access but key position and are then ferociously used by those with unspeakable (literally) objectives - a bit of ego-grooming and first class and five-stars and they're the 'democratic' front for almost anything. <br /><br />It's some time since Brown was being so irritatingly in the forefront of political consciousness but there is room for a look at how much damage, on various levels, he did. Not the obvious that was well-written up at the time, and afterwards, but the damage of a half-baked understanding of economic theory and practice, and the false claim deriving from this (indeed at times the attribution of having 'really') saved the world when he was used as a social democratic (itself a tenacious twerpy political stance) cover for the biggest rip-off ever, of most of us, which is ongoing. <br /><br />Christine is as odd as she looks.hatfield girlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12673905475452420002noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2956830097495837473.post-84077210884258462602015-07-05T23:10:35.577+01:002015-07-05T23:10:35.577+01:00and yeah, Lagarade is indeed a feeble candidate fo...and yeah, Lagarade is indeed a feeble candidate for being one of the adults, that's for sureNick Drewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13670594203660051701noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2956830097495837473.post-53797714572443593212015-07-05T21:08:40.577+01:002015-07-05T21:08:40.577+01:00do you suppose that when these high-status moral d...do you suppose that when these high-status moral defectives watched Gordon Brown et al embark on QE back in '09, they said to themselves, hmmm, <i>wonder what percentage they are on?</i> - ?Nick Drewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13670594203660051701noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2956830097495837473.post-1866750253864078122015-07-02T12:29:26.712+01:002015-07-02T12:29:26.712+01:00Lampedusa.Lampedusa.Weekend Yachtsmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04262853091154005651noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2956830097495837473.post-47152967177062424422015-06-23T17:35:04.341+01:002015-06-23T17:35:04.341+01:00The Greeks were never asked,
now they take it up t...The Greeks were never asked,<br />now they take it up the pass,<br />Leonidas, to Persia succumbed, too much to resist,<br />so now they lay down and allow,<br />secure in the knowledge that yes, we showed you how.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2956830097495837473.post-34416303614389875192015-06-23T16:53:34.039+01:002015-06-23T16:53:34.039+01:00Trust not for freedom to the Franks, eh?
Latin f...<i>Trust not for freedom to the Franks</i>, eh? <br /><br />Latin fraud ...<br />____________<br /><i>Footnote</i> Arthur Quiller-Couch is a great-great uncle of mineNick Drewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13670594203660051701noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2956830097495837473.post-2147074717562993442015-06-18T21:06:11.767+01:002015-06-18T21:06:11.767+01:00Yes, R. Though Italy is at least three States: th...Yes, R. Though Italy is at least three States: the President-headed civil and military state acting through prefects, magistrates and the police and paramilitary carabinieri -leading into the armed forces; the political State acting through the elected parliament and regional powers, deeply entwined with the EU; the mafia-State, with its own clientele and hierarchies, deeply entwined with the other States and with international mafias. The fourth power, though not perhaps the State itself, is the Church.<br /><br />Those people on the Balzi Rossi are being dealt with, at the moment, by the civil State, through the Prefect and the magistrate, and the police (who it should not be forgotten, are the same force that acted at the G8 demonstrations). The interests they are offending other than the civil power and the law, are the economic interests of the mafia State, on the whole and in that part of the world; do they realise one wonders. They've been told to get down and stop being silly. There is an absolute political silence and lack of support around them from the political State, and only the Church is having the equivalent of the Catholic Women's League send down hot meals of an evening and some covers, as an act of Christian charity.<br /><br />One of the States of Italy is going to do something more in the end. Which one it is will determine what's done.hatfield girlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12673905475452420002noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2956830097495837473.post-84380816719407892642015-06-18T11:31:21.443+01:002015-06-18T11:31:21.443+01:00HG - Everyone agrees that Italy shouldn't shou...HG - Everyone agrees that Italy shouldn't shoulder the burden alone and everyone is willing to assist Italy in any way possible that doesn't actually include, erm, taking any of the migrants. <br /><br />And yes, though the migrants are media-savvy with their pithy English language slogans on rocks / sheets / banners, it appears they haven't been media-schooled in not biting the hand that feeds them - at least not whilst on-camera. <br /><br />It's all up to Italy which way this goes; if in the direction of internment camps with males and females kept separately and with public health screening and disease control in place, internment to be until some other EU nation volunteers to take them or they voluntarily go home, then I suspect the entire costs of the operation would be willingly paid by Italy's northern neighbours. <br /><br /> Raedwaldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11699610899843349594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2956830097495837473.post-70332761245688817692015-06-15T14:29:17.032+01:002015-06-15T14:29:17.032+01:00I would say good post but there is nothing good he...I would say good post but there is nothing good here, I will say it, is a post which written from the heart - for this news fills me with a black foreboding which sits like a rough hewn millstone in the bowels of my being.<br /><br />Serious stuff lady, very grave and the north has always had such contempt for those in the south and [now?] Rome also. <br /><br />And Italy, cannot be expected to carry on bearing this onerous yoke - can it.<br /><br />EUrope, Brussels, turns away "it's your problem" and what do Italians immediately think, what would you think? I know what I think and it has not changed, I despair for Italia - an alliance with the Germans, albeit a trading bloc - was always a reach too far but now, locked into the single currency - and a nightmare vision heralding from Bosch, all of Africa's problems tread a path to Rome. Bedlam and Apocalypse arrived.<br /><br />Renzi is toast, Renzi another wonder boy turned by the impossible dream 'le grand projet' - he just hasn't the wherewithal to comprehend - events will now overtake and submerge his government and probably Italy [and the Brussels Empire] with it.<br /><br />It will be bad, I dread the day: a crash but it needs to happen.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2956830097495837473.post-38486087021073287302015-06-11T19:09:28.115+01:002015-06-11T19:09:28.115+01:00There are more physical barriers being encouraged ...There are more physical barriers being encouraged now then R? I noted that comfortable travelling within Schengen had been circumvented by passing border controls from passport officers to 'security' controls; that has been present for years - gone are the days of strolling into airport or station (the checks of 'financial' officers are a blight on the train to Switzerland) and getting on board to arrive uninterrupted at wherever the ticket went to within Schengen. This is not a change that would strike a UK-centred traveller as there has always been a ' let them learn' attitude to UK-based planes and boats and trains.<br /><br />The physical barriers are going up again for individual travellers as well, then. Friends with pretty gardens in southern France had remarked that the border posts are manned and barred once more (and that the numbers of from-outside-the-EU migrants walking along the railway tracks between Ventimiglia and Menton were ruining the gravel and wild plantings.)hatfield girlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12673905475452420002noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2956830097495837473.post-18516782254301262372015-06-11T07:22:07.537+01:002015-06-11T07:22:07.537+01:00I know Kärnten quite well, and the way in which Au...I know Kärnten quite well, and the way in which Austria is closing the border gradually is quite intelligent;<br /><br />First, the border generally runs on the top of a mountain range - restricting crossings to historic passes or tunnels. <br /><br />Some passes will be closed by lack of any road maintenance - the Plockenpass is now just one grade away from being closed on safety grounds because of the poor road condition. Many other local roads will now only be maintained to single track standard to save 50% on costs - i.e. a 3.5m wide strip. Given winter attrition on alpine roads, this means roads (including the Wurzenpass, the one I use) are likely to degrade substantially over 2/3 winters. <br /><br />Having made the alpine passes unpassable by anything other than 4x4s, the police can concentrate at the alpine tunnels, used now by most coaches and freighters. They use 'construction and use' grounds to stop and examine older, less well maintained vehicles likely to used for people smuggling. <br /><br />So Shengen is pretty much going in reverse. Raedwaldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11699610899843349594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2956830097495837473.post-46137694078520683402015-06-10T20:02:35.842+01:002015-06-10T20:02:35.842+01:00Reading remarks on 'why Labour lost', Elby...Reading remarks on 'why Labour lost', Elby, I confess, I am confused. I wasn't confused before the election, though I was in a state of ignorance as to what the Labour party manifesto offered because it wasn't mentioning anything central to what I understood to be Labour aims, indeed it wasn't offering any coherent policy programme at all.<br /><br />but afterwards......hatfield girlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12673905475452420002noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2956830097495837473.post-74304156894837426872015-06-10T13:22:25.100+01:002015-06-10T13:22:25.100+01:00Ah but you know what the answer will be, give '...Ah but you know what the answer will be, give 'em MORE panem et circenses - "round up the Christians".<br /><br />You can teach an Italian about many things, but on corruption - they wrote the book.<br />Democracy in Italy? Power, it's all about money and power which begets: corruption.<br /><br />The Italians understand about family very well, but not about Patria, they go to church or used to but the last thing they really comprehend is - for the greater good.<br /><br />Italy is doomed, England not so far behind now - in both countries Brussels killed off what remained of La dolce vita and outsourced it and increased the divide. In England, now local and municipal authorities are nigh nearly as bent as are Italy's - that's EUrope's cankered legacy - it brings everybody down to the level of the gutter.<br /><br />And Islam marches in.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com