It's all over bar the shouting - by Helen... Thursday, September 10, 2009 eureferendum.blogspot.com

It's all over bar the shouting - by Helen... Thursday, September 10, 2009  eureferendum.blogspot.com

No, not the war in Afghanistan. I refer to the eurosceptic fight. We have won, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls. How do I know this? Well, I have been given a copy of TheTaxpayers' Alliance's 08/09 Review and it is quite clear to me that they have achieved all that the rest of us have been working for all these years.

What's that? You are asking what it is they have achieved? Really, how can you be so cynical? They have had campaigns against the EU Rip-Off, produced a possible ad that tells everyone who is not completely asleep that the EU costs us a lot of money and have worn t-shirts against the Common Fisheries Policy. As readers may recall, I mentioned the demonstration at the time.

Anyway, the Review is very glossy with lots of pictures and two pages devoted to the European Union, which comes in the section Policy Influence. This must mean that somehow, somewhere they have influenced somebodies policy on the EU. So there you are, I told you we have won.

What do you mean, there have been no changes in anybody's policy with regards to the EU? I fail to see what that has to do with anything. After all, they quote Tim Montgomerie, who, apparently said, possibly after a very good dinner, that

The Taxpayers' Alliance is more likely to deliver Eurosceptic change than UKIP.

It is, perhaps, as well that Mr Montgomerie, who is, himself a member of Better Off Out, did not specify what those eurosceptic changes might be. For the TPA tends to finish all its reports, which are always the first ever on the subject, with suggestions of what the EU should do to reform itself. No suggestions on formation of Porcine Air Force but, I am sure, that is only a matter of time.

Anyhow, the section concludes with the following encouraging paragraph:

The EU campaign continues apace. We are already rallying support in the City against the EU's proposed financial directives, which seriously endanger the hedge fund industry. Later in the year we will publish an exciting short book, exploring the opportunities for Britain in a new relationship with our fellow European countries.

Let us not worry about the curious grammatical and syntactic structure. Let us look at content only.

Of course, the problem of the financial directives (part of a ten-year programme for the consolidation of the finance industry within the EU) has never been raised by anybody, not on this blog, not in the House of Lords, not at Bruges Group meetings, not in the City itself. How thankful we are that the TPA has come along and started campaigning.

Above all, we are looking forward to their ideas of how those "opportunities in a new relationship with our fellow European countries" are to be achieved. Exactly what methods of change will the boys and girls at the TPA be proposing. Can't wait for the exciting short book to be published later in the year.

COMMENT THREAD

Permalink

Nice thoughts - by Richard...

Says the Adam Smith blog:

Parliament needs to be able to concentrate on two things: defence and the implementation of a system of justice. Local government needs to be the level where decisions over health, education, welfare etc are made.

The abolition of quangos should not mean that government departments take over the work. It should be left for local councils to pick up and ask the people to decide.

Indeed government departments define how centralized this country has become. We may all live on an island but we all are different with different wants and needs. The time has come for a radical reshaping of the structure of democracy in this country. It would actually give power to the people.

There is, of course, that minor thing over in Brussels called the European Union – membership of which means there is no democracy in this country. As for defence, a picture is worth a thousand words.

COMMENT THREAD