Unexpectedly severe - by Richard... Friday, October 16, 2009

Unexpectedly severe - by Richard... Friday, October 16, 2009

Unseasonable weather has killed at least four Poles. Three of them, including a shepherd, froze to death in the mountains of southern Poland. The other, a man, died when his car was blown off the road in the north of the country. Some Polish villagers suffered because they had not yet bought coal for the winter.

Meteorologists said that snow flurries were not uncommon in Poland in October, but the conditions had been unexpectedly severe this week.

In northeastern parts of the Czech Republic roads and railway lines have been blocked by fallen trees after strong winds and snow about 20in deep in the mountains. The CEZ power group declared a state of emergency in eight Czech districts because of power line damaged. A malfunction in a heating plant left many of the 40,000 residents in Jablonec and Nisou without heat and the mayor was considering closing schools.

This, as they say, is not normal.

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A Gray day - by Richard...

Almost since we first started writing this blog, I have been making the same point about defence spending. The message has been simple, direct, and to the point - "underfunding" is not the issue. Not only is the MoD is pouring money down the drain, the systemic defects are so profound that giving it more money would simply enable it to waste even more money at a faster rate.

And now, much delayed, we finally see the Gray Review of Defence Acquisition and we read:

Simply granting the MoD more resources cannot ... solve this problem. More resources will probably lead to more military output, but since the ambitions will also expand and the behaviours have not been changed or controlled, the same problems of delay and cost overruns will reassert themselves at the higher level of funding.

You can read more on Defence of the Realm.

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Join the EU and see the world - by Richard... Thursday, October 15, 2009

The 300 workers in the Anglesey Aluminium plant in Holyhead could hardly have imagined that our membership of the European Union would bring them exciting new opportunities – and riches – the like of which were beyond their wildest dreams.

But, entirely due to the beneficent action of the EU, and its far-sighted action in closing down their industry, new horizons beckon, offering limitless prospects.

Redundant aluminium workers are being targeted by a company developing the world's biggest smelter complex nearly 4,000 miles away in the Middle East. Emirates Aluminium Company, which is building a $5.7bn giant smelter at Khalifa Port between Dubai and Abu Dhabi, has launched a recruitment campaign to target the redundant workers.

Founded in February 2007, Emirates Aluminium (Emal), an $8bn joint venture of Dubai Aluminium and Abu Dhabi government-owned investment vehicle Mubadala Development Company, aims to create the world’s largest single-site smelter complex. And now they want the workers to help staff the smelter complex where production is set to start in 2010. 

Just think, if it hadn't been for Heath's inspired wisdom in bringing the UK into the EEC, all those years back, these workers would be stuck in their dead-end jobs in an island off North Wales, with absolutely nowhere to go.

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Our dilemma - by Helen...

Having written about Geert Wilders and his various travails several times, long before the topic became trendy, we were pleased to hear the news that the ridiculous ban on his entry into the UK, imposed by the then Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, in February has been overturned.

Actually, Philip Johnston is not entirely accurate in his comment about the Appeal Court. It was the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal that ruled against the ban, arguing that "that there was no evidence a previous visit had caused problems and said it was more important to protect freedom of speech".

The Home Office thinks otherwise, as the BBCreports:

Following the tribunal's decision, a Home Office spokesman said: "We are dis appointed by the court's decision. The government opposes extremism in all its forms.

"The decision to refuse Wilders admission was taken on the basis that his presence could have inflamed tensions between our communities and have led to inter-faith violence. We still maintain this view."

They obviously do not consider freedom of speech important, the right to discuss matters important and equate extremism with an ability to get other people angry. They are also considering whether to spend more of the taxpayers’ money to appeal against the Tribunal's decision.

So far, so good. Freedom of speech has been confirmed and legality upheld. Written judgement will be handed down next week and, in the meantime, Mr Wilders will be giving a press conference in London tomorrow. It is sponsored by Lord Pearson of Rannoch but is not a UKIP event, no matter what anybody might think. I shall be there and shall report on it.

The question is to what extent the decision was based on the notion of EU free movement. In other words, did the Tribunal make the right decision, using EU law to overrule the Home Secretary? If so, we are faced with a dilemma. Not on whether to support the decision – we do that unreservedly; the real problem is how to convey the idea that it should be our government making the rules and not the EU, when our government is so utterly stupid and feeble. And don't tell me we can throw them out. Have you seen what is waiting in the wings?

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Drivel - by Richard...

Louise Gray is producing her usual line of enviro-porn today. But they are all at it - the BBC, The Times, The Guardian - the lot of them, all piling in.

One comment on The Telegraph site speaks for us all: "When you have your next editorial meeting to figure out why the Telegraph's credibility is heading south, consider your willingness to print drivel like this." Apply that to the whole of the MSM.

And the picture? Bavaria, this week, where autumn has been cancelled.