The beat goes on - by Richard... Tuesday, May 04, 2010

The beat goes on - by Richard... Tuesday, May 04, 2010

Irish and British airspace has been re-opened after the earlier shut-down in response to further volcano ash incursions, thus demonstrating that the newly refined system is working tolerably well.

This great feat has been achieved without the intervention of the EU and Eurocontrol yet, despite this, the EU's Transport Council (pictured) has today agreed a proposal from the EU commission which is says will help prevent further disruption to air travel as a result of volcanic ash.

This includes speeding up current plans to integrate Europe's air space, creating a "single European regulator for a single European sky" but, since the national air authorities of the UK and Ireland have now proved capable of dealing with the issues arising from volcanic ash, have a non-solution chasing a non-problem.

However, as pointed out earlier, the volcanic ash shut-down was just another of those familiar "beneficial crises" which the EU is exploiting to further its plans for integration. 

Yet this has been agreed by a British minister, Lord Adonis, two days before a general election, thus effectively committing the incoming government to following this path. But what is particularly depressing is that neither the media nor the politicians seem remotely concerned, which makes you wonder why we are having a general election in the first place.

The drumbeat of integration goes on, irrespective of elections and governments. All we are doing is electing the "pretty boys" to front up the system.

GENERAL ELECTION THREAD

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A surge of fraud? - by Richard...

The recent rush of new voter registrations may have sinister implications. Along with others, The Daily Mail is reporting significant instances of postal vote rigging (see panel above - click to enlarge).

Voter fraud, says the paper, could determine the outcome of the general election. Police have launched 50 criminal inquiries nationwide amid widespread cases of electoral rolls being packed with "bogus" voters. And, with the outcome of the closest election in a generation hanging in the balance, a few thousand stolen votes in key marginals – where there has been a late surge in registrations - could determine who wins.

The infuriating thing about this is that there is nothing new about reports of voter fraud, and the postal vote system has long been prone to abuse. Yet very little has been done to curb that abuse, which puts the credibility of the entire system in doubt. We have little enough trust in politicians without a rigged election to contend with as well.