What are they hiding? - by Richard... Thursday, May 20, 2010

What are they hiding? - by Richard... Thursday, May 20, 2010

I don't know if "meltdown" is the right term to use in describing the current plight of the euro, but from this perspective, that is very much what it looks like.

But what is most intriguing are Ambrose's comments about undisclosed debt in the German banking system, and his suggestion that the underlying damage to the eurozone banking system runs even deeper than feared.

One thing is absolutely for sure – we the [ordinary] people are not being told the half of it. But when, quite obviously, the finance ministers of the eurozone are holding emergency meetings, in a state if near if not actual panic – as they are doing today – then it is time to batten down the hatches.

The real question – or one of them – is whether the recent unilateral action by Germany in banning short selling is a sign that it is about to pull the plug on the whole euro experiment, with a growing sense that Germany is acting solely in its own interests, and has abandoned anycommunautaire spirit.

What is also lacking is any clarity from the UK specialist media on the implications for the British economy, and thus our general wellbeing. The effects of currency disturbances are always important, but the effect of a currency collapse – if that is what is happening – will undoubtedly be profound. Yet, in nuts and bolts terms, as to what could happen here, the commentators are remarkably silent.

One wonders whether the implications are so awful that no one really want to address them. That would be a pity ... whatever else, we are seing a small bit of history being made.

GREEK THREAD

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Currency change - by Richard...

Mother nature hasn't got the message that Spring is half-gone already. It'scurrently snowing in the Alps, up on the glaciers at least, eight of which remain open for snow sports in three countries. 

In Northern Europe more areas are opening for summer skiing in Norway, while ski areas in Finland and Scotland remain open. In Sweden they're skiing and boarding under the midnight sun now 24 hour daylight has returned. Half a dozen ski areas remain open in North America too since last Autumn. 

It is also cold on Austria's glaciers, four of which are currently open for snow sports, following the closure of the Molltal glacier ski area for the season last weekend. Temperatures have been dropping as low as -10 (and a max of -5) with fresh snow forecast on the Kaunertal glacier, which has a 90-140cm (3-5 foot) base and all lifts and slopes open. 

There are similar conditions on the Kitzsteinhorn glacier above Kaprun where nine lifts are serving the glacier ski slopes and the accumulated base is 193cm (6.5 feet). It's -10C for the Stubai glacier near Innsbruck too, which reports 5cm (2 inches) of new snow and a 180cm (six foot) base. However the Tux glacier probably has the biggest ski area open in the Alps at present with 43.5km of runs, 13 lifts running, a 295cm (10 foot) base and an 1150m skiable vertical.

And in Rwanda's Volcanoes National Park, three baby mountain gorillas and an adult female have died, possibly from a combination of extremely cold and rainy weather. WWF workers are said to be distraught.

Delingpole, meanwhile, on his blog says that only morons, cheats and liars still believe in man-made global warming. That, presumably, is why the Cleggerons are so keen on the idea.

The scientists on our side of the argument have won, says Dellers. The problem is, he says, is that this debate was never really about science anyway. AGW is and always have been a political process. It's the political war that we're fighting now and it’s going to be much, much harder to win. He's right there ... and there are other battles to fight.

The interesting bet now is which is going to collapse first – the global warming religion or the euro. Perhaps they could collapse simultaneously – we could call it "currency change".

CLIMATE CHANGE NEW THREAD

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And when my lips move ... - by Richard... Wednesday, May 19, 2010

David Cameron revealed yesterday that he is ready to tear up the Human Rights Act amid growing public concern that it is being exploited by foreign criminals.

So proclaimed The Daily Telegraph, telling us that, if he wins the next general election, the Conservative leader will order a review of the law introduced by Labour eight years ago and rewrite the legislation if necessary. The piece continues:

However, if it becomes clear that it was not possible to improve the Act through amendments, Mr Cameron is prepared to abolish it. The Tory leader's aides conceded last night that even if the party scrapped the Act, Britain would still be bound by the European Convention of Human Rights.

As a result, it would still be possible for people to take their cases to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg as a last resort.

A spokesman for Mr Cameron said: "We believe that rewriting or repealing the Human Rights Act would solve most of the problems but if we found there was still a problem with the European Convention, then we would have to look at that.

"David has made clear that if it proves necessary in the long run, he is willing to temporarily withdraw Britain from the Convention so we can negotiate appropriate derogations."

This piece, as you might have guessed, was published a little time ago – on 13 May 2006, almost four years ago to the day. But then, it is only a promise and, like The Boy's referendum promise, isn't worth the paper is isn't printed on.

But why are politicians like Cameron so surprised when we regard them as a bunch of lying shits, and tell them so?

RESHUFFLE THREAD

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Lying cheating bastards - by Richard...

With The Daily Mail breaking the news that the Tories are now "watering down" their manifesto pledge on the Human Rights Act, Gerald Warner takes us to taskfor believing what they say in the first place.

People "... take the superficial meaning of their words at face value, without pausing to consider what they really mean," says Warner, his tongue so firmly in his cheek that he must be hideously deformed. Nevertheless, a reader takes him up on his admonition, offering an example of how we have so cruelly misunderstood our noble public servants. 

He tells us that the Tory promise that: "Since we can't have a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, we'll seek a repatriation of powers from the EU, and pass a sovereignty bill, " actually means, "We're not going to seek to repatriate any powers from the EU at all, and while we'll think about a sovereignty bill, we may not bother with that either."

One can certainly see that the texts are so similar in content and meaning that it would be very easy to become confused, as indeed did Warner's reader, who confesses: "Yup, I was well suckered. I voted for Cameron under the impression that his government might actually honour its manifesto commitments for more than a week." He concludes: "How naïve I am!"

Someone who was not confused was Autonomous Mind, who notes:

We have been spun a tale of a new politics being created, one that serves the people rather than the political class. The reality is we are seeing the political class perpetrate a fraud against the public, using the challenges of working in coalition as an excuse for following an agenda that abandons pledges offered to appease the public, while tightening the politicians' grip on the levers of power.

I think he is being far too level-headed. We are seeing the lying, cheating, bastards ... lying and cheating. And Mr Warner's reader? Naïve? That is not the word I would have used.

RESHUFFLE THREAD

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The euro is in danger - by Richard...

Says Merkel: "This challenge is existential. And we have to rise to it. The euro is in danger. If we don't deal with this danger, then the consequences for us in Europe are incalculable."

German chancellors, in my experience, do not normally use strident language, yet this is positively apocalyptic. The Germans have a problem ... and so do we. The trouble is, I don't think we (as in the UK) are taking it seriously enough yet.