The dirty stuff - by Richard... Friday, July 30, 2010

The dirty stuff - by Richard... Friday, July 30, 2010

Somebody has to do it, and if I can't even bring myself to think about The Boy, then there is someone who is prepared to get their hands dirty – the redoubtable and combative Mary Ellen Synon.

This lady is much under-rated ... a sort of thinking man's Dellingpole, and much nicer looking. But that does not stop her ripping into Cameron with a gusto that is wholly admirable.

His current activity, she asserts, The Boy wants us to believe is true Conservatism. In response, the only question, says Mary Ellen Synon, is: "at what point are the true Conservatives going to rise up and roar that is isn't?"

COMMENT THREAD

Print ready

Greeks baring rifts - by Richard...

It might have disappeared from the notoriously parochial British media, but it is still there – Greece, that is. And their problems have not been resolved. In fact, they seem to begetting worse. The current round of troubles started a few days ago when the nation's lorry drivers announced their intention to go on indefinite strike today over plans to open up their sector to new licenses, opening up the transport business to new entrants.

Predicted shortages of fuel and goods, particularly on the Greek islands, have not been long in materialising and, at the height of the season, hundreds of thousands of holiday-makers look set to get caught up in the chaos, with even food and shortages of medicine threatened.

The government has no choice but to persevere – this strike being one of many as ministers try to implement fundamental economic reforms to meet the conditions imposed by the EU and IMF. Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou, has been struggling to meet the targets to secure a second payment of €9 billion by September. 

With at least 100,000 tourists who had driven to Greece from neighbouring Bulgaria and Serbia now stranded, thousands have abandoning their cars as a result of fuel shortages. Officials taking the highly unusual step of beseeching visitors to stock up on fuel in Macedonia.

Premier George Papandreou set out emergency legislation late on Wednesday, threatening the drivers that unless they returned to work they would face stiff fines and their vehicles being requisitioned.

This is only the fourth time since the end of military rule in 1974 that such legislation has been invoked, but as yet no one is sure how the drivers will react to it. Chances are, the riot police are going to be busy, and one or two heads are going to get broken.

What is particularly vexing the government, though, is that the entire administrative structure seems to be breaking down. Under the emergency legislation, so-called mobilisation orders are supposed to have been issues, but most lorry drivers have yet to receive them.

The government is left without its big stick, seeking to negotiate a settlement, yet finding more and more sectors – one of the latest being the air traffic controllers – withdrawing their labour. Greece, it would appear, is not the place to be at the moment. But then it never was when there are a rather large number of Greeks baring rifts.

COMMENT THREAD

Print ready

Day 20 - Battle of Britain - by Richard... Thursday, July 29, 2010

The order to shoot down the German Seenotdienst aircraft, marked with Red Crosses, was still having its ramifications. Some RAF pilots were refusing to obey the order, and others wanted to see it in writing. Accordngly, on this day, the Air Ministry issued a communiqué.

Read more on DAYS OF GLORY

Print ready

Right of reply - by Richard...

To the great Monbiot, The Guardian has given me right of reply. The comments are open on the piece – it will be interesting to see how the debate develops. If you comment there, you might also like to post a copy on the comment thread here, link below.

COMMENT THREAD

Print ready

Bit more than a headache - by Richard...

Under the headline, "Europe's €30 trillion headache", Ambrose Evans-Pritchard tells us that European banks have amassed €30 trillion in liabilities.

This is according to a new report by Standard & Poor's, which says that the banks face a serious funding threat over the next two years as authorities withdraw emergency support.

We have now developed a situation where banks are at risk of a vicious circle as sovereign debt fears and financial stress feed off each other. 

"Banking sector woes are eroding sovereign credit-worthiness, which is in turn reducing the real and perceived capacity of governments to support weak banks," says S&P. The EU's €750bn "shock and awe" rescue has gained time but not conjured away underlying concerns about the fiscal health of the EU states themselves. 

In passing, do I recall the Chinese saying something which did not exactly contradict this?

Either way, this strikes me as being a little more than a headache ... unless you are talking about the sort of pain felt when an unprotected head meets a fast-moving sledgehammer. But at least that is quick.

COMMENT THREAD

Print ready

In the interests of justice - by Richard...

And when they change the pigs, they sound just the same.

Home Office Minister Baroness Neville-Jones has defended the coalition government's decision toopt in to an EU order giving foreign police the power to demand evidence held in the UK. She tells peers: "We believe that opting into the EIO is in the interests of justice. It does not transfer any jurisdiction, which is what many might have feared."

Labour, Tories, Lib-Dims, Cleggerons ... all the same. Indistinguishable.

COMMENT THREAD