What more can you say? - by Richard... Wednesday, September 08, 2010

What more can you say? - by Richard... Wednesday, September 08, 2010

That is from the New York Times blog. It continues:

"We welcome the creation of architecture at the European level that can coordinate national supervision," Mr. Osborne said in Brussels, where he was meeting with fellow European Union finance ministers.

"But we were obviously concerned," he said, "that the interests of the British taxpayer were protected, that the voice of London was heard and that we did nothing that would undermine the competitiveness of Europe."

Typical Tory cant, demonstrating once again that the Conservatives are the party of the EU. One wonders if there is anyone out there who still claims Mr Cameron is a eurosceptic ... or that Mr Hague will look after our interests. In fact, the whole ghastly thing is so damn predictable that it's not even worth saying "I told you so".

Meanwhile, there is this - the idea is that employer pay wages directly to the taxman, he works out what tax is due and pays the balance to the employee. I had to check the date, but yes this is a serious proposition from a government with supposed conservatives in it.

We're doomed, I tell you ... doomed.

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The fluffheads have taken over - by Richard...

There is something rather odd in the amount of coverage the media invested in Gen Dannatt's autobiography, as it certainly does not reflect public interest in the issues he raises. But the uncritical publication of the last excerpt has annoyed a lot of people, and not just me - the piece where the man tells us all how much he wanted to buy Piranha APCs.

Instead of Dannatt's precious Piranhas, however, the Army got Mastiffs, and we now get another reminder of why Dannatt was wrong and a small group of people, including myself, were right. The piece linked says, "A group of soldiers serving with 1st Battalion The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment in Afghanistan escaped completely unharmed after the armoured vehicle they were travelling in was struck by an improvised explosive device (IED) in August."

The "armoured vehicle" in which they were travelling was a Mastiff (pictured above). If they had been in a Piranha, most likely they would be dead. And other things Dannatt is saying have people in the know absolutely gobstruck. That a CGS (former) could actually say some of the things he is saying is almost unbelievable. But what is so puzzling is why the media are letting him get away with it.

At least, it was puzzling. Then you see this (see the second paragraph - above) written by this. And I actually expected these morons to be able to understand the relative merits of a Mastiff versus a Piranha? Silly boy! The fluffheads have taken over. We are doomed.

Doomed, I tell you ... totally doomed.

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State of the Union - by Richard... Tuesday, September 07, 2010

Barroso has little empathy or understanding of history in choosing today of all days for his firstState of the Union speech in Strasbourg. Predictably, he makes absolutely no reference to the fact that this is the 70th anniversary of our German "partners" sharing their technology with us in the form of their aviation products, their attempts at creating a Single European Market in bombs leaving 430 dead, 1,600 injured and thousands homeless.

But, as Mr Barroso is obviously keen on symbolism, taking every possible opportunity to cloak himself in the yellow ring of stars, he might just appreciate the symbolism of the other Europa.

This was a 10,850 ton cargo liner owned by the East Asia Company, built by the Danish in 1931 in their Copenhagen yards. With accommodation for 70 passengers, it was built for operation between Europe and the US/Canadian West Coast, providing a service for the Polish Gdynia-Amerika Line

At the outbreak of the Second World War, Europa was in Copenhagen but it left on 8 September for the usual ports on the Pacific Coast. On the homebound voyage the vessel called at Falmouth on 29 November 1939 and stayed until 2 December.

Subsequently the vessel discharged at London, Hull, Gothenburg and Copenhagen and then went to New York to take advantage of the increased demand for passenger transportation between Scandinavia and New York.

From there, the vessel loaded at various ports on the Pacific Coast and after having passed through the Panama Canal, a number of Caribbean ports were called at. In the early days of March the vessel left Vancouver commencing the return voyage to Europe but while it was en route New York, German forces invaded Denmark.

After New York, therefore, the vessel departed for Halifax and was placed at the disposal of the allied powers, whence it was taken over by the Canadian government.

On 27 November 1940, she found herself in Liverpool for discharging and dry-docking. Subsequently a cargo of war materials including a number of aircraft was loaded, the loading was completed by the 20 December with departure scheduled for the next morning.

That evening, however, Liverpool was heavily attacked by German bombers and at 21:55 hrs,Europa was hit and seriously damaged, ending up resting on the bottom. A part of the cargo was discharged and attempts were made to raise the vessel but, on 12 March, the Europa was again hit by a German bomb.

Nevertheless, on 20 March, the vessel was successfully raised and dry-docked for repair. But it was still in dry-dock when German aircraft made one of the most severe attacks on Liverpool, on the late evening of 3 May. Several bombs hit the vessel, which then was beyond the possibility of saving. It was declared a total loss and was later on towed from the dock and set aground for scrapping.

Europa, an enterprise built by the Danes, operated for the Poles and then by the Canadians for the Allies, had foundered in a British port, having been trashed by the Luftwaffe operating out of France.

There is doubtless some deep symbolism here, but I had best leave it to readers to decide what it is. A finer example of European co-operation, though, would be hard to find. "At the end of the day, we are all in the same boat," Mr Barroso says in his speech. He should have a photograph of this one on his desk.

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The Blitz remembered - by Richard...

It is rather ironic that there should be a tube strike in London today, leading to the inevitable headlines describing Londoner's "misery". The irony, of course, is that today is the 70th anniversary of the start of the Blitz in London, when Londoners truly had something to be miserable about.

The MSM is offering a variety of fare, but much of it is "stream of consciousness" stuff that does not help the reader understand the great events of that time. One of the more interesting pieces isthis one in The Guardian, while this treatment of the pictures has a certain draw. But it is The Guardian which seems to be doing the better job, offering an interactive timeline on events.

I will be giving the day full treatment on The Days of Glory, although I have to say that it is very hard going trying to separate the myth from reality. The BBC, of course, majors on how the Blitz "brought us all together", which is only one part of the story.

In fact, while the reporting of the war was supposed to be the BBC's finest hour, coverage was so dire and "tedious" that listeners were deserting in droves to German stations, to find out what was really going on.

But the darker side of the London Blitz is hinted at by The Guardian which gives us the bare statistics, but then tells us that 5,000 Londoners slept in Epping Forest that night.

These were the trekkers, the existence of which is barely recognised in the literature and represents the tip of the iceberg, a huge "self-help" movement by the population, responding to some enormous incompetencies and inefficiencies of local authorities and central government.

Many things were done extremely well, other things not so, and yet others were done very badly indeed - details of which have been suppressed. The full story, therefore, has not even begun to be told. It is going to take some telling!