A crisis a day - by Richard... Wednesday, November 17, 2010

A crisis a day - by Richard... Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Instinct tells me that, whatever is going to happen next, it's going to be nothing like any of the pundits predict. Having been bitten more than once, one tends to steer clear of the pundits and the experts – especially the experts who are usually the last to know what is going on and invariably get it wrong.

The trouble is that there is an awful lot of grandstanding going on, an amount of deliberate disinformation, some game playing and a great deal of idle speculation, all on the back of incomplete information.

We are too used to the death-defying scenarios where, as in the great adventure serials of old like Dick Barton, we see the heroes facing certain death, only for the script-writers to inject the immortal phrase: "with one bound, they were free".

Needless to say, a "don't know" doesn't sell newspapers, and simple, straightforward analysis is thin on the ground. Van Rompuy may be warning of a "survival crisis" while others are givingmixed messages but the truth is we don't know. We do not have the first idea what is going to happen next. We can hope, and we all have our hopes, but if I was to make an informed guess about the outcome of this current crisis, it is that we are looking at yet another anti-climax, and nothing much will then happen until the next crisis.

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Collopse is nigh! - by Richard... Tuesday, November 16, 2010

UPDATE: "The entire European Project is now at risk of disintegration, with strategic and economic consequences that are very hard to predict," says Ambrose - writing under the title: "The horrible truth starts to dawn on Europe's leaders". He talks freely of a "proto-Fascist organization", and Austrian corporals.

The Guardian, meanwhile, is retailing a tale of woe from Herman Van Rompuy, described as "president of the EU". He is warning that the EU faces a "survival crisis", with the risk of contagion spreading from Ireland across the continent.

In other words, we are getting the usual crap, via a crappy newspaper, which tells us very little, other than the Euroslime are having a hard time of it at the moment. This could be just another "drama queen" act – which the "colleagues" are so good at doing. But if it is for real, we do wish they'd get a move on - this ham actor death scene is getting a tad repetitive. If the euro is going to die, then better it is done quickly before we all die of boredom - or cynicism.

On the other hand, Reuters is warning of dire things should the IMF/EU impose a bail-out. Ireland's public sector workers face the risk of further wage cuts and redundancies and its "sacrosanct" low rate of corporation tax could be raised, says the agency.

Then we start to get into interesting times as a million or so Paddies rip Dublin apart. London cannot be far behind, which will leave Euroslime Dave, with his ideas on "happiness" rather stranded. He would be better off, methinks, calculating a POI (Pissed Off Index), which probably increases every time he opens his mouth.

However, the thought that the EU is that little bit closer to collopse is certainly enough to counter the normal feeling of revulsion engendered by contemplating The Boy, and might even bring to the bring to the fore a glimmer of a smile. Whether we need to put the champagne on ice yet is moot, but we can always be persuaded to consider it.

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Lightweight fools - by Richard...

The award-winning Dellers is having a pop at Phil Jones – at the most appropriate level. One should not take these fools seriously, and that has possibly been the sceptics' mistake all along.

None of these people are serious scientists, none of them are worth a pile of chickens' droppings and, in fact, chicken manure is more useful. Arguing with them is to afford them a degree of gravitas they have neither earned nor deserve. Dellers shows them up to be the lightweight fools that they are.

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We have been there so many times - by Richard...

It is not exactly the "boy crying wolf" syndrome, although we have been regaled with so many stories of the imminent collapse of the euro – and predicted the same ourselves – that we struggle to hope that this time it is for real.

However, the indomitable Ambrose is certainly ladling it on thick, with his talk of contagion hitting Portugal as the stresses spilling out from Ireland take hold.

Confusion, ill-will, acrimony and even panic seem to be dominating proceedings, and for once we seem to have the "colleagues" thrashing around with very little idea of what to do and how to manage the situation. There is a whiff of the euroslime having lost control.

On top of that, at 12.06 am, we had Reuters reporting that the budget talks between the EU parliament and the Council had "collapsed" - "threatening to throw EU financial planning into chaos and boding ill for the bloc's ability to reach deals", says the agency.

Generally speaking, it is very bad form to derive too much enjoyment from the misfortunes of others but, in this case, we are happy to make an exception, especially as Merkel is signalling that collapse of the euro could bring down her beloved "Europe". With the collapse of the budget talks providing a happy precedent, it just begins to look as if we can once again live in hope.

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