The stoods are revolting - by Richard...

The stoods are revolting - by Richard...

... again. Gove says, according to The Guardian, that violent activists should be denied "oxygen of publicity" – as opposed to pols, of course, who could just be denied oxygen.

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Name calling - by Richard...

The strain of keeping up with the twists and turns of the euro must be getting to the poor little chap – that and being a crook. But it takes different people in different ways and to M. Le president it comes in the form of sounding off at journalists, calling them a bunch of "paedophiles".

Apparently, this came during a furious off-the-record exchange at the Nato summit in Lisbon last week, after a journalist had asked him a question about the latest developments in the "Karachigate" affair: allegations that the cancellation of commissions on a French submarine contract led to a bomb attack in Karachi in May 2002 in which 11 French engineers and four Pakistanis died.

Sarkozy is reported to have launched into a tirade about press ethics and the use of unnamed sources. "You say ridiculous things. You check nothing," he said to the journalist who had asked the question. "I have nothing against you but it seems that you are a paedophile. I am personally convinced of that fact. I have spoken to the security services but I won't tell you which ones. I have seen someone but it was just a verbal exchange. But now I am personally convinced that you are a paedophile."

After a stunned silence, we are told that journalists at the briefing at which the insult was delivered then moved on to other subjects. Before he left, Sarkozy is reported to have said to the journalists: "So long paedophiles, see you tomorrow."

Sarkozy, of course, is part French and part Hungarian, which perhaps excused his outburst ... that and being a crook, but what price UKIP MEP Godfrey Bloom who has neither of the first two excuses?

This has not stopped him indulging in equally oafish behaviour, calling the altogether unspeakable Socialist MEP Martin Schulz an "undemocratic fascist" in the EU parliament. Bloom, apparently, did so in an exchange after he had interrupted Schulz, calling out the infamous Nazi slogan, "Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Führer". Thus did he demonstrate that, when it comes to subtlety and wit, you can always rely on Bloom.

Predictably, this behaviour has got him thrown out. England Expects tells the whole story - two turds together, really. Nevertheless, this should give Bloom all the time in the world to discuss with Sarkozy the merits of stuffing the press corps with paedophiles. We thought that applied mainly to Belgian politicians, but since Belgium hasn't had a government for six months, presumably they've taken on additional jobs for something to do.

With the political classes upping the ante in this way, though, we're very soon going to run out of insults. Next it will have to be "fascist paedophiles", I suppose. But where do you go after that?

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Severe climate warning - by Richard...

The whole concept would be a joke, if it wasn't for the fact that it had rich and powerful backers – like the WWF - with their hands out for even more of our money. As it is though, one can tell simply from the increasingly strident nature of the "warnings" that there is a climate summit coming up, and the money-grabbers are making their pitch.

What speaks volumes though is that the "warning" comes from UNEP, one the the sponsoring agencies of the IPCC, not the IPCC itself. This might suggest a certain loss of confidence in their star performers, leaving little Rajendra out on the margins while the shine is put on the begging bowl.

The irony is that in the real world, there is a severe weather warning in the offing. There is snow inAberdeen and other Scottish locales, and the white stuff is moving south.

Furthermore, we have a number of severe economic warnings in place. But the warmists do not live in the real world. Even as the global economy collapses around them, and the snow settles in Seattle, they will continue to bleat about their "dangerous climate change" and wait for the cash to pour in.

Our task is to make it a very long wait.

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Burn, baby, burn! - by Richard...

We've waited a long time for this. Ambrose tells us that Spain and Portugal are "under fire" as bond spreads hit record, which means that borrowing costs for Portugal and Spain have surged to danger levels. And the driver of this is fear, fear that Europe's leaders are losing political control of the Irish crisis and have yet to agree on a coherent plan to tackle the eurozone's deeper debt woes.

Well, the colleagues wanted it. They got it. This is the crisis they have all been waiting for, the one when - in theory - they were supposed to come out the other side with a full-blown "government of Europe", armed with a complete suite of economic powers.

It could yet happen – never rule out the Devil's miracle. Lucifer has his powers. But the smart money is on collapse, even if it could still take longer than most expect. The core construct of a single currency, without economic governance, a unified budget, the controls and the sanctions, plus the fiscal transfers and all the other apparatus, could never work.

The only real chance they ever had was that the member states would agree permanently to cede sovereignty and create that economic government, before the system got out of control. It is now too late. The only option now is to crash and burn. Today the flag, tomorrow "Europe".

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This is not good - by Richard... Tuesday, November 23, 2010

There are many things we could do without in this world, and another Korean War is one of them.

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Only doing her job - by Richard...

With Louise Gray doing her usual job as a conduit for WWF press releases in The Daily Telegraph, there are two changes. Firstly, there is a thumbnail picture of the woman. Secondly, the comments are open.

I have appended a few appropriate questions. It will be interesting to see how long the freedom-loving Telegraph lets them stand. After all, we cannot allow anything to get between Louise and her beloved WWF, for whom she so obviously works.

In this piece, though, she manages to combine the two pet hates of "climate change" and the European Union, which, typically, she manages to call "Europe". And despite the crisis of the euro and the probability that the whole construct is about to collapse, all this dismal little tart can witter on about is climate change targets.

It is, of course, this type of stupidity that is making the Telegraph a laughing stock and driving away readers in their droves. A once proud newspaper really needs to reflect on whether its role in life is to be the house organ for the WWF, and whether it can afford to retain people like Gray.

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Hold tight! - by Richard...

I was working hammer and tongs on the Battle of Britain project most of yesterday, which meant that my eye was definitely off the ball. Mind you, I was not so far behind as to have missed this - the Independent's "take" on the Irish situation.

Some of our forum comments, I think, are more informative and some specialist sites have far more than you will get in the MSM. But the trouble is that, in this fast-moving situation, we are moving into unknown territory. This is one episode where the word "unprecedented" is no longer hyperbole.

We are now definitely looking at the prospect of the failure of the euro, and if that does go, the EU will not be far behind. But the result is not going to be pleasant. If this goes the way it looks as if it is headed, we are in for a seriously rough ride. Hold tight!

COMMENTS: IRISH THREAD