Saturday, 21 May 2011

Not just the politicians - by Richard... Saturday, May 21, 2011


... who have been keeping the people in the dark about the economic crisis, but the hypocritical media as well.

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It gets better - by Richard...

Frankly, anyone who is as enthusiastic as is Huhne for both the European Union and global warming has to be dishonest. And so it turns out to be. Amid rumours that he has been even more liberal with sharing his DNA than was previously revealed, there are now claims that the ghastly little man overspent on his election expenses.

This man is so arrogant that he hasn't even taken the trouble to cover his back, while antagonising so many around him that they are helping to bring him down. His campaign has left a legacy of bitterness locally, with not only Tories and Labour activists angry at his tactics, but also local Lib-Dims, with several councillors quitting the party in disgust.

That is the man who is telling us it is so urgent to save the planet. With the message coming from a man of his calibre, we can draw our own conclusions.

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And why should they? - by Richard...


Ratan Tata, the multi-billionaire owner of the Tata conglomerate, based in one of the most corrupt countries on earth, says British managers did not compare favourably with their Indian counterparts. They will not go the extra mile, he complains. Ironically, he uses Imperial measurements rather than the metric.

But, since the reputation of Tata is of an opportunistic asset-stripper, here to make a quick buck out of dismantling the remainder of the steel industry, I don't suppose anyone is too keen to help a very rich Indian become even richer at our expense.

However, Ratan Tata follows what is becoming an established tradition of our foreign mastersinsulting their workforce, but since British politicians have a history of doing the same, they are only following the example set for them.

The answer though is simple. If Mr Tata detests us so much, we should avoid purchasing any of his brands, and then he can be relieved of having to deal with us and can slink off back to his own corrupt nation, where he is obviously so much happier doing business.

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A phoney war? - by Richard...


Klein Verzet sounds the alarm and Reuters confirms that the Greek situation is moving rapidly to an end play. But writing the blog on the fly, as I am having to do at the moment, it is very easy to miss something and I have to concede that I'm having difficulty picking up from the MSM and mainstream blogs any sense of a crisis.

Any number of pundits point out that the collapse of the economy in Greece could have massive knock-on effects throughout the global economy, in which case, you would have thought we would be seeing more attention given to the issue. So why do we find lead stories on twitter, footballers and sundry trivia?

Is it that the reality is so awful that the media (and the politicians) can't face it, so we're going through a phase akin to the phoney war? If so, one worries – the outcome of that one was not exactly a bundle of joy. Or are we simply getting unnecessarily concerned?

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Unfinished business - by Richard... Friday, May 20, 2011


Corus Steel is taking another hit, with its owners Tata Steel announced plans to cut 1,500 jobs in Yorkshire and Teesside. This, for us, is unfinished business, but with a pusillanimous MSM and a propensity to apologise too easily, there is not going to be any critical analysis in the media.

That allows Tata to blame a continued slump in demand from the construction sector for the decision to dump its workforce, but it also claims that new climate change legislation was partially responsible for its decision.

And so pour the crocodile tears from Karl-Ulrich Köhler, chief executive of Tata Steel's European operations. "We are aware that our employees and their families will experience a very unsettling few months as a result of this announcement", he says, adding: "We will do everything we can to provide them with support and assistance."

Köhler then asserts: "The continuing weakness in market conditions is one of the main reasons why we are setting out on this difficult course of action. Another is the regulatory outlook. EU carbon legislation threatens to impose huge additional costs on the steel industry. Besides, there remains a great deal of uncertainty about the level of further unilateral carbon cost rises that the UK government is planning."

There is certainly a case to be made for climate legislation distorting the market to the detriment of high-energy users in the UK, but you can bet that if Tata Steel is involved, there is more to this story than we are ever going to be told.

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Just deserts - by Richard...

The dislike of this man goes way back ... a sanctimonious europhile, ex-fishing minister, ex-environment minister, he has screwed up more lives than you could possibly imagine. In my book, just being Elliot Morley should be a criminal offence - but getting done for offences against the taxpayer is the next best thing. What a pity it's only 16 months. He'll be out in six. But, at least, his political career is over.

And Huhne is now the subject of a formal criminal investigation. That'll teach him to put his finger in the dyke.

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Idiots - by Richard...

Incompetent defence chiefs cost British forces their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan by squandering nearly £1billion on armoured vehicles that have not been built.

This is the narrative being thrown up by The Daily Fail and others this morning, telling us the Ministry of Defence "wasted a shocking £718million on plans for thousands of properly-protected battlefield trucks which were then scrapped or delayed".

Look behind the headlines and you will see FRES – about which we have written a word or two. But the MoD/Army narrative is that the MoD purchased a fleet of mine-resistant vehicles - including Mastiffs and Ridgebacks - to stop troops being maimed and killed. These were bought as "urgent operational requirements' using Treasury cash. But because they were built specifically for Afghanistan, they are unsuitable for wider use".

In other words, we are being told that FRES would have been a better option – which is pure, distilled BS. The mine protected fleet was bought instead of FRES – in the face of stiff resistance from the Army. Had the Army been given its way, there would have been carnage.

But there is something more fundamental here. Apart from Korea, the Falklands and the first phases of the Iraqi war, every significant conflict in which the Army has been deployed has involved elements of irregular warfare, for which these mine protected vehicles were designed. But the Army hates this type of warfare, refuses to accept that this is the rule, rather than the exception, and hankers after the free-style, war of manoeuvre for which FRES is designed.

Classically, the Army is seeking to equip itself for the wars it would wish to fight, instead of the warfare it is most likely to meet - a triumph of hope over experience.

But FRES, as they say, is the narrative, and the MSM buys it hook line and sinker. The real story is here ... in my book, but we don't want anything like the truth sullying the minds of the public, so let's forget all about that. These people are idiots.

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Obama does something - by Richard...


I actually watched the Obama speech, the whole damn thing, in glorious Technicolor – how sad is that? This is the one where he said that the US fully supported the Middle East uprisings.

This I now know, because that's what The Guardian tells us in its headline. But it is not something I drew from watching the speech – which says something about him, or me. You can call me out as a liar if you like. I didn't so much watch the speech as looked at it: a moving figure extruding sounds that conveyed absolutely no meaning.

Cameron did something as well, exchanging a warm handshake with Bahrain's Crown Prince, Sheikh Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa, outside No. 10. This "came on the day when President Obama delivered his first major speech on the Arab Spring", which he said would open a "new chapter in American diplomacy". "It will be the policy of the US to promote reform, and to support transitions to democracy," Obama tells us.

And this we know because The Independent tells us, which means that Cameron is out of step, or something. Or perhaps he's in step, and Obama is out ... the Boy doesn't seems to make sense either.

The funny thing is the man we must now call the Dead Obama Bin Laden or DOBL also gave a speech – from the grave, praising the "Arab Spring". But that was what Obama was supposed to be doing. These two ought to get together – is a séance in order? Cameron should have a word with him as well ... "hullooo, is anyone there?" That could make for an interesting threesome.

Perhaps we should just content ourselves with the undeniable fact that there is "an historic opportunity" out there to be seized. Maybe, that's what DSK really thought he was doing, and just seized the wrong bit by mistake.

The thing one really loves about all this though is that all these people are telling all these other people that they should have the right to govern themselves. Why is it that we can't have same thing? Perhaps we could get DOBL to make a video about it.

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The spotlight shifts - by Richard...


Now that DSK has resigned, he is no longer a player. What happens to him is now just theatre ... huge fun, but theatre all the same, set to drag on now that he has been indicted and bail has been granted. With his wife by his side (seen below arriving at the court), the heat is off for the time being.

Under terms of a revised bail package, Strauss-Kahn must post a $1-million bond, plus a $5-million insurance bond as a form of collateral. It is believed that he will remain under house arrest at his wife's Manhattan apartment residence and will wear an electronic monitoring device for 24-hours a day.

The man also has to pay for an armed guard to be present at all times. With his passport confiscated, making it impossible for him to flee the country, he has also waved his extradition rights. I guess he ain't going for a flight in that Airbus any time soon.


As to the broader issues, Edmund Conway thinks that DSK's departure was "another nail in the euro's coffin". But beyond the entertainment value, I am not so sure. These institutions tend to have values and dynamics of their own, to an extent independent of the individuals who run them.

On this though, I'm not going to be dogmatic, and am thus very much open to persuasion. According to the Conway thesis, without DSK at the IMF, the euro may have crumbled far earlier. His particular input was to allow the IMF bailouts of eurozone members Greece, Portugal, Ireland without insisting on restructuring, which would have spelled doom to the euro.

This is a point of view, and if halfway correct it means that the choice of successor is that much more important. In fact, that is now the real issue.

As to that successor, there seems to be a broad degree of agreement amongst the pundits that the need for a euro-supporter with a track record effectively rules out Gordon Brown – although it must surely have been in the realms of fantasy ever to have believed that he was in the running.

Where precisely we are going is, for the moment, speculation but, as the succession climbs up the agenda in importance, the relative higher level of publicity is going to remain with DSK rather than the beauty contest for his successor.

About this, though, we can hardly complain. Without DSK himself catapulting his post into the limelight, the succession would barely have had any attention at all. But then, as the lady once said, "it's a funny old world". And it gets funnier as each day passes.

COMMENT: DSK THREAD

Posted by Britannia Radio at 21:17