Why we must leave - by Richard... Thursday, December 22, 2011

Why we must leave - by Richard... Thursday, December 22, 2011

There are many highly principled reasons why we should leave the EU, but down amongst the weeds, there are equally important practical reasons why we should get out as fast as possible. One such is the absurdity bordering on the insane of the ECJ ruling on car insurance for women with favourable terms prohibited by the EU's Gender Directive, even though women present less costly risks to insurers.

Now we see that, according to a Treasury paper, women drivers in the UK, as a direct result of this ruling, will pay over £900 million more a year for motor insurance than they currently do. But what is so very chilling is that the British government "made very clear" its concerns "about any move to prevent the use of gender as a risk factor in the pricing of individual insurance policies". It told the court that the ability of insurers to price on the basis of risk was integral to their need to conduct business efficiently.

However, "Due to the nature of the ruling … there is no right of appeal against the outcome. The only option available is to implement the ruling, in this case by secondary legislation, which is likely to be made in the spring of 2012" it says.

And that, writ large, underlines the impotence of our government, even when faced with such manifest absurdity. What is more, the Treasury further observes that the ECJ ruling adversely affects both consumers and insurers. Although many male drivers in the motor insurance market stood to benefit from the changes, the "net cost" to motorists would be approximately £300m.

So there we are – this is the EU of which The Boy says we want to be members. But when it comes to the interests of millions of ordinary people, that is simply not true. Here, at least, is £300 million spent that we did not have to spend, to add to the many billions more wasted as a direct result of our membership.

We simply cannot afford this stupidity – the sooner we leave the better.

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A Bill goes to the Commons - by Richard... Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Your Freedom and Ours has the details of a very interesting development. The Lord Pearson, it seems, has his uses.

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A War of Choice - by Richard...

Hailed by its publishers as the first book on Britain's occupation of Iraq during 2003-2009, this of course is by no means the first. That accolade goes toMinistry of Defeat, published in 2009 - see below right ... note the similarities in the subtitles. But, as author of that book, I must be very careful in criticising what might be seen as a rival product - although it isn't. This is a very different book.

What one must realise with Fairweather's book is that it was written with the broad approval of the MoD, which gave him access to many of the characters he interviews. And therein lies its strength. It gives what appears to be a very accurate account of how a segment of the establishment - diplomatic and military - saw the occupation, and their role in it.

Unfortunately, that is also its great weakness. This account is hardly dispassionate and it is certainly not accurate. It represents a highly partisan attempt of that segment of the establishment to cover their backs and mitigate their own failures.

The narrative itself is confusing, as it darts about all over the place - to areas outside the British zone of control, and even to Afghanistan, and the attempts at characterisation verge on comedic. We have "ruggedly handsome" Brits, and the like ... and even a "wily" Arab.

And clearly, technical details are not Fairweather's strong point. He is a people person, and his knowledge of kit and the technology of war is slight ... indicated by a large number of unforced errors, and unfortunate phrasing. Since when did a Predator "hover" over battlefields, and when did a "Spectre" gunship have a 105mm cannon "slung beneath it".

Such errors, however, pale into insignificance compared with his uncritical acceptance of the myth that EFPs (which he manages to describe without naming - unhelpful when you are looking for them in the extremely poor index) were made in Iran, despite the very substantial evidence that al Amarah was a major bomb factory, with scores of incomplete EFPs being found there when the city was recovered.

Therein lies the essential weakness of the book. Fairweather is not a historian or a professional researcher. He is a journalist from the "he says, she says" school, and as long as he has talking heads to back up his assertions, that is sufficient. The idea of triangulation, or using documentary evidence, does not seem to occur to this writer, making his narrative a compilation of uncorroborated sources, the veracity of which we have no means of knowing.

Add to that some huge omissions - how can you not even mention Operation "Promise of Peace" in an account of the occupation, when this set the seal on the British occupation?

How can you not discuss the role of the MRAP in restoring tactical mobility to the battlefield, to which the British were too late in coming, relying to the last on the Snatch? And how can you not discuss the vital, game changing role of the UAV, and the scandal of the British Phoenix, a result of procurement failures stretching back decades?

All that said, however, Fairweather adds detail that isn't generally known, and if you already know enough about the campaign to be able to sort the wheat from the chaff, then the accurate detail he offers is illustrative and useful. But if you want a book to tell you what went on in British sector of Iraq during 2003-2009, this isn't it.

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No disaster before Christmas - by Richard...

You can see it winding down … no one has the heart to spark a major crisis before Christmas – people want to go home and forget about their troubles for a few days at least. Hence we getAmbrose, sketching out the latest fudge, but warning us that "the ultimate disaster could be even worse if it all goes wrong".

But that is not what matters. As long as the disaster is not before Christmas, that will do. After Christmas? Well, that's another matter. The sheer scale of the problems suggests that the current EUphoria might not even last until the New Year.

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You can see why - by Richard...

… the MSM doesn't touch Ashraf Camp. Far too complicated for their little brains. This piece by the CSM, though, is about the most detailed I've seen and, on past form, it is usually ahead of the game when it comes to comment on Iraq.

Generally though, the international press is waking up, to judge by a discernible increase in coverage. But, as so often on this affair, the British media is silent.