Britannia Radio

Doing it in style   Thursday 19 April 2012 The depth of Britain's drought has been underlined by new government figures showing Britain experienced its driest March in 59 years, weeps The Guardian. We are thus faithfully informed that less than half the usual amount of rain fell in most parts. Usually wet regions such as Wales received less rain than Spanish cities like Barcelona. But there really has to be someone up there, laughing at the pomposity of it all. The Daily Express is warning that "rain, hail and gales" are going to lash Britain. Actually, this paper is a bit late. It's beensiling it down here. Started yesterday morning and hasn't stopped since. Heavy rain has been affecting parts of New South Wales over the past 48 hours as well. It has put rivers in Sydney's north and west at risk of flooding. Heavens forfend, it is even threatening the prospects of a decisive result in the second Test between West Indies and Australia at Queen's Park Oval in Trinidad. And that's not even in Australia – see what having a Socialist government does. And just in case Londoners feel left out, this was the picture outside the Olympic Stadium yesterday (below), as the organisers tried to get some traction out of marking 100 days to the start of the games. That is probably the real story. God really does have a sense of humour and She's saving all the rain for the Olympics, just to make it as miserable as possible for all the people involved. It's that and making the hyperventilating media look as ridiculous as possible – which, these days, isn't very difficult. But at least, She's going to do it in style. COMMENT THREAD Richard North 19/04/2012

Judgement not improved   Wednesday 18 April 2012 James Slack in the Daily Wail, is acquainting us with the horrors of the EU Parliament, about all the money that is wasted and how, in the Brussels La-La-Land, "money is being wasted on vanity projects like never before". In particular, we are informed of the new "House Of European History", where the "colleagues" have arranged for "year zero" to start in 1946, airbrushing out the Second World War - all at a cost of something like £50 million in taxpayers' money. This sort of stuff, though, I was writing more than ten years ago, with direct personal experience from working in the institution. Booker has done similar and many more have followed in our wake. And while there is every sense in a newspaper continually highlighting this extravagant waste and abuse of office, it only really has any great value if it is part of a campaign to get something done about it. But, as we are having continually to point out, the Wail's policy on the EU is to oppose withdrawal. Yet the very things it complains of are an integral part of the EU. They are not subject to negotiation. You either accept them, or you campaign to get out. The Wail's line, therefore, is the journalistic equivalent of masturbation – pleasurable but ultimately fruitless, a self-indulgence that gets nowhere and is best done in private. The worst of it though is the pretence. Projecting his own brand of faux outrage, Slack tells us that the EU commission has just demanded an increase in the EU budget of five percent a year for the next seven years. David Cameron, he tells us, "insists" that Britain will not pay. Then the Slack confides that: "we have heard tough talk over budgets from him before, only for him to cave in, as he did last year over the same issue when he agreed to a 2.9 per cent increase in the budget". This brings us to the punchline, with Slack suggesting that, "If he (Cameron) finds himself wobbling in negotiations, he should think of the unforgivable act of vanity that is the new House Of European History", adding, "If that doesn't convince him to stand his ground, then nothing will". What this drive-by commentator completely fails to appreciate, though, is that while Cameron has a veto over the multi-annual budget, he has no control over the annual budget. And it is from this source that the current expenditure is drawn. Perversely, the ultimate arbiter here is the EU parliament – only it can reject the annual budget. Nevertheless, Slack concludes that: "The EU is living in a state of near criminal delusion and waste. History will surely record that its bureaucrats fiddled while the euro dream burned".  Delusion, however, is shared by his newspaper, which believes that the waste can be stopped through negotiation. It should recognise the reality and either put up or support UK withdrawal from the EU. However, we have no cause to expect anything from this newspaper. It too is rather keen on airbrushing its own history, which goes back to the 30s when it was a strong supporter of appeasement. The paper's then proprietor, Lord Rothermere, supported Oswald Mosley and the National Union of Fascists . He personally wrote an article, "Hurrah for the Blackshirts", in January, 1934, in which he praised Mosley for his "sound, commonsense, Conservative doctrine". Rothermere also had several meetings with Adolf Hitler (pictured above) and argued that the Nazi leader desired peace. In one article written in March, 1934 he called for Hitler to be given back land in Africa that had been taken as a result of the Versailles Treaty. The judgement of the paper then was poor then and it has not much improved now. COMMENT THREAD Richard North 18/04/2012

It ain't over   Wednesday 18 April 2012 "In the 2010 general election, Nigel Farage lost to a candidate dressed as a dolphin". Such is the heading to a coruscating political "analysis" written by the child who believes VAT was brought in by Thatcher for "ideological reasons". However, the only thing significant about this juvenile effuvia - as one of our forum members points out- is that this is the sixth piece in the Failygraph attempting to denigrate UKIP, in as many days. And, from a recognisable UKIP name, we get the comment: "When UKIP are doing well, the Telegraph always comes up with this sort of stuff trying to discredit us. You'll be having an Alan Sked piece next week". True, when the Failygraph recruited him in 2004, he had some uncomfortable things to say about UKIP, and Farage. But, he also said: The Tories, meanwhile, have changed course on Europe. No to the euro, no to any constitution, but yes to the repatriation of the fishing policy. That is not yet a policy of withdrawal, admittedly, but one which would radically alter the position of a Britain still trading inside the EU. And they are in a position to achieve this. So, for now, this UKIP founder will vote Tory on June 10. And there lie some of the very best reasons why one should not vote for the Tories: "no to any constitution"; "yes to the repatriation of the fishing policy". Both promises have drained away into the sand. It used to be that it wasn't over until the fat lady sings. But these days, we have to redefine the political territory. As far as the Failygraph goes, it ain't over until the Alan Sked sneers. I wonder, though, whether even he would still vote for the Tories. And meanwhile, from the tenor of the comments, it looks as if Hannan has written his own political obituary. COMMENT: "JUDAS GOAT" THREAD Richard North 18/04/2012

Death of the blog   Wednesday 18 April 2012 One way to censor and control public opinion is simply to ban free expression. And The Guardian is leading the way, with its faux concern for free speech, while being one of the leading exponents of banning critics from its comments sections. To counter that, the most promising developments in recent times has been the independent political blog, breaking free from the hegemony of the politicians and the monopoly control of the MSM with its control over the means of distribution. That meant, of course, that the independents had to be dealt with. The Failygraph strategy was to set up its own blogs in competition, using the wider reach of its own platform to promote them, while ignoring anything outside the fold.  Independents thus become drowned in the "noise". If they could, TPTB would ban the independents, but they don't actually need to. There is yet another strategy available. They can marginalise and isolate. And the most effective way of doing that, turning serious people away from blogs, is simply to trivialise them. This is something which The Guardianhas managed, par excellence, with its latest offering in a series called "Battle for the internet". Featuring Poppy Dinsey, who set up her "What I Wore Today" blog on 1 January 2010, "sharing one photo of herself in a different outfit every day", this is precisely what any right-minded person would run a mile to avoid. It is the perception many people have of blogging, and the impression that serious bloggers are struggling to overcome. Here, though, the MSM does have the whip hand. It can and does promote the trivia, while studiously ignoring the high-quality end of the political blogosphere. And, in so doing, it conveys the impression that independent blogs are not for serious people. Another part of the assault comes from the corporates and marketeers, who see the blog collective as a way of reaching a mass audiences, giving "credibility" to their brands – but further trivialising the image of the blog. This is a battle the diminishing band of independent political bloggers simply cannot win – as long as they remain bloggers.  Thus, North Jr, having freed us from the tyranny of Blogger, declared recently, that this site is no longer a blog. It is a website. And so it is. Bye-bye blogging. Hello news reporting and comment. The blog is dead. Long live the website. COMMENT THREAD Richard North 18/04/2012

Return of the Judas goat   Wednesday 18 April 2012 Hannan opines that: The latest YouGov poll has my party on 32 per cent, and UKIP on 9 per cent. Together, that’s a Conservative government; separately, it’s a Labour government. It’s true, of course, that not every UKIP voter is a former Tory. Then again, the relevant question is not ‘how did they vote before?’ but ‘if UKIP didn’t exist, how would they vote today?’ It seems not unreasonable to assume that the majority would support the most convincingly Eurosceptic party on offer. (which is? ed.) So let’s ask the question. Are there any circumstances in which UKIP and the Conservatives might combine? UKIP leaders keep saying that they’d gladly fold themselves into the Conservative Party if it became our policy to leave the EU, but such an eventuality seems unlikely, at least in the short term. It’s true that most Conservative voters would withdraw from the EU tomorrow. So would most party members. And so, I suspect, would most Tory MPs in a secret ballot. That, though, is not party policy. Fair enough. David Cameron made his views perfectly clear when he sought the leadership... This being Daniel "I voted for David Cameron, and would do so again" Hannan. As the Yanks say... Do the math.