News and Comment (01/01/2003 - 31/12/2003)


Index to News and Comment


A Warning from Daniel Hannan

As stated in these pages last week the dictators of the EU have not given up on their plans to force through the EU constitution. In an article In Brussels, they don't have a Plan B in today's Sunday Telegraph Danial Hannan MEP (and CIB member) details the dangers that confront us:

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First he summarises the situation as seen by the somewhat ill informed British media

"Having been slow to wake up to the danger of the Euro-constitution, we have been quick to dismiss it. Over the past week, the eurosceptic British Press - with the exception of The Telegraph - has let out a long, collective sigh of relief. The Poles, say commentators, have saved us.

Like their gallant forebears hurtling horse-borne at the Panzers, they have shown a courage that shames our own leaders. Tony Blair was ready to sign away our birthright, but his Polish counterpart, Leszek Miller, had a stiffer spine (literally as well as figuratively: he attended the summit in a body-brace following a helicopter accident). Thanks to the stubbornness of this ex-apparatchik, the constitution has failed, and our independence is secure, said the media".

Then he recalls similar situations in the past

"We have seen similar headlines before. When the Danes voted No to Maastricht, when the ERM broke apart, when Ireland rejected Nice and on a dozen other occasions, we have been told that the European Union has suffered a terrible setback, and that its leaders will have to go back to the drawing board.

In fact, they always respond in the same way: by carrying on until they bludgeon their way through. There is no Plan B in Brussels. Whenever Plan A is rejected, it is simply resubmitted over and over again until it wins acceptance".

Finally he warns of the likely outcome of this latest so called setback for the EU

"Something similar will happen with the constitution. It was never likely that the document would go through nem con at the first attempt. Indeed, I wrote here in June that the IGC would not conclude before the middle of next year. Already, the Irish, who take over the EU presidency, are preparing to do their bit. Their foreign minister, Brian Cowen, says he detects 'a mood of cautious optimism'. His French counterpart, Dominique de Villepin, told Liberation on Thursday: 'We want to have a constitution for all European states before the end of 2004'.

And why not? Every state, after all, supports the constitution's main provisions: the supremacy of Brussels law, the establishment of a European criminal justice system, the creation of an EU foreign minister and so on. As Mr Blair told Parliament on his return, the heads of government had agreed on most of what he termed - in his characteristically precise way "the stuff". The summit broke down only because Poland, and to a lesser extent Spain, wanted to cling on to their inflated voting rights.

Already, there are attempts to wear these two nations down. Immediately after the summit, the main contributors to the EU budget demanded a cap on Brussels spending - something far more alarming in Warsaw and Madrid than an abstruse row about voting weights.

By linking these two issues, whether overtly or implicitly, European diplomats hope to find a way of winning over the recalcitrants. In any case, the Spanish leader, Jose Maria Aznar, is retiring in March. If a deal can be reached on voting weights, the constitution will be signed with virtually no discussion of its other provisions.

The concentration on this one row has allowed Mr Blair to get away almost unchallenged with his claim that he secured Britain's "red lines": taxation and foreign affairs. He is not the first prime minister to indulge in such legerdemain. It is a well-worn British tactic: pick one or two fights that you are confident of winning, focus exclusively on them, and hope that no one notices what you are conceding in other areas.

Yet, even in his own terms, Mr Blair has failed. His defence of fiscal sovereignty is 30 years too late: the EU already has a say over VAT, corporate taxation, permissible deficits and how to define tax evasion.

As for foreign affairs, it is worth quoting exactly what Mr Blair has agreed to: "The Union's competence in matters of common foreign and security policy shall cover all areas of foreign policy and all questions relating to the Union's security. Member states shall actively and unreservedly support the Union's common foreign and security policy in a spirit of loyalty and mutual solidarity." If this is a red line, I hate to think of what would constitute a concession.

The constitution will be back, make no mistake - conceivably as early as March. Let us not be caught off guard a second time".

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We have been warned - those who run the EU will never give up trying to create a single European state unless and until the whole organisation is dismantled

21/12/2003


Factsheets on the European Constitution

CIB is producing factsheets on the European Constitution as a source of information to those who desire to know the truth

Click here for notes on the draft while click here to read the alternative constitution produced by those members of the Convention who refused to sign up for the Brussels plan

If anyone claims there is no alternative to the pseudo fascist constitution on offer from the dictators of Brussels just refer them to these factsheets

21/12/2003


Don't believe a word of it

A great many political commentators are claiming that the failure of the talks on the EU constitution have meant that the whole issue has been kicked into the long grass for at least several years but anyone who believes this is either very gullible or wishes to lull Eurorealists into a false sense of security.

However, the Irish Foreign Minister has let the cat out of the bag by his statements yesterday in which he first stated that he believed the constitution could be approved before Ireland's presidency ends on June 30th and secondly warned that no agreement had been reached on the much vaunted "red line" issues which Mr Blair claimed had been settled.

These statements by the Irish Foreign Minister shows clearly that the European elites will not be deflected from their course by their failure to agree in Brussels. They have been working towards a single European state for decades and are not going to abandon their ambitions because of a temporary set back.

Mr Cowen's confirmation that the British "red line" issues had not been agreed illustrates that we have had no more than a stay of execution. Indeed, once the Poles and Spanish have been bullied into acquiescing to the new voting weights, it will be certain that Mr Blair would not then prevent agreement if he were unable to win the concessions he claims to desire.

The pressure for a binding referendum on this most important of matters must be maintained if our democratic rights are not to be surrendered by self interested politicians reaching a shabby backroom deal.

19/12/2003


Argument with a bureaucrat

The author of these pages has been conducting an argument with a bureaucrat, currently seconded to Brussels, via the pages of our union magazine. Eurorealists may be interested to see details as it illustrates how basic facts are ignored by apologists for the European Union:

Original letter, appearing in response to ludicrous assertions by Europhiles:

Dear Sir,

Those correspondents who responded to the previous month's letters on the European Union are deceiving themselves as to the reality of democratic control exercised within that organisation.

When I joined the Home Civil Service in the early 1960s I was proud to become part of what I saw as an efficient body, untainted by political bias, which worked impartially to implement the policies of the elected representatives of the British people. We are all sadly aware of the extent to which politicisation has since undermined that position but this is as nothing compared to the situation in the EU.

In the absence of a European identity, possessing constituencies numbering in the hundreds of thousands and apparently motivated more by their expense accounts than a concern for good government, the MEPs are nothing more than passengers on a gravy train designed to present the illusion, not the substance of a democratic body. That they may only speak for a maximum of ninety seconds on subjects placed before them by the European Commission makes a complete mockery of the idea that the latter are held accountable in any real way to elected representatives.

The argument that the Council of Ministers provides a safeguard is ludicrous, given that thousands of directives and regulations pour out of the EC every year. These directives are given the force of law in the UK, but how many are scrutinised by UK ministers as, were they to attempt to do so, they would not have time for any other activity.

Experience shows us that true democratic accountability is the only protection against institutionalised corruption and the history of the EU, where endemic fraud has prevented the Court of Auditors from approving the accounts year after year, proves that it is an organisation run without concern for democratic values.

Yours faithfully,

Response from a British bureaucrat, currently seconded to Brussels:

I apologise for intruding in your pages again on the subject of the EU but Mr Bullen's latest letter cannot be left unanswered. Unable to deny the fact that UK voters can change their representatives, he resorts to knockabout and caricature.

He implies that the Council of Ministers, in its capacity as a law-making body, seldom scrutinises the legislation that it enacts. I challenge him to name one UK minister who is guilty of such dereliction of duty. Even if it were true, and it isn't, the electorate has the right both to ask its politicians why they ignored their responsibilities and to vote them out of office if dissatisfied with either the volume or the content of the laws that they have approved.

Mr Bullen refers to "thousands" of directives "pouring out" every year and asks how many are scrutinised by UK ministers. In fact, between them, either the Council, or the Council and Parliament acting as co-legislators, or the Commission issue about 100 Directives each year. In 1998 there were 101; 1999-105; 2000 - 84; 2001 - 114; 2002 - 100. All of these are scrutinised, line by line, by UK civil servants, working in their departments and sometimes attending meetings in Brussels, until they are satisfied that the measure should be recommended to their minister or blocked. Just as they do with domestic legislation, those civil servants consult interested parties on the points of detail and whether the measure is needed at all. Other community legislation undergoes the same process. If he considers the laws to be so bad, Mr Bullen must have a very low opinion of our FDA colleagues who examine them before advising the UK minister. The facts simply do not support the allegation, in his July letter, that EU laws are the result of "bureaucratic diktat" and free of any democratic accountability.

If the calibre of MEPs (or ministers) is as low as he asserts, this might be the fault of the electorate, by not voting when given the opportunity. Perhaps we get the politicians we deserve. The fact is, unlike one of the UK's legislative chambers, they are elected and we are entitled to remove them if we think that they are just "passengers on a gravy train". If there is a lack of democratic control, as Mr Bullen asserts, it is surely caused by three out of four people note exercising their right to vote. It is unarguably the case that the electorate has the power to change its representatives, both in the European Parliament and in the Council of Ministers,. should it so wish.

That there is fraud on the EU budget is undeniable. However, over 90% of the budget is allocated to and managed by the Member States and not the Commission. The European Institutions are far from being perfect but any debate about them should be based on facts rather than comic fiction.

Letter in response to the Eurocrat:

Dear Sir,

I hope that I may be permitted space to answer the attack made upon me by Bernard Duffy concerning the lack of democracy within the European Union, a subject which, contrary to his implications, I do not regard in a spirit of levity, but rather as a matter of the utmost seriousness.

Mr Duffy challenges me over the Council of Ministers, secure in the knowledge that their deliberations are conducted in secret, and that Qualified Majority Voting makes it impossible to confirm what positions were taken. Unfortunately for him however, a very senior ex Cabinet Minister, who now recognizes the EU for what it is, informed a public meeting that, when he attended, the vast majority of decisions were left to the unelected officials, and that he read a newspaper until called upon to sign that placed in front of him.

As far as community legal instruments are concerned Mr Duffy seeks to avoid the issue by referring only to directives when the vast majority of these are regulations which the EU's own website says "are binding in their entirety and directly applicable in all member states". On the 13th January 2003 Baroness Symons, in response to a question from Lord Stoddart of Swindon confirmed that the number of directly applicable regulations gaining the force of law in the UK for the period 1973 to 2001 was 100,299, an average of over 3,400 every year. Does Mr Duffy expect us to believe that our elected representatives scrutinised these? Those Eastern European nations joining the expanded EU are confronted with 25,000 pages of such regulations which they must accept without demur.

That, as Mr Duffy claims, the majority of the electorate refuse to vote in European elections is a sign of their recognition that the European Parliament is merely a fig-leaf for democracy. Its vast, unwieldy constituencies and the limitations on the powers of the members to initiate legislation, or even to speak in debates, makes it no more than the tool of the bureaucrats. Even were it otherwise the fact remains that were all British MEPs to oppose a measure they could easily be out voted by the rest, given that in the expanded EU we will have only 78 votes out of over 700, while our own parliament has now yielded so much power that, as in the case of the fishing protection measures, Britain was forced to pay £100 million to Spanish fishermen, even though the vast majority of British politicians and British people supported the action initially taken by Westminster.

If, as Mr Duffy claims, corruption is mainly found in the member states, how is it that the European Commission was forced to resign amid accusations of nepotism and venal behaviour? Clearly Mr Duffy is a true acolyte of Jean Monnet who openly admitted that the single European state could only be built by deceiving the mass of the people as to the reality.

Yours faithfully,

The above just proves that there are none so blind as those who will not see

11/12/2003


Lords' debate

The latest edition of the ACML's Britain contains a very important report on the debate in the House of Lords on Lord Pearson's attempt to obtain a full discussion on the real advantages / disadvantages to the UK of remaining within the EU. Everyone who cares about the truth should read the statements made by serious men, some of whom, like Lord Stoddart, have given a lifetime to public service.

The clock now stands at one minute to midnight and unless the British people wake up from their celebrity obsessed daze and realise that a self interested, incompetent, and frankly, not very intelligent, political class, is in the last stages of handing Britain over to a bunch of pseudo fascist bureaucrats in Brussels, then this country is finished.

Now is the time for the mass of the people to cry "Enough" and to demand that their so called representatives stop this betrayal, before the EU constitution turns the key in the lock and our democracy and independence finally disappears.

07/12/2003


One law for them...

The reports last weekend that France and Germany are contemplating full political union are given added weight by the manner in which those two countries have now conspired to break the rules they chose to impose on the European Union relating to the Stability and Growth Pact. It is not clear that the EU is destined to be no more than an appendage to a Franco-German state, with nothing to offer to other nations which elect to remain within it.

This outcome was foreseen by General De Gaulle in his Memoirs of Hope, published in 1970, when he said that Germany was ambitious for the European project to succeed in order that it could "acquire the overwhelming weight that will follow from its economic capacity and achieve a situation in which its quarrels concerning its boundaries will be assumed by a powerful coalition."

As stated earlier in these pages one can be in doubt as to what the General's reaction would be to the surrender of La Belle France to a union of Teuton and Gaul.

26/11/2003


Why did we bother?

The latest news from Europe makes one wonder why we bothered to fight twice alongside France to prevent Germany taking over the continent. It now appears that France and Germany are contemplating a full union of their two countries, which will inevitable lead to Germany ruling France, as the former is much the larger in population and economic strength. One of France's EU commissioners, Pascal Lamy, has proposed a Franco German parliament and a merging of the two countries armies, while Chirac actually represented the two countries at a summit Schroder had to leave early. One can only imagine that General de Gaulle is spinning in his grave as he sees his successors handing La Belle France over to the Teuton.

If this is what the French and Germans want then so be it, but it makes crystal clear that the EU has nothing to offer the British. Do we want to be a province of a European Empire ruled from Berlin for, if so, then we could have had that bargain in 1914 and saved ourselves much blood. The future of the EU is now openly revealed as to be nothing more than the appendage of a Franco-German state and the British people must force their political class to remove us from this vile organisation forthwith.

One French diplomat revealed the way the continentals think when he said The British must choose. Either they are with us, united in Europe where they should be, or they are destined to become united with America, something like an American state". It is obviously beyond him that a country may wish to remain independent of any large bloc, much as most nations in the world are, rather than joining some supranational organisation. Even if we did wish to become part of a larger state, which we do not, why should he believe that we "should be" in Europe, rather than in something composed of the English Speaking world with whom we share values not shared by the continentals.

The UK can manage very nicely as the independent nation state it has been for centuries thank you. We do not need others to take part in our internal affairs.

23/11/2003


None so blind

Once again we see apologists for the European Union refusing to face up to reality. For the ninth year in a row the European Court of Auditors has refused to sign the accounts, something that for any normal business would spell the end. However the Europhiles just ignore the evidence of continued incompetence and corruption and tell us that we must join their beloved Euro as soon as possible

The Prime Minister, when addressing the CBI gave a 'stern warning' that the EU fixation with regulation and harmonisation has to end. As he has no power to achieve this and as he would rather be shot than draw the logical conclusions about British membership one can be sure that in fact nothing will change.

The CBI itself sticks to its lunatic view that Britain must remain in the EU but then complains about the burden of red tape which is an inevitable consquence of that membership. It just shows that businessmen are incapable of understanding politics.

However ordinary people also bear the responsibility for what has happened to this country since it joined the EU, as they too refuse to confront the reality. Michael Rivero sums up the situation thus:

Most people prefer to believe that their leaders are just and fair, even in the face of evidence to the contrary, because once a citizen acknowledges that the government under which they live is lying and corrupt, the citizen has to choose what he or she will do about it. To take action in the face of corrupt Government risks harm to life and loved ones. To choose to do nothing is to surrender one's self image of standing for principles. Most people do not have the courage to face that choice. Hence, most propaganda is not designed to fool the critical thinker, but only to give the moral cowards an excuse to think nothing at all.

He has also said:

To know the government is corrupt and to do nothing is to surrender one's self-image of having the courage it takes to stand up for freedom and justice. Many people do not want to know that about themselves, so they refuse to look too deeply at current events because they are afraid of what they may learn, not about the government, but about themselves. Most propaganda is not designed to survive careful analysis but only to give the majority of people an excuse not to look any further or think any more about what is going on.

The truth contained in these quotes is that unless the people stand up for themselves and their democratic rights, and soon, they will lose everything

18/11/2003


Tory Europhiles show their true colours

In the matter of Iain Duncan Smith those who are not members of the Conservative party may be better placed to perceive the reality of the situation. Is it not obvious that the most implacable enemies of Mr Duncan Smith are the minority within that party who still cling to a vision of the UK as part of a single European state and is it not equally clear that they take as their model for democracy the machinations of those who run the European Union. When the latter are confronted by the results of referendums not to their liking they insist the question is asked again and again until they achieve their aims. The federalists, having being thoroughly defeated by the party in the country when they sought to foist Kenneth Clarke upon them, have continued to plot and scheme in order to reverse that democratic decision. It is a myth that the divisions in the Conservative party over Europe have been laid to rest as it is impossible to reconcile those who wish to see Britain as an independent nation-state with those who desire her to be a province of the United States of Europe. Resolution can only be achieved by the withdrawal of this country from the EU or its total absorption within the USE, after which domestic political ambitions would be irrelevant.

31/10/2003


British Army to be run by EU

The German defence minister has stated that British armed forces should be put under the control of the European parliament, adding to the furore generated by the leaking of a Berlin defence ministry report that called for Britain's nuclear deterrent to be placed under European control.

This document speaks of only 'token' forces being left under the control of nation states.

Despite strong British objections the Germans say that such moves should not be held back by British 'taboos'.

So now it has come to this. The traitors, for only that word is strong enough, who wish to subsume the UK into a single European state, are now allied to those who wish to hand over control of British Armed Forces to that figleaf for democracy, the European Parliament, full of corrupt and selfish politicians who are content to serve in a so called parliament whose members are nothing more than time servers operating at the behest of the bureaucrats of the European Commission. Are our young people to risk their lives on the orders of this sorry bunch and is our ultimate defence to be in the hands of those who have themselves threatened our existence as a nation.

The British people should rise up and say that enough is enough and that we want no more of this organisation which puts the very existence of our ancient nation in peril.

31/10/2003


A 'prosaic' document

Jack Straw, the well known fantasist, has described the proposed EU constitution as a 'prosaic' document. For pure cynicism this stands alongside the German description of their treaty with Belgium, which they described as 'a piece of paper' and, not content with that, he further declared the issue as one that should be decided by Parliament. It seems not to occur to him that the democracy of this country belongs to the people, not to here today, gone tomorrow, politicians and that only the people have the right to change the fundamental manner by which they are governed.

Mr Straw achieved his hat-trick by also declaring that "the Eurosceptics' claims of the creation of a superstate were yesterday's fantasy, not tomorrow's reality".

As anyone who reads the oft repeated statements made by continental politicians is well aware, everywhere within the EU, except Britain, both the politicians and the people know that the aim of the European project is a single European state. Only the British political class continues to lie about the truth, because they know that the British people do not want to submerge their country within the United States of Europe.

All the arguments advanced by Europhiles against holding a referendum are due to one thing, and one thing only - They know they would lose it. The British people must demand to be heard and reject the dead hand of Brussels in favour of indepedence, democracy and freedom.

24/10/2003


More rubbish from the Europhiles

In a letter to The Times Dennis MacShane, the 'Minister for Europe', showed yet again how the British political class lives in a world of its own, totally divorced from reality

He seeks to respond to the recent advertisement by the Vote2004 campaign and his theme is that the British will be 'isolated in Europe' if we do not join the rest of the European lemmings in signing up to Valery Giscard d'Estaing's blueprint for a single European state. He has the effrontery to aver that opponents of the EU have 'endless funds' to pay for big campaigns, when the reality is that it is the EU which uses tens of millions of pounds of the people's money to pay for pro EU propaganda and to corrupt the democratic process throughout Europe by ensuring that every referendum or political campaign which threatens the plans of dictators of Brussels is distorted in favour of the latter.

His final sentence would have been worthy of Josef Goebbels himself, so totally does it invert the truth: "If we listened just to the people who have endless funds to pay for big advertising campaigns we would be at the exit door of the EU marginalised, isolated, and looking foolish in the eyes of our people and the entire world". In fact, if we were to leave the EU altogether, we would be able to protect our rightful place as one of the major powers, the fount of the English speaking world, the centre of the Commonwealth, a leading member of the G8, one of the few countries with effective nuclear weapons and a member of the UN security council, all of which are threatened by our membership of the misbegotten EU. If we were to be 'isolated' in Europe then so what: that Continent is doomed by demography and stupidity to sink further and further behind the US, China and India, as the latter develop and Europe decays. This very weekend the French bank Societe General has declared that France has followed Germany, Italy and the Netherlands into recession while Goldman Sachs reports that the Chinese economy will overtake France in 2004, the UK in 2005 and the USA within 40 years. They also state that India will become the third largest economy in the world, after China and the USA within thirty years. We can see that Europe meanwhile will lose population, financial strength and economic prosperity over the same period. Long live isolation from such a disaster area!

Mr MacShane also protests that EU does, and should take precedent over domestic law in order that British businessmen can be shielded from national protectionism. Perhaps he would like to explain why France, having blatantly and openly breached the Stability and Growth pact, is to be allowed to get away with it, and why it is necessary to replace British Common Law with the Napoleonic code of Corpus Juris merely in order to sell more widgets to consumers on the Continent.

He also makes what are plainly foolish statements, as when he says "No EU foreign minister is going to tell Jack Straw what British foreign policy should be". Of course he is for, once the EU constitution is in force, no individual nation will be able to gainsay the arrogant Commissioners of Brussels.

He claims that in 1997 and 2001 the people "had a clear choice between a pro-European Labour Party and the isolationist Conservatives". This is utter bilge as the 1997 Conservative party was dominated by Europhiles like Major, Clarke and Heseltine and in no way offered the people the opportunity to vote for freedom from Brussels and nor did the policy on offer from Hague in 2001 did not come near to giving us the chance. Even now the Tories refuse to grasp the nettle so how can anyone say the people have been offered the choice of voting to leave.

Mr MacShane is merely a fully paid up member of that political class which has its tickets on the EU gravy train and will say and do anything to keep them. It is purely, and only, personal self interest which motivates the Europhiles in this country, who care nothing for the democratic rights and prosperity of the British people. Indeed in the very same edition of The Times is a report that Michale Schreyer, the Budget Commissioner is proposing that there should be a new Continent wide VAT to raise money for use by the European Commission. The British government claims that it opposed such an idea but one can be sure that they will surrender on this, as on everything else, if it threatens their beloved EU.

If the British people do not wake up to the truth and reject the MacShanes of this world then they will see every democratic right they thought they possessed disappear like the morning dew.

12/10/2003


And these are benefits?

Perhaps the idiots who claim that membership of the EU is economically beneficial to the UK might like to explain the following:

It should be obvious even to the most blinkered that the so called economic benefits of the EU do not exist, except for the politicians and the bureaucrats who have their assured places on the corrupt gravy train

01/10/2003


A truly corrupt Empire

Yesterday's treatment of the buffoons of the European Parliament by the tyrants of the European Commission shows once and for all just where the true power lies in the EU and it isn't with elected representatives.

The MEPs were shown a copy of a report on the massive Eurostat scandal under the following conditions:

Of course no self respecting democrat would stand for such fascist conditions imposed by a corrupt and tyrannical regime of unelected bureaucrats, but then there are very few democrats in the European Parliament. Once they had been allowed to read the report they were to be granted the opportunity to question His Highness Romano Prodi for two hours today, but only behind closed doors. In addition, half of the MEPs, including most of those on the Budget Control Committee, who know most about the scandal, have been banned from asking His Highness any questions. This is the man who took office promising openness and transparency.

Many wish to see the Commissioner responsible for Eurostat, Pedro Solbes, and the Commissioner responsible for stamping out fraud, Neil Kinnock, resign but, as these two claim to be Socialists, the socialist group of MEPs are fighting to protect them.

This is the reality of the EU. A corrupt regime, led by pseudo fascists who will do anything to protect their personal tickets on the gravy train and give not two hoots for democracy or accountability. This scandal involves phantom bank accounts, inflated contracts given to favoured companies, a Eurostat slush fund and a special set of accounts produced to cover up what was going on.

The fate of those honest officers of the EU who have been sacked or forced into resignation for trying to reveal the truth about EU finances makes it obvious that the whole organisation is mired in institutional corruption, nepotism and is incapable of reform. We in Britain should leave this foul nest of vipers to destroy Continental Europe, if that is what those nations wish, and escape now. Otherwise we might as well hand our nation over to organised crime forthwith.

25/09/2003


Goodbye Latvia

Hard on the heels of Estonia the people of Latvia have also voted to jump from the frying pan of Moscow to the fire of Brussels. One does wonder why they bothered to struggle for independence and democracy if they value it so little.

For the British the eagerness with which these states without a history of democratic self government embrace Brussels merely serves to emphasize how foolish we are to risk political union with nations who do not share our deep seated love of freedom. Clearly we must rely upon ourselves and our recognition of the true nature of the EU and not hope that others in Europe will help us escape from the clutches of Prodi and his friends. The history of Europe illustrates how little the values we espouse are shared. The SS division raised in Latvia during the Second World War was known as one of the most brutal in the Waffen SS, the anti Semitism of nations like Poland is legendary and the merciless civil wars conducted in Eastern Europe show how the ancient prejudices are present, only just below the surface.

We have so much more in common with those across the oceans who share our beliefs, from the USA and the old dominions such as Canada through to democracies such as India and South Africa, that we are mad to turn our backs on them to join hands with those who prefer the certainties of rule by unelected elites.

25/09/2003


Well Done Sweden but Goodbye to Estonia

The Swedes have delivered a blow to the ambitions of the federalists by voting No to the Euro and we should all be grateful to them for their courage in the face of a united establishment. No doubt we shall soon hear calls for another referendum and the federalists will seek to use the EU constitution to impose the Euro on all members of the EU but, for the moment, we can rejoice that the right has prevailed.

On the other hand Estonia has voted for extinction. It seems that these small states of Eastern Europe just love their chains. First Moscow now Brussels.

15/09/2003


A Statement by the Campaign for an Independent Britain

Reports in the national media indicate that some who claim to be Eurosceptic are applauding the murder of Anna Lindh. The Campaign for an Independent Britain wishes to make clear that it abhors such sentiments and has only contempt for those who make them. That anyone could defend, and even acclaim, the cold blooded murder of a defenceless wife and mother is almost beyond belief and such people have no place in the Eurorealist movement.

We seek to defend democracy and regard those who would use the methods of the fascists to advance their cause as completely beyond the pale. No one should imagine that such people speak for any part of the Eurorealist movement and we are sure that all democrats will join the Swedish people in mourning the tragic death of their foreign minister.

14/09/2003


The truth that British politicians deny

For those still naive enough to believe British politicians here are a couple of quotes to explain away:

On 7th July 2003 Valery Giscard d'Estaing gave an interview to the Wall Street Journal in which he said "I knew the word federal was ill perceived by the British and a few others. I thought that it wasn't worth creating a negative commotion, which would prevent them supporting something that otherwise they would have supported. So I re-wrote the text replacing intentionally the word federal with the word communautaire, which means exactly the same thing".

On 29th May 2003 Valery Giscard d'Estaing, in a speech in Aachen, accepting the Charlemagne prize for European integration, said:

"Our constitution cannot be reduced to a mere treaty for co-operation between governments. Anyone who has not yet grasped this fact deserves to wear the dunce's cap...Our continent has seen successive attempts at unifying it: Caesar, Charlemagne and Napoleon, among others. The aim has been to unify it by force of arms, by the sword. We, for our part, seek to unify it by the pen. Will the pen succeed where the sword has finally failed?"

Clearly a bulk order of dunce's caps is called for, the first to be given to Peter Hain and Jack Straw.

10/09/2003


They must think we are mad

Once again that political joke Peter Hain is peddling the tired old line that the EU Constitution is either 'a tidying up exercise' or 'streamlining the EU' or, most ludicrously of all 'a triumph for Britain'.

The truth is very different as is expertly explained by Lord Stoddart, Chairman of CIB:

"This is a polar shift in the development of the EU as giant single state and the White Paper is the first step in bringing Britain into line with it.

The Government is talking about the 'red lined' areas which it claims won't be conceded including taxation, defence, foreign policy and extending majority voting. The problem is that we have heard all this before. It is a cover for swallowing the whole of the rest of the Constitution, while maintaining the pretence of holding on to an ever-decreasing list of key competences. Even if the Government succeeds in holding on to the 'red lined' areas, which is far from certain, these powers will be gradually eroded in other ways or taken away in the next EU treaty. Sadly, the Government's red lines tend to be drawn in very soluble ink.

However, the most disturbing aspects of the Government's policy on the Constitution are the speed with which it is being forced through and its refusal to allow the British people a referendum. What's the rush? The referendum is being refused because the Government knows it cannot be won and represents a double dishonesty, in forcing through an EU Constitution it knows full well is strongly opposed by the electorate. Whatever happened to democracy in this country?"

The political class must think we are all mad if they believe that they can continue to deny the truth, even when it is becoming obvious to all that Brussels is making its final bid to take over all effective government within this country. Hain proved how little he believes in democracy when he again refused the British people a referendum on the Constitution saying "Fewer than half of the 25 member or future member states are to hold referendums so we are in good company". It is instructive to know that Hain thinks that if half Europe is run by arrogant dictators then so should we be. Thank God he wasn't around in the 1940s.

09/09/2003


Stability Pact? What Stability Pact?

As reported in today's Times France has decided to ignore the fact that its budget deficit already exceeds the limits laid down by the Stability Pact and to cut income tax next year.

Now this is probably a sensible move by the French, as far as far as promoting growth in their economy is concerned, and in a sane world it would be a matter for them. However, as the Europhiles are so fond of telling us, France is part of Euroland and their beloved Euro is supposed to be supported by the agreement all those taking part in the single currency made not to allow their budget deficit to exceed 3% of Gross Domestic Product.

No Eurorealist will blame France for ignoring the mad rules of the Euro but will condemn all those who are so insistent that the UK should join this doomed experiment, whose basic rules do not even have the backing of one of the major countries which first promoted it.

With every day that passes, as Germany, Italy and soon France are in recession, the British people can see that to join this joke of a currency would be absolutely insane.

04/09/2003


Euroland in the red

The French economic downturn has pushed the entire economy of euroland into the red for the second quarter of the year.

The facts are:

This is the resounding success that the idiotic Europhiles in the UK are so anxious for us to join. There are none so blind...

21/08/2003


Debate in the Lords

The latest issue of "Independence" can now be accessed by clicking here. It contains a report on the debate in the House of Lords initiated by Lord Pearson relating to his bill European Union (Implications of Withdrawal) Bill. Eleven out of fourteen speakers suported the bill and their comments are well worth reading.

17/08/2003


Melt Down

As noted earlier the British political class care nothing for the destruction of Britain's economy as long as their own sinecures are protected. A report in today's Sunday Times concerning the manner in which the Ango-French company Alstom is cutting fifty per cent of its skilled British workforce and downgrading the status of the British operation from an exporting centre to a service centre, notes how, only last week, the company was refused a £30 million export credit which would have brought a £100 million contract to the Manchester operations.

So the politicians are prepared to pay £20 million per day, and rising, in membership fees to the EU, in order that they and their bureaucratic friends may continue to enjoy all the perks offered by life in Brussels, but they would not spend a day and a night of that money to save worker's jobs and exports in Britain.

Unless the British people wake up soon the means by which they live will disappear and the UK will become an underdeveloped, impoverished backwater of the European Empire. We truly face meltdown in our economy unless we start to put British jobs and prosperity before the empty rhetoric of the apologists for the EU, which is doing more damage to this country than did the Luftwaffe.

10/08/2003


ACML - 'Britain' - Summer 2003

The latest edition of Britain is now available here and is well worth reading as it contains some excellent pieces:

27/07/2003


What benefits?

We constantly hear politicians parroting the cry that the UK has benefited greatly from entry to the EU but these same useful idiots are unable to answer, except in the vaguest of terms, when one asks 'What benefits'. The CIB has just produced a leaflet revealing the truth about such claims and it is well worth quoting here:

* * * * * * * *

When the UK joined the EEC in 1973 it was a major industrial country:

We made almost everything we needed and exported to the rest of the world via our major ports like Glasgow and London, using our vast merchant fleet

We had reliable rail and postal services, and efficient and thriving fishing and farming industries

Then came the accused EEC with:

As a reult we had to:

And now?

* * * * * * * *

All the above must be perfectly clear to the political elite of this country but still they talk of BENEFITS. Why? Because the destruction of the shipyards, the steel works, the coal mines, the car factories, the fishing ports, the rural economy etc., etc. means nothing to the pampered inhabitants of the so called 'Westminster Village' and their creatures who live in Hampstead and other enclaves of the so called great and good, reading their Europhile newspapers, watching the Brussels Broadcasting Corporation and no doubt thinking they are such good little liberals

The result of this betrayal of the British people will be to turn Britain into a country where a privileged few enjoy a comfortable lifestyle while the great majority are impoverished, attempting to exist in a country where nothing works and there is no hope for the future. Even those jobs which were proclaimed as replacements for those lost in manufacturing, such as IT, are now being rapidly exported to the Third World, leaving nothing for our children, as we cannot live by taking in each other's washing! No wonder that those on the left like Arthur Scargill recognize the EU for what it is and join with those who base their opposition to the EU on other, but equally valid grounds, in calling for us to leave before it is too late.

26/07/2003


Abject Surrender

Today, Valery Giscard d'Estaing will present his draft Constitution to Silvio Berlusconi in Rome. This marks the close of the European Convention. However, Bruges Group Constitutional adviser Dr Lee Rotherham says it is "A catalogue of missed opportunities. Fishermen have been dumped; the CAP has been left to seed; EU whistleblowers stay out in the cold; national parliaments find a mere fig leaf to cover their impotence.

But when it comes to giving more roles to Brussels, it's Presidents a go-go and a blancmonge of new power structures, like the President of the Euro Group, and the powerful EU Foreign Minister our government negotiators have turned out like our tennis players - we're rooting for them, but it all goes horribly wrong for the Brits before the final showdown.

I count 38 more vetos lost. Add to the 19 from Amsterdam and 43 from Nice. That's a running total of around 100 vetos lost since Labour came to power. Is Tony Blair aiming to become the 100 veto man before he retires - the man who will have handed over one hundred ways to say no?"

Dr Rotherham is quite right - at this rate the complete takeover of the UK by Brussels will happen before the next general election

17/07/2003


What a farce

Once again, as we listen to the propaganda being pumped out by the government, we are enduring the farce of those in favour of Britain joining the single currency pretending that the issue is economic, when in fact it is a purely political matter.

In so doing, these people are merely following the course laid down by Jean Monnet, the founding father of the EU, who knew only too well that the peoples of Europe would not agree to the suppression of their individual nations, were it clear to them that that was indeed the aim. In a statement made decades ago he stated "Europe's nations should be guided towards the superstate without their people understanding what is happening. This can accomplished by successive steps, each disguised as having an economic purpose, but which will eventually and irreversibly lead to federation".

Rarely can such a cynical ploy have been admitted so openly, and it is to the eternal discredit of our political class that they have chosen to pursue it so avidly.

When looking at the detail of Gordon Brown's statement one can see that even his most optimistic projections relating to joining the single currency would benefit the UK by a mere £3 billion per annum. However, were we to withdraw from the EU, we would, at a stroke, save the approximately £10 billion per year we pay in membership fees, plus gaining immeasurably from reasserting our control over our fishing grounds, farming industry and fiscal policies.

The reactions to the Chancellor's statement, both here and from within the EU, illustrate how false is the position in which we all find ourselves. It would be much more honest, and a relief to everyone involved, if it were to be admitted that the marriage of the UK and the EU is a complete mismatch and that an amicable divorce is the only solution. We should then be able to pursue what Churchill called our different destiny while they would be able to create their single European state unhindered by British carping.

Our future relations with the Continent would be far better if we deal with each other as friends, rather than pretending that we are lovers. No matter what Gordon Brown and Tony Blair may assert about Britain and the European Union they will never be able to convince the people that we are, or ever will be, prepared to give up our freedom for dubious, indeed illusionary, economic benefits.

11/06/2003


Goodbye Poland

On Monday of this week, when reporting the result of the Polish referendum on entry to the EU, The Times stated "Poland voted overwhelmingly in favour of entering the European Union in an historic turning point for a country that has for centuries been invaded or occupied by its neighbours".

One must wonder how on earth the writer thought that this was a turning point for, in the words of John of Gaunt, Poland has "made a conquest of itself". This time the Poles themselves have, by their own free will, chosen to throw away their country's independence and placed themselves in the grip of the bureaucratic dictatorship centred in Brussels.

It has often been said that the Poles have shown themselves to be their own worst enemy and one does not need to be much of a prophet to know that in a few years that "overwhelming" majority will be crying out for release from the clutches of the EU. However, it is now too late so, once again, Poland will vanish as a sovereign nation, only to reemerge when the single European state breaks up, as it inevitably will. Until that time it is "Goodbye Poland"

11/06/2003


The Mad Hatter

In his speech to the Polish people yesterday Mr Blair kindly presented us with a problem to solve:

If one considers the political position of two British citizens, let us call them Citizen A and Citizen B, which of them is the patriot and which the traitor:

Citizen A believes that Britain should cease to be an independent nation and instead become a province of a single European state. He feels that the democratic system evolved in these island over centuries, whereby the people enjoyed sovereignty via their freely elected representatives should be replaced by the rule of unelected bankers and bureaucrats, presided over, though not controlled by a political elite whose propensity to corruption is immense. He is happy that all decisons about British economic policy should be taken by Brussels and that our Common Law, where those accused have the right to a trial by jury, a presumption of innocence, no double jeopardy and habeas corpus should be disposed of and the Napoleonic system of Corpus Juris, which offers none of these safeguards should be put in its place. He is also quite happy that foreign police should be allowed to operate within Britain and be immune from any sort of prosecution for their actions, however unacceptable. He is anxious to give up the British seat on the UN Security Council, to see the end of NATO and to allow British servicemen to die in wars fought on behalf of the EU.

Citizen B on the other hand thinks that Britain should remain a free, independent and democratic country where bureaucrats do what they are told by accountable representatives of the people and bankers are not allowed to decide economic policy. He wants the legal system we have been evolving since the days of Henry III to continue and the police to be held liable if they overstep their authority. He believes in the need for this country to run its own foreign policy, any decisions as to where troops are to be used to be in the hands of the British Government alone. He recognizes that power without accountability leads to massive abuses and is concerned that the British fishing, farming and manufacturing industries should be rescued from the disasters visited upon them by membership of the EU. He also knows that the corrupt influence of the EU is already poisoning the British body politic but that this can be reversed once the country withdraws from the organisation.

Given this choice Mr Blair announces that of course it is Citizen A who is the patriot, while Citizen B clearly is the traitor.

What can one conclude from this? Perhaps Mr Blair has been moonlighting as a Victorian milliner and has now taken his rightful place at the Mad Hatter's tea party, or perhaps all that expensive public school education and time at Oxford was wasted on someone who is not very bright.

In reality, as Mr Blair is clearly neither clinically mad, nor a moron, he makes these statements because he knows that the game is up and that, at last, the ordinary British people has realised what has been done in their name by the political class since the 1960s. He is aware that he cannot possibly win any fair referendum on either the Euro or the EU constitution so is resorting to the policy of O'Brian in 1984 - 'the truth is what the party says it is'.

When Mr Blair holds up two fingers to the British people and tells them that it is actually five he should be treated as the representative of the self interested political class that he is and not as one deserving support in his crusade to subsume this nation in the single European state.

31/05/2003


The EU constitution - Europhile lies

The reactions to the draft EU constitution have made clear, once and for all, just how many mendacious and self serving careerists now infect our body politic. We have heard politician after politician state, with a straight face, that black is white and that, even if it's not, it doesn't matter anyway.

Even without going into every line of the document one can see that it is intended to extinguish nation states within the EU and that, if implemented, it will create a single European state, run by bureaucracy, not democracy, policed by a police force that will be immune from prosecution and operating under laws that would bring a smile to the face of those well known democrats Napoleon, Hitler and Stalin.

The following are the areas in which EU jurisdiction is specified:

This is the culmination of a process that was always intended to destroy the independence of nations such as Britain but about which our political class has lied and lied and lied again. How many of those who voted "Yes" in the 1975 referendum would have done so had they appreciated just what it was that was being planned?

It is instructive to look at a few of the articles included:

The effect of these articles would be to reduce the constituent member states' autonomy to much less than that enjoyed by the individual states of the USA.

Under further provisions the EU will be provided with:

Never forget that when one speaks of "the EU" one is not speaking of some all seeing, all wise oracle but an organisation which is undemocratic and deeply corrupt. We shall be ruled by a European political class that is so deeply immersed in sleaze that it makes ours look clean and our economy will be run in the interest of bankers and big business, not in the interests of the people

The whole document can be read by clicking here, provided you have an Adobe reader.

29/05/2003


Five minutes to Midnight

With the publication of the draft of the EU Constitution the stark truth of all that the Eurorealist movement has said is plain for all to see, except those who, for their own selfish reasons, remain wilfully blind. If this goes through then it means the end of a thousand years of British independence and the betrayal of all those generations who fought to create and preserve our democracy.

In The Times William Rees-Mogg makes the point that John Locke stated, apropos the American Constitution, that no constitution is valid without the consent of the people. As Rees-Mogg says The British people want "to be preserved one entire, free, independent, society, to be governed by its own laws", that this will no longer be the case if our political class sign up to the proposals, and that therefore the whole people must be given the choice by referendum.

However it is asking too much that our politicians should accept this duty. Kinnock, that supreme example of failure to be elected at home being translated into power via the EU, stated on the TV only last weekend that, while the people of Hartlepool should have had a referendum on an elected mayor, the people of Britain should not have one on the ending of their nation.

That the Government should pretend to believe that to remove the style of 'federal', while retaining the substance of federalism, is a victory speaks volumes, as this constitution by any other name would smell as rank.

Orwell should be living at this hour as New Labour achieves ever closer union with NewSpeak. It can now only be a matter of time before the Ministry of Defence is renamed the Ministry of Peace and HM Prisons become Freedom Hotels.

Were this constitution to be ratified by the UK then the lock would have turned in the prison door and Britain will cease to exist. It is nearly midnight and we must fight this final betrayal by the political class or we shall never see the dawn as a democracy again.

27/05/2003


European attitudes to the UK

The Eurovision song contest is a crass and embarrassing product of popular culture, only made partially tolerable by the sardonic commentary from Terry Wogan. However it is generally recognized that it is politics, rather than any perceived artistic merit, which decides the voting, even more so now that many votes are based on telephone polls within the countries concerned. We witness the Scandinavians voting for each, the Eastern Europeans acting as a bloc and the old alliances of Iberia or central Europe at work.

The result of the competition is of no importance whatsoever, except to sad types who think pop music has some significance, but last night's competition spoke volumes about the attitude of Europeans to the UK. However poor the UK entry it was not deserving of receiving absolutely no votes when laughable entries from countries such as Austria did well. The treatment of the UK was a deliberate insult from those who resent the Anglo Saxon islanders and think that we are not really part of Europe. The question is "Should we care?"

The answer is "No, not at all" as those who see us as outsiders are absolutely right. Our history and our destiny binds us to the English speaking world, the Commonwealth and to those around the world with whom we have always enjoyed better relations than those which we have endured with those on the Continent of Europe.

We have no need of these inward looking, decaying nations, many of which have no understanding of democracy, often being thoroughly infected with anti Semitism, or, as in Eastern Europe, consumed with hatred for each other.

Far from taking offence we should just take note that saving nations from the ambitions of Gaul or Teuton gains us nothing, withdraw from the EU, and leave them all to stew in an organisation which is doomed both demographically and economically. Our true friends are to be found outside Europe so we should maintain correct relations with the latter, trade with them as we, and they, wish, but remove their sticky fingers from our affairs. Unfortunately the political class will not relinquish their tickets to the EU gravy train so easily and one suspects that we have much further to fall before the worm finally turns and the inevitable parting of the ways takes place. It would be better for all nations concerned if the break takes place sooner rather than later but take place it will.

25/05/2003


Latest "Independence"

The Spring 2003 issue of "Independence" is now on the website. It is well worth reading, not least because of the excellent article by Tony Scholefield, which shows clearly how the UK would benefit by withdrawing from the EU.

24/05/2003


The lies of politicians exposed yet again

Bernard Connolly, the author of The Rotten Heart of Europe, has yet another excellent letter in The Times today, which is worth quoting in full:

Sir,

Mr Peter Hain, who represents the Government on the Convention on the Future of Europe, has been attempting to play down the enormous importance of the so called EU constitution now being framed by the convention.

It is both ironic and disturbing that his comments come so soon after the release by the Public Records Office of foreign Office documents from June 1971. These documents briefed the Foreign Secretary of the day, Sir Alec Douglas-Home, and the chief negotiator with the EC, Mr Geoffrey Ripon, that entry into the European Communities would mean a withering away of democracy, the loss of Parliament's power and the abandonment of national control over defence, foreign policy and the economy.

The Foreign Office forecast that the final abandonment of "last resort" powers to act in the national interest would come at the beginning of the 21st century. yet the White paper submitted by the heath Government notoriously stated that entry would not entail any loss of "essential sovereignty".

Ten years earlier, the Macmillan Government had assured the country that EC entry had purely economic implications. It did so despite the existence of a letter from the Lord Chancellor, lord Kilmuir, advising Mr Edward Heath, who was then chief EC negotiator, that entry would have extremely far-reaching implications for parliamentary sovereignty and for the primacy of the country's courts.

Yours faithfully

From the above we can see that the British people had been deceived and lied to by their politicians for decades about the reality of the European project. Many still regard Macmillan as a clever and successful PM but he was in reality an arrogant elitist who was quite prepared to hand this country over to foreign domination because he and his effete class had lost confidence in their abilities and were not prepared to believe that the British people could run their affairs without their so called wise guidance. As for Heath, he is beyond parody and beyond the Pale. Never forget that, while we now face the Labour and Liberal Democrats determination to bow the knee to Brussels, it was these Tory "Grandees" who began the process. No wonder they have lost the support of their natural constituency.

Always remember that when these deceitful politicians were seeking to destroy our right to rule ourselves they were also betraying those in the Commonwealth who sprang to our side in both World Wars. One wonders if Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and India, among others, would have sent their people to die for the mother country had they know that a few decades later she would turn into a harlot who smiled upon those with whom she had fought so many wars over so many centuries. We have been disgraced and shamed by the political class who have acted in their own selfish interest to destroy so much that made us proud to be British.

23/05/2003


Hypocrites

As the truth of everything the Eurorealist movement has been saying about the EU for years is beginning to penetrate the consciousness of the mainstream media it would be instructive to see what was written about these matters only eight short years ago:

As these predictions have either come true, or are in the process of doing so, would one not think that the author of these words would now be preening himself and saying to all and sundry "I told you so"?

Unfortunately you would be very wrong as the blushing prophet was none other than Peter Hain, who now, from his exalted position as Welsh Secretary, chooses to berate those who still believe in the threat he so ably exposed, with the words, apropos the proposed EU constitution, "Those campaigning for a referendum might as well put away their placards and stop wasting their money, because we are not going to do it".

Nothing has changed about the EU except Mr Hain's perception of it, and that has changed because he is now a fully paid up member of the EU elite, with his nose in the trough and his ticket for the EU gravy train once his time at Westminster is up.

This is the man who once led anti apartheid campaigns with the slogan 'one man - one vote' but now he would deny the British people the right to decide upon the future of their nation because he is so concerned to protect his own self interest. What a hypocrite!

Let no one be in any doubt - the pro EU politicians are against a referendum for the simple reason that they know that they have been rumbled and that they would lose it hands down. The British people have at last woken up to what is going on and want none of it.

We often talk of politicians as if they were all immoral chancers, without principles, and this is clearly unfair. In the days when Churchill and Attlee faced each other across the dispatch box they, and a large majority of those sitting behind them, really believed in political principles and in the interests of the British people. How different it is now for, with a few honourable exceptions on both sides of the House, our politicians are careerists who care only for their own advancement and would sell this country down the river if it meant they could enjoy the benefits of office, preferably without the tiresome need to be accountable to the electorate, whose interests and opinions they hold in contempt.

One can only hope that the tide of outrage in the media produced by Hain's blatant arrogance will help sweep people like him from any sort of power in this country.

20/05/2003


Referendum thoughts

The last couple of weeks has seen a barrage of letters, articles and appearances on the broadcasting media, by virtually every leading member of the pro Euro fraternity. Clearly they are running scared that a British referendum on their beloved single currency is not going to happen, possibly for years.

In The Times an article by Chris Patten was nothing more than special pleading by a member of that group of politicians who, having been rejected by the electorate at home, have found power without the need for accountability in the halls of the European Union.

The arguments he put forward have been constantly debunked, yet are continually resurrected by the political class to obfuscate the truth about the European project. He compared membership of the EU with that of NATO but the latter does not detract from the sovereign rights of a nation, which can, as did France, withdraw if it so wishes, but existence as a province of the single European state would destroy any claim that a nation still possessed the right to govern itself.

He claimed that the Eurorealist movement had been silent about the recent rise in the value of the Euro, but we have never regarded the level of the exchange rate as an argument for, or against, rather concentrating on the folly of transferring the levers of fiscal control from elected representatives to bankers in Frankfurt.

Patten made ridiculous assertions about the relevant strengths of the economies within the EU, totally ignoring the desperate straights to which the German are being reduced by their inability to set sensible interest rates for themselves. Later in the week The Times business section reported on the fact that Italy, Germany and the Netherlands were all now in recession and that Euroland as a whole was on the verge of a slump, while the British economy is expected to enjoy a period of increasing growth.

Of course, what Patten refuses to acknowledge is that the real reason Europhiles wish to join the single currency is in order to ensure that the UK becomes so deeply embedded within the single European state that we shall be unable to escape, thus handing permanent power to an unaccountable political elite. His motives are as suffused with self interest as would be the support by one of Stalin's Commissars for the Politburo or by Robespierre for the Committee of Public Safety.

The serious anti Euro commentator Anatole Kaletsky also wrote an article for The Times but unfortunately was too sanguine about the results of a referendum on the single currency. Obviously, if a Eurorealist party were to hold the Euro referendum it could insist on a majority of the actual electorate voting 'Yes' on the question "Do you support abolishing the pound and adopting the European Single Currency (the Euro)" or something very like it. If however a Europhile party runs the referendum it could say a simple majority of those voting would be enough and the question could be something like "Should a majority of your elected representatives in the House of Commons decide that it was in the interests of the United Kingdom to become part of the European single currency would you oppose such a move".

If that happened the 'No' campaign would have to change its name to the 'Yes' campaign and how does one imagine the vast armies of apolitical citizens, who are encouraged to regard matters concerning the EU as arcane irrelevancies to their lives, would react to such a question. Most would not bother to vote and of those that did a great many might vote the wrong way by accident, thus transforming an anti EU majority into a minority by default.

The Europhile weasels who controlled the country would also claim that it was more in the spirit of parliamentary democracy to allow our honourable members to decide and many would believe that they should support such a concept. Once the matter was in the hands of the MPs we can have no doubt about the result.

Rather our strength is that, barring a complete betrayal of previous promises, the Government cannot join the Euro without first winning a referendum. Therefore, instead of pushing for it to be held, as many in the Eurorealist movement are doing, we should try to ensure that it is delayed for, without it we don't join, and the passage of time increases the chance of the entire single currency project collapsing because of its own internal contradictions.

On the other hand there is no referendum barrier to the adoption of the proposed EU constitution, a fact Tony Blair is intent on using to embroil us in the mess being cooked up by the federalists to end all hope of escape from the United States of Europe. That we are to be denied a referendum on the EU constitution is an affront to democracy. Members of Parliament do not own our political system, being merely players who enjoy their little hour and then leave the stage, but now they propose to hand away that which is not theirs, without even consulting the true owners, the British people.

If the Constitution is accepted by this country then it would change the whole nature of the EU, making it a legal personality, with common citizenship and establishing a 'duty of loyal co-operation' with Brussels. Under the proposals being considered we would lose, inter alia, our seat on the UN Security Council, our individual membership of NATO, our right to control of our foreign policy, police force and courts and even our right to determine the levels of taxation we are expected to pay.

If Parliament does indeed accept this constitution without any reference to the electorate then they will be committing the ultimate act of betrayal and will also thereby have rendered themselves irrelevant, as all effective power will pass to Brussels and Westminster will have no role in the future.

Much of the media appear to regard the question of the Euro referendum as some sort of macho contest between Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, whereas in reality, when the Lords Blair and Brown have long departed the scene, the results of these deliberations will still be shaping the lives of the inhabitants of these islands. A mature democracy should be debating the real issues about sovereignty and the continued existence of Britain as a nation state, rather than obsessing over which particular politician happens to occupy 10 Downing Street.

That platform for the Europhile chattering classes, the BBC, continues to give air time to those whose contempt for the British people is only exceeded by their hatred for their native land. This morning, on that sneering program Broadcasting House, we were treated to the usual rubbish that either the people were too ignorant to vote on matters such as the Euro and the EU constitution, or that it was a matter that should be left to elected representatives. This latter point might have some force if the MPs were voting in a dispassionate manner and with the interests of the British people at heart. In truth the politician's views are informed by their own self interest as to oppose the EU would cut them off from all the perks that can enjoy as members of a Europe wide political elite, running a corrupt and undemocratic organisation.

As far as the arrogant remarks about the ignorance of the people is concerned, is it sustainable to claim that a 25 year old MP is competent to vote on the matter, given that their background has probably been university politics and hours spent in drafty committee rooms when the rest of us were leading normal lives, while a woman who may have raised a family, or a company director who has made a success of business are incapable of holding an informed opinion.

The politicians hate the idea of this referendum because they know they will lose, their decades long lying about the EU having been finally exposed. If we are forced into the USE against our will then the results will be disastrous for our country and our democracy.

18/05/2003


Europhiles whine about the Treasury

Britain in Europe, that collection of idiots and fellow travellers, have been whining that, if the Government does not call a referendum within this Parliament, their organisation will fold.

After a decent pause in which we can listen to the violins playing to mark such sad news we should consider just what these people mean. They are saying that, despite the Treasury concluding that to join the Euro would be against Britain's interests, the Government should try to con the people into voting for it anyway. So much for their often expressed concern about the welfare of the British people.

In reality they know that the only reason to join the single currency, either now or in the future, is to benefit the political class of which they are members. That Tony Blair still persists in believing that a referendum should not be ruled out before the next General Election shows that he is as blind as ever to the truth about the EU, despite his experiences during the war in Iraq.

We must hope that sanity prevails and any suggestion of joining the Euro is kicked into the long grass. After all, the more time passes the more likely it is that the whole Euro project will collapse, as have all such currency experiments in the past. The Germans cannot be expected to put up with the economic disasters they are now experiencing for much longer and if they go, so will the Euro, and with luck the whole EU.

For the moment the prospect of Britain in Europe shutting up shop should be worth at least two cheers.

11/05/2003


Another whistle blower persecuted

Dougal Watt, the British accountant who blew the whistle on widespread corruption and nepotism in the European court of auditors, will be sacked by one of the EU's kangaroo courts within the new few weeks.

Despite the fact that, in the year since Mr Watt first made the allegations, many have been substantiated, and even acted upon, he faces charges of making "unsubstantiated allegations". This totally ignores the fact that a former member of the court has been recommended for prosecution for nepotism and fraud, while the "weighting system" of overpaying commissioners has also been stopped, almost entirely due to Mr Watt's allegations.

Mr Watt has spent months trying to gain support for his position from various political bodies but, as one might expect in the EU, without any success. The main British parties in that standing joke, the European Parliament, don't want to know; the European budgetary control commission has failed to act and the Commons public accounts committee has refused to involve itself, referring Mr Watts back to the very European institutions which are at the heart of the corruption. His efforts to interest HM Treasury were equally unproductive.

Paul Van Buitenen, whose exposures led to the fall of the previous European Commission, has described Mr Watt's work as a "very good overview of many issues which should get everyone of commonsense interested to investigate". However the most likely result is that Mr Watt's will be dismissed, lose his pension and be blacklisted by all employers whose allegiance is to the political class, rather than to the any principles of honesty.

One after another accounting professionals who have experienced the inner workings of the EU condemn its endemic corruption and make clear, precise allegations about what is going on. One after another they are rubbished by the creatures of the EU and end up losing their jobs and future, while those who perpetrate these crimes go scot free.

The ordinary citizens of the EU, whose taxes are being stolen by this corrupt entity, should realise that, given the lack of democratic accountability and the self interest of the political and bureaucratic classes, there will never be an end to these crimes. It is a stinking pit of corruption which will not be reformed and indeed cannot be, given its structure which is built upon an arrogant elite who have no intention of removing their noses from the trough. The only solution for the British people is to demand that the UK leaves the EU, a solution that should be followed by all those nations who believe in democracy and freedom.

25/04/2003


Yesterday's men

Yet again we had to endure a wail from the political graveyard as a set of Heathite Tories wrote to The Times advocating their "vision" of the EU. All it did was show once again that they are obsessed with the desire to see the creation of a singleEuropean state and are determined not to learn the lessons of history.

Far from being, as they claim, a boon to the UK, membership of the EU has resulted in the destruction of our fishing industry, the distortion of our countryside, the demise of much of our manufacturing sector and, worst of all, the continuing replacement of our democratic system of government by bureaucratic diktat.

These people who worship at the altar of Euro federalism ignore the economic failure of Euroland, as evidenced by the disastrous German experience, and pretend that the proposed constitution is intended only as a clarification of relations, when in fact it signals the final destruction of the independence of the nation states unfortunate enough to be members of the EU.

If the Conservative party wishes to make a credible claim to represent the interests of the British nation it should repudiate this coterie of yesterday's men who represent no one but themselves.

17/04/2003


A deplorable suggestion

The Times reports that, although the government seems to be accepting that the verdict on joining the single currency is "no", there are euro obsessives within number 10 who are encouraging a backbench Bill to force "dual pricing" in both sterling and euros on retailers for two years, either side of a change to the single currency.

Apart from the obvious rejoinder that, given the opposition to the British people to the idea of joining the Euro, how can anyone predict the start of the two year period, this is an arrogant and devious proposal.

Arrogant because the Europhiles are anticipating the result will go their way, when the overwhelming likelihood is that it will not, in which case the Euro is, and will remain, just another currency. Perhaps those of us who trade with the United States and not the EU should ask that prices also be set in dollars, while those with ventures in the Far East should insist on the yen not being forgotten. This could go on forever - how about North Korea and Chile?

The devious nature of this suggestion is obvious. After a while Europhiles hope that British people will have no difficulty in relating the pound to the Euro in value and that this will then somehow translate into support for adopting the single currency. They hope that the real reasons for rejecting the Euro, from acceptance of the straight jacket of the stability pact to the yielding of democractic control of our economy to bankers in Frankfurt will, of course, be ignored.

No doubt this dual pricing would be enforced with the full rigour of the law, adding to the costs of retailers and therefore to the prices charged to customers. Is there nothing these Euro obsessives will not do to promote their beloved bureaucratic dictatorship?

17/04/2003


Kinnock sees a glimmering of the truth

The truth about the European Union is beginning to penetrate even the skull of Neil Kinnock. In a statement preceding the EU summit in Athens Mr Kinnock has said that "Europe's plans for a joint foreign policy are pie in the sky - useful only for generating employment for PHD writers", and the French action in blithely ignoring the budget limits set by the stability pact mean that they wanted to "impress people that the French can do what they damn well like".

It is a pity that Mr Kinnock has taken so long to realise the truth but if even he can see the writing on the wall perhaps the whole charade will not continue for much longer.

17/04/2003


The five tests give the right answer

Today's Sunday Telegraph reports that the Treasury is about to confirm what we all know to be true - the UK is not ready to join the Euro (and never will be if Eurorealists have anything to do with it).

This should come as no surprise to those not in thrall to the EU. That even German companies are abandoning their home market as it slowly sinks beneath the waves is shown by the fact that the German retail chain, Lidl, is planning a massive expansion, totally outside Germany, and almost entirely outside euroland.

Meanwhile a recent report shows that between 40% and 50% of profits earned by the top 100 companies in the UK comes from the US. As it states "That makes the dollar the key curency for British companies competing on world markets, as well as those with subsidiaries in the US".

If our political class, supported by the institutionally Europhile BBC, were not so in love with the insane European project, they would have acknowledged that joining the Euro would be an act of madness, now, and at any time in the future.

13/04/2003


It now is definitely Goodbye to Malta

The hopes that the people of Malta might yet avoid EU membership by electing a Labour Government have come to nothing, so they really have now voted for the extinction of their nation. Well, we warned them.

13/04/2003


Some points from the CIB AGM

Many excellent speeches were made at the CIB AGM on Saturday but two points made by the Chairman, Lord Stoddart, deserve wide exposure:

06/04/2003


Catholic attitudes to the EU

Despite the fact that many leading anti EU campaigners are Catholics some have asserted that Catholic opinion is in favour of the EU. The fact that this assertion is untrue was shown by a recent article in The Catholic Herald, entitled Morality, lying and the European Union, which related the many moral failing of the EU, and which is worth quoting:

What can one say except "Amen to all that"?

06/04/2003


Partners in Europe? - The End of a Myth

It is often said that the first casualty of war is truth but that now being fought in Iraq has exposed the truth about one of the greatest falsehoods ever inflicted upon this country - the idea that the members of the EU are partners, indeed friends.

As we learnt this morning British and American war graves in France have been desecrated, the resting places of soldiers who died to liberate that nation being defiled by many insults, probably the worst being "They are soiling our land".

Naturally one must not blame the people of France for the actions of a few and, indeed, a number of senior French politicians have expressed outrage at the vandalism. However what must not be concealed is the result of an opinion poll in France which shows that over one third of those questioned hope that Saddam Hussein's forces will win the war in Iraq.

As noted elsewhere in these pages there are many in Britain, both inside and outside the Eurorealist movement, who disagree with the action taken against Iraq. However the number of those resolutely opposed to military action who would wish to see the defeat of the coalition are a vanishingly small minority.

What we face is the fact that a third of the citizens of one of our so called European partners wants a fascist dictator, whose forces deliberately burn children alive, purposely machine gun women and torture endless people to death, to be victorious over the armies of their fellow democracies and supposed allies.

This truth gives the lie, both now and forever, to the assertion that the member states of the European Union can come together to make a single European state, with, inter alia, one army and one foreign policy.

Terrible as the war is it has at least revealed one of the founding myths of the EU for the total rubbish it has always been.

02/04/2003


The End of the Euro?

Europhiles must be outraged by the following forecast for 2003, circulated to its clients by Morgan Stanley, the City stockbrokers:

Starting with France, several countries lose confidence in the European Monetary Union and threaten to pull out. They believe that Germany, once the economic envy of everyone on the continent, is dragging the system down. Sensing a lack of confidence Gerhard Schroeder resigns. European equity markets badly lag the US and Japan.

Morgan Stanley are hardly at the forefront of the Eurorealist movement and they may of course be wrong. Nevertheless who would have believed when this misbegotten currency was launched a few years ago that a serious City firm would be issuing a forecast of that sort in 2003? Of course the answer is that we at CIB would have believed it and weren't we right!

30/03/2003


German unemployment means trouble for the EU

Unemployment in Germany reached a total of 4.62 million (11.1 percent) in January, its highest rate during Schroeder's term of office. This figures coincide with the worst data on retail sales for twenty years and a cut in the forecast economic growth for 2003 to 1 per cent, following the 0.2 per cent last year.

Since Germany accounts for at least one third of eurozone output, its continuing economic malaise is bound to have implications for the eurozone generally, for the countries dependent on German trade, and for the Euro.

Figures for growth in euroland have already been adjusted downwards in December by a full percentage point to 1.1 per cent and, according to Matti Vanhala, a member of the governing council of the ECB, the estimates may soon have to be lowered again.

Aren't the British lucky not be be part of euroland, and wouldn't they be foolish to ever join?

30/03/2003


Kinnock in trouble

Marta Andreasen, the civil servant hounded from office after trying to expose continuing fraud in the EU, has been vindicated by a confidential report commissioned by Kinnock himself. It has emerged that, at the time Andreasen was suspended, Kinnock had already seen this report that backed her views, yet he he did not disclose its contents to other commissioners when he case was discussed.

One quote from this report shows how widespread the culture of corruption is, and how little those on the gravy train care "The core problem is a top down managerial culture, with a director general who only recently told the European Court of Auditors he did not see the need for any accounting system at all".

MEPs now say that the 2001 budget is highly unlikely to be signed off, while Marta Andreasen is thinking of standing against Glenys Kinnock as a MEP. Should she win the Brussels establishment would have a real problem, as they have banned her from entering any Commission buildings!

What a stinking mess it all is, and what fools we are to continue to send so much of our money to the people responsible.

10/03/2003


Goodbye to Malta

Despite all the warnings of those already trapped within the EU the people of Malta have voted for the extinction of their nation. As noted elsewhere in these pages large countries like the UK may be able to fight their way out of the single European state if necessary but the the small states have no escape route.

There remains a slight chance that a change of government at the next general election could yet save Malta but it is a slim one. The probability is that in ten years time we shall be reading of opinion polls saying that 75% of the Maltese wish that they had never joined the EU, but by then it will be far too late for them.

That this reversal of opinion is likely can be seen from the Irish experience. In one of this month's business magazines, The Sunday Business Post, published in Dublin, are reports that as Ireland enters its second year in the Eurozone commentators are staring to question the wisdom of joining and feel it may have been a huge economic mistake.

Friends First Economist, Jim Power, described it as a victory of politics over economics and said that even to question Ireland's entry was politically taboo.

Bloxham Stockbroker, Alan McQuaid, argues that Ireland should have kept its alignment to the British pound. "Ironically, he said, "at the time we joined the Euro, we were moving politically closer to Britain".

At least the Maltese had their chance to vote and their decision must be respected. Let us hope that if the British get any more opportunities to vote on EU matters they are not so foolish as to believe the dictators of Brussels.

10/03/2003


A Common Foreign Policy?

The Eurorealist movement is as divided as the rest of country on the issue of what to do about Iraq, so obviously the CIB cannot take any position on the matter. However, regardless of individual views on the subject it has become increasingly obvious that the concepts of a Common European Foreign Policy and a Country called Europe are laughable.

As the insults and threats fly, and become more blatant with every passing day, it is clear that the different interests of the European nations ensure that they do not, and never will, share a common view of matters of such weight. While France and Germany may be able to count upon the support of their small satellite states of Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg, they now find that the UK, Spain, Italy and many of the Eastern European nations do not agree with them.

It will never be possible for a common foreign policy to be agreed, unless great nations are prepared to abandon their own vital interests, and that is not going to happen. The Iraq crisis is proving that the ridiculous ambitions of the federalists to make one country out of the ancient nation states of Europe is a chimera.

07/03/2003


Some Lib Dems can see the truth

Extracts from an article, published in Scotland, and written by a Scottish Liberal Democrat MP, shows that not every member of that party is a devoted slave of Brussels. If only more well intentioned people will open their eyes and see the truth, and brave newspapers be prepared to publicise their views, perhaps we will yet escape the closing trap.

Fisheries debacle proves EU big government fails

On fishing:

"We seem to be on a treadmill as far as our dealings with the EU are concerned. There is so much about the way European institutions work that is flawed, but nobody is prepared to tackle the problems head on for fear of being hurt. The current tensions over the Common Fisheries Policy demonstrate much of what is wrong about the way the European Union currently works.

The argument for a Common Fisheries Policy has always been that "fish do not recognize national waters". It is not at all clear that they recognize European waters either, but such simplistic arguments miss the real point. What's important is that we have an effective and competent approach that comes up with the right answers to protect fish stocks. The EU Commission has proved that its over centralised and bureaucratic approach to fisheries management is wholly inappropriate and damaging.

It has attempted to impose arbitrary quotas on catches which are virtually impossible to enforce on a pan-European level, and its decisions on restricting fishing vessels have been dominated by political horse trading rather than a sensible regard for what is the best way forward.

The conduct of the most recent negotiations at the Fisheries Council has been a disgrace. It has shown the EU Commission, and Franz Fischler in particular, in the worst possible light. Scottish fishermen have been fishing for the last eighteen months using nets with the largest mesh sizes in Europe and with square mesh panels which allow more small and young fish to escape. They are hammered in the name of conservation while Danish industrial fishing boats which hoover up anything with scales remain unscathed.

Our whitefish fleet has already decommissioned 20 per cent of its capacity and more is now to follow. At the same time Irish and Spanish fishermen are given grants to build even bigger new boats.

The decisions taken in Brussels had little to do with science and everything to do with politics. As a result, the people I represent in Shetland, where one third of the local economy is dependent on fishing are left staring into the abyss."

On subsidiarity:

"The EU Commission is engaged in micro management for which it is ill equipped. It is trying to do too much but is not really doing anything properly. Much of what it attempts to achieve would be better done at a national or regional level.

This has been known for a long time. We have talked about the importance of "subsidiarity" for over ten years now but have still not managed to find a way of making it happen in practice. If the concept of subsidiarity were to be applied, then the Common Fisheries Policy would be replaced by something far less centralised. The concept of regional management of areas such as the North Sea must now be given some meaning.

The decision to establish Regional Management Councils was a step in the right direction. If they could be given meaningful powers then we might be seeing some sign of humility on the part of the Commission. Sadly the opposite is true and the early signs are that yet another good idea will be sacrificed on the altar of centralisation and control freakery."

On democracy:

"We Liberal Democrats desperately need to re-appraise our approach. For too long, otherwise highly intelligent people have simply abandoned their critical faculties where the EU is concerned. If it comes from Brussels then it must be right. Wrong. We need a reasoned debate on the future shape of the European Union. Constructive engagement in Europe should mean having the courage to press for real change, not just going with the flow.

If discussion continues to be dominated by meaningless platitudes about "historic destiny" and "influence" then we will never achieve the sort of reform that pro-Europeans like me want to see. We risk sleepwalking towards a situation where government is something that is done to us from afar by people who keep themselves out of the reach of voters. As a liberal and a democrat that can never be acceptable.

Partly, the answer is historical. The Liberal Party argued in the 1950s that we should have been part of the communities as they then were set up. Since then we have argued that things could have been so much better if we had been there right at the start.

The EU is a highly centralised bureaucratic institution which inevitably comes up with solutions on the basis that one size will fit all. In fact one size rarely fits anyone. Government that is remote from the people - geographically or politically is bad government.

The EU has only a nodding acquaintance with the notion of democratic accountability. Politicians may not be held in the highest regard by the general public but at least our services can be dispensed with if the electorate are of a mind to do so. Sadly this is not true of those who call the shots in Brussels.

All of which is why if a referendum on our membership of a single European currency was to be called tomorrow then I for one would be urging my constituents to vote no. We can not go on indefinitely giving up control over our lives in the hope that reform will follow eventually.

The correct order must be reform first and then talk about the euro. There would be exchange rate stability and lower exchange costs. But it is becoming increasingly clear that the costs outweigh the benefits.

The euro Emperor is sadly lacking in clothes. There is no shame in pointing it out."

Hooray for this MP and the paper brave enough to publish his article. Let us hope he continues his voyage towards the light and comes to realise that, in the final analysis, there really is only one solution that will work.

27/02/2003


BBC bias confirmed

Today we have proof positive that the BBC is in the hands of a narrow, bigoted group formed of the pseudo liberal intelligentsia, who will not tolerate the expression of views other than their own.

In today's Sunday Telegraph Ron Liddle, who resigned as editor of the Today programme in September, revealed that BBC executives ordered him to end the fortnightly broadcasts by Frederick Forsyth because they objected to his anti EU political stance.

Mr Liddle, hardly a right winger himself, claims that the bias within the BBC was "more a reflex than something consciously partisan" and states that a "senior editorial figure" dismissed Eurorealists as insane.

As CIB vice Chairman Lord Pearson, himself a target of these BBC bigots, says "It's absolutely par for the course. Not only is the coverage biased but the BBC doesn't allow any debating of the issues".

In addition to these people being responsible for the BBC ignoring its responsibilities to be impartial, and no doubt causing Lord Reith to spin in his grave, they are also extremely foolish if they think support for the EU makes them left wing. Some of the greatest opponents to the EU are on the left, Trade Unions Against the Single Currency and CIB affiliate the Campaign Against Euro Federalism being but two which spring to mind. The actions of these people show just how far the poison has penetrated into our national life and confirms that if you scratch those who claim to be 'liberal' in today's Britain you will find a pseudo fascist underneath.

02/02/2003


We must be mad

Thanks to more lunacy from Brussels farmers have been told that it has been agreed as part of a new package of controls on livestock movements that, as from 1st February 2003, they must ear tag all new born lambs and ewes. The tags must contain an origin mark, an id number (example UK 654321 000001) and, each time a lamb is lost its number must be recorded.

As usual these idiotic ideas produced by the parasites of Brussels and enforced by their fifth column in the UK are unworkable and seem designed to drive more hard working farmers out of business. It is hard enough to put tags in full grown sheep, who anyway lose 20 per cent of them every year as they scratch their heads along hedges, but how much more difficult will it be to do the same to lambs, with their smaller ears, leaving aside the fact that it will inflict unnecessary suffering on these innocent creatures.

Even more ridiculous is the idea that the farmer can account for every animal lost, as lambs may be taken by foxes, leaving no convenient corpse with an attached tag. The farmer would be obliged to round up his flock every day and check them all against his original list to find out which have gone. Yet any farmer found not to be recording all deaths will be guilty of a criminal offence, liable to a fine of up to £5000 or imprisonment.

Faced with this bureaucratic stupidity some believe it is just the result of laws being produced by those who have never seen a sheep in their lives, but others suspect that it is a deliberate attempt to force more farmers out of business, thus saving on subsidies, which can then be spent on more bloated bureaucrats and politicians in Brussels. What is does prove is that, as the leading Eurorealist Dr Alan Sked says, we must be mad to pay billions to these people to produce endless laws which do nothing but damage to our country.

21/01/2003


Papers!

The government is conducting a rather well hidden survey of public opinion, supposedly to ascertain the degree of support for compulsory identity cards and is already claiming that the majority are in favour. This is typical of the deceit practised by our political class, who are very much mistaken in their belief that there would be few public protests at the introduction of such. cards. They have clearly forgotten the reaction of middle England to British governments seeking to extend their use beyond the period of the wartime emergency as it was in the early fifties that a court case, resulting from a refusal by an unsung hero of freedom to carry such an item, led to their abolition.

Those who use the puerile argument that, if you have done nothing wrong you need not object to carrying ID cards, should think of the reaction of respectable citizens who may be quite legally stopped by the police three times in the course of a walk to the shops, in order that they may see their cards, while the reaction of some quite innocent person, penalised for the offence of having forgotten to bring theirs with them can be imagined.

The pressure to introduce cards comes from those who wish to bring this country into line with the rest of the European Union, making it easier for unelected bureaucrats to control our lives. This nation fought the last war to prevent, among other horrors, the spectacle of a free people being faced with the peremptory demand 'Papers!' from the minions of the state and all free born Britons should always refuse to carry such a card. If enough people do so the idea will fail.

To vote against identity cards either go to http://www.stand.org.uk or ring 0845 330 7246 (you will need to give address details and a summary of your views). You have until the end of January.

21/01/2003


Rotten to the core

The latest issue of Private Eye contains a piece which illustrates the moral bankruptcy of the European Union, and of much of our own political class.

A council in northern England has just signed a contact with a Japanese company to act as a partner in their PFI school development program. Nothing wrong with that you may say, except that the company in question ran a slave labour camp during the last war, in which fifty per cent of the inmates died in the first year, and they now maintain close links with the military regime in Burma.

Protests against this contract have been led by human rights activists and prisoner of war organisations but, even when the Conservatives replaced Labour as the administration in the town hall, they refused to listen. The local councillors chose to hide behind a letter from the government which said EU rules and the government's own competition act "require local authorities to exclude from the contracting process consideration of non-commercial matters"

As Private Eye remarks "You cannot rule out a contractor just because it does business with fascists and torturers. Heaven forbid!"

One can only assume that, according to EU rules, one could not exclude those who built the gas ovens in Nazi Germany if seeking a contractor for school showers. What a bunch of immoral charlatans now run the affairs of this nation, and of the European Union.

10/01/2003


Roy Jenkins

Apart from the monsters like Hitler and Stalin the death of any person is a tragedy and deserves sympathy on the personal level. However when one is considering a political obituary it is not sufficient to observe the dictum of not speaking ill of the dead as their actions may have had consequences which will affect, or possibly afflict, the lives of many who live on.

This is very true of Roy Jenkins who, while no doubt a decent man and a loving husband and father, was also one whose legacy will be regarded by many as malign, despite what one has read in the media since his death. One may have differing views of his social agenda and there are many who would regard his tenure as Home Secretary as a disaster for the civilised society, not the making of it, but those are matters outside the purview of the Eurorealist movement. Nevertheless for any who value democracy, the nation state and parliamentary government Jenkins must be seen as a disaster.

It is generally agreed that Jenkins can be regarded as the father of both the Liberal Democrats and of New Labour and the one policy which unites those two parties is a worship of the EU and a total disregard for the British nation. Jenkins was the patron saint of the political elite which thinks it has a divine right to rule and has a complete contempt for the views of ordinary people. As Tony Benn points out Jenkins fought to prevent the 1975 referendum on EU membership, although he need not have worried, given that the lies of the Europhiles managed to win the day for them. Later Jenkins supported every move towards undermining the democratic rights of the British people as all effective power was transferred to the unelected dictators of Brussels.

As the high priest of the Europhiles Jenkins represented that arrogant class which wishes to see the electorate excluded from any aspect of decision making, and seeks to create an immovable elite who will rule the United States of Europe in the same way that the Politburo ruled the Soviet Union. He may be lauded to the skies by his fellow politicians but for all who believe in democracy and freedom he should be remembered as one of those who sought to undermine both in the name of so called liberalism.

10/01/2003


Does he think that we are all fools?

In his New Year message the Prime Minister tells us that the political case for joining the Euro is 'overwhelming' but, as Mandy Rice Davis famously remarked "Well he would wouldn't he". Of course for the political class the case is overwhelming because submerging the UK fully into the EU guarantees them a life ticket on the gravy train, enjoying the fruits of power without the need to be accountable to those they claim to represent. However for the rest of us it would represent the final nail in the coffin of our democracy and the end of a thousand years of history, as our nation became a declining province of the new European empire.

Fortunately the economic disaster caused by the single currency is becoming so obvious to everyone that even Mr Blair's cheesy grin will not be able to disguise the grim reality. As Trevor Kavanagh, political editor of the Sun, and one of the shrewdest political minds in the media, pointed out in his article on New Year's Eve "The Euro's first birthday party will be a wake".

Mr Kavanagh enumerated the facts about the single currency, showing how much the reality differs from the dreams of politicians who understand nothing of economics, but who can only see as far as their next pay packet:

Opinion polls consistently show that the British want none of the single currency but still our political class, backed by their useful fools in some of the media, in particular the BBC, and supported by a few selfish businessmen who care for nothing but their own profits, push for the adoption of this succubus. If the British people were ever so foolish as to yield to Mr Blair's blandishments then they would deserve the fate that would await them. However it appears that they are not going to fall for it so, unless the Europhiles find a way round a referendum, they will have to whist