POLITICS CORNER

[Stanley]

We are swamped with 'news' about the progress of the EU negotiations and the possible referendum. This no doubt explains the lack of any statements about the state of the international economy which is still looking bleak. The information we are given is heavily manipulated and you have to go digging to find what is missing.
Have a look at THIS for an interesting map of the world and interest rates. The more the scene unfolds, the more I go back to Piketty and Stiglitz....
In the UK, the BofE has run out of remedial tools and investors are betting on another cut in interest rates, not long since they were worrying about a rate rise....

[plaques]

We are swamped with 'news' about the progress of the EU negotiations and the possible referendum

Rumour has it that Downing St has taken out patent rights on a new design of recreational hot tub. It is fitted with four individual whirlpools with variable spin controls, the delux version has eight. The hot air is fed into the mix in pulses to give a more dramatic affect on the occupants. Used with a newly developed bubble bath soap the froth is guaranteed to last for hours and forms a impenetrable barrier to what is going on both inside and outside of the tub. The tub is to go on the market as 'The Referendum' sometime between now and 2017.
Jeremy Hunt has also proposed an add-on to the tub in the form of a cold plunge. Temperatures will be maintained at 1C-3C to deter people from using it. A defibrillator is to be supplied as an optional extra at the end of the parliament in 2020.

[Bruff]

So the news is reporting that some of the Eastern European countries might be a bit sniffy about the UK’s arguments for a deal on our future terms of EU membership. You can hardly blame these countries. The UK’s European policy was for years ‘wider not deeper’. That is, expand to the East and beyond but no deeper Union or integration. The UK were the great champions in Europe of extending membership to the Poles, the Czechs, the Romanians etc. as their membership of a single market bloc and the political and social institutions necessary for membership was seen as a bulwark against their sliding back into totalitarianism. But the great champion changes its tune when it suits. Hardly edifying.

The Poles and Czechs etc. are also big recipients of Objective 1 EU structural funds. Which interestingly we were when we joined. Indeed, we are I think the only one of the members pre-Eastern expansion who continue to receive EU monies under Objective 1. Or in simple terms, parts of the UK are still as knackered as the old Eastern bloc and receive EU money to deal with the problems. If I was a Pole or a Romanian etc., looking at the massive amounts of EU money the UK has in the past received and still does receive, I’d be a bit cheesed off at folk banging on about all the money that ‘we’ have to pay to ‘them’.

I was reading some analysis of likely voting based on views now the other day. The over-70s: overwhelmingly for out. The 50 – 70s: for out but not as overwhelmingly. The 30-50s for in, at much the same split as the 50-70 outers. The 18 – 30 year olds overwhelmingly for in but this group are notorious for not voting and recent changes are predicted to lead to many dropping off the electoral register. In addition, in general the cities are for staying in and the rural areas for leave. I am reminded on the back of this of the Swiss referendum of 2014 (I think) where by the narrowest of margins (a fraction of 1%) the Swiss voted to restrict future migration from the EU. The majority was delivered by elderly, rural, German-speaking farmers. The Swiss under their constitution have 3 years to implement the restrictions and they have been told in no uncertain terms by the EU that when they do, they will lose access to the single market.

The generational divide in this country worries me deeply. My generation and the one above are busy pulling up that ladder.

Richard Broughton

[Stanley]

Richard, this 80 year old will be voting IN for reasons I laid out recently. The 'OUT' faction bang on about the advantages of exit but never mention the immense structural problems you laid out the other day. I think that part of the generational gap you mention is down to lack of education, ignorance or perhaps just pure 'Little Englander' dreaming of days of empire. After all, a faction that has a Turkish mercenary for its patron saint isn't demonstrating any intellectual depth!
One thing that surprises me about the 'benefits problem' is that I have never seen an analysis of the cost of benefits to migrants against the contributions they make to the UK economy. I don't buy the knee jerk assumption that they are taking more than they give. And this without taking into account the tremendous number of hard, low paid jobs they do. Fear and obfuscation are being used for manipulation of the voters by both sides....

News this morning that Dave is stressed.... No bloody wonder! (LINK)
And remember, the genesis of all this was the hide-bound dinosaurs on the Tory back benches threatening Dave's job....

[Bruff]

Well exactly. EU nationals do come here and claim benefits, but the amount they claim is a vanishingly small percentage of the total bill. Obviously -they come to work and are young and fit and healthy. The flip side is the Brits who work in the EU and claim benefits in the host too. And do they just. Every EU country has its Brits claiming benefits. Ken Clarke noted this the other day: the number of Brits claiming benefits in Germany is far, far in excess of Germans claiming benefits here which he said was absolutely understandable as the German system (as almost every system certainly in Western Europe) is far, far more generous than the UK’s. Now the problem we might have and why we are getting a hearing in the EU is that our system is non-contributory for a lot of benefits; change that and the issue goes away as you would get nowt if you just pitched up. Problem is, that would apply to UK nationals here too and which Government is going to say you’ll get nothing until you’ve paid in for ‘x’ years?

I would just make passing comment on the complaints by many that EU national take the jobs of Brits and work for lower wages and are recruited by unscrupulous firms. The answer to that is Government enacting strong employment laws and protections and the recognition and encouraging of the role of Trade Unions (or other employee groupings) in ensuring all workers get a fair deal. Again, best of luck in getting a Government here to do that!

I see the comments by the Duke of Cambridge in a speech to junior diplomats has caused a stir. It’s very difficult to see how they could be construed as anything other than some support for our membership of trans-national groupings. Two things: he should stick to anodyne platitudes and avoid falling any side of a political argument. That said, the dissonance in the heads of the most rabid outers must be threatening to pop their eyeballs, being as they are the union flag-waist coated, belters-out of God Save The Queen, gawd bless Her Majesty, Queen and Country and the Commonwealth.

Talking of the Commonwealth, I read a supporter of leave the other day arguing that the UK had little in common culturally with Europe and that we had far more in common culturally with the Australians, the Canadians and get this…….the Nigerians, Indians and Caribbeans (sic)! I mean, for goodness sake!

Richard Broughton

[plaques]

People seem to forget that all our kings from William 1 (1066 to Henry V, Agincourt 1415 and all that) were French. Thankfully we have moved on since that time and they are now basically Prussian (Saxe Coburg Gotha) changed to Windsor so not to sound too foreign. And now all of a sudden we are English!

[Tizer]

They weren't French, they were Normans, and the Normans were re-packaged Vikings!

[Bruff]

Aren’t Harry and William, Harry Wales and William Wales? Is that one of the perks of being a Royal? That you get to change your surname at will? Or do you become a Windsor if and when you become heir? Thus, on Charles ascending William becomes a Windsor (Charles already being a Windsor) his son George remaining a ‘Wales’ until and if he becomes heir and becomes a Windsor.

Where’s Norman St John Stevas when you need him? Lord Fawsley, or as Private Eye called him, Lord Crawl-on-all-Foursly.

Richard Broughton

[Tripps]

Where indeed ? - I miss him. To whom do we turn now for such information?
Very full biography on wiki The Blessed Norman. Too many quirks to list - purple ink, lapsing into Latin, etc etc.

I look forward to the family appearing on the Jeremy Kyle show - and the 'all important' DNA test.

[PanBiker]

Most of us are actually "Johnny Foreigners" if you look back a few generations. No incidence of my family name before the invasion and I know there is a nice Chateaux in the Loire valley bearing the family name, they make wine that sits on the top shelf in the Supermarche U's, it's rather nice. I would think that in actuality there are very few pure bred? Englishmen in these fair isles and it's not down to the immigration policy over the last 50 years either.

[Tripps]

About twenty years ago, at work, I read in the foreward of a book by a German chap called Klingenfuss, which we used as a sort of unofficial but very useful reference book, that the third world war would start in the Spratly Islands. I had never heard of them, but having the resources, pre - internet, to find about them, I found some information on them, and I've been worrying about it, in a low key way, it ever since.
It seems that the rest of the world is now catching up. Spratly islands

[Tizer]

There'll be more of them now than when you first looked, Tripps. The Chinese military is having a grand time dumping concrete on reefs to make new islands which then become military bases and airfields. And at the same time threatening anyone who passes by, from US aircraft carriers to local fishermen.

[Stanley]

I've bumped 'Who Are We' again. Richard is right about the confusion and ignorance 'Brits' evince when they talk about the mythical 'pure bred English' which is a contradiction in terms. Even the name English is derived from the Angles.... a Germanic race. I came to terms long since with the fact that I am an ill-bred bastard and son of an immigrant and I'd recommend the Little Englanders do the same! As for the crass remark about European culture, how did that person explain the fact that for a long time the English monarch was also described as King of France?
Much of it is the fault of education of course. I was taught England and the Empire, other nations always being inferior. One of the arguments was our 'traditions', many of them being artificial constructs introduced by the Victorians to bolster a failing monarchy. Chuck pure racism into the mix as well. I could go on but you get the picture....
Coincidentally..... have a look at THIS. Chinese missiles on the reclaimed islands. Dead on cue!

[Stanley]

The negotiation fever in Brussels blanks out all other political reporting. It begins to look as though the assessment of whether Dave has been 'successful' is going to hang on relatively insignificant amounts of money like the benefits. Jeremy Corbyn is right, this is a major decision triggered by an internal power struggle in the Tory Party. All these matters could have been addressed by normal diplomacy and EU directives without the brinkmanship we see now which is all about Cameron's status as a 'statesman'. Ludicrous...... The risk to the future prosperity of the UK is enormous.
I heard an interesting comment later from one of the national leaders. He was saying that the unexpected consequence of Brexit could be the rise of extremist parties in the EU. He said there were signs already of this happening and that if the UK leaves he expected the process to accelerate. The Law of Unexpected Consequences strikes again!

[Whyperion]

Re Housing Association Right to Buy. In Mum's area ( and some others ) all / most Council Owned Housing was transferred to One or more Housing Associations (RTB rights protected for transferred tenants ). The left over housing is mostly short term homeless provision of a sheltered/managed type nature and some run as assisting those with mentally challenging problems to live independently. Anyway I asked the MP for the area that when the HA of the transferred properties or other HAs ( when council houses were not being built there were two other general HAs doing some new build) ), where would the discount top-up funds (its in London ) come from given that Council has no properties to sell. MP responded that the top up to the HA would come from any other area where a (high value) council property was sold. Methinks the Northern Poorhouse be subsidising the overpriced London area.

[Thomo]

I came to terms with being an Englishman 70 odd years ago, born of English parents in Barnoldswick, I am also a Yorkshireman. You may dress this country up in whatever terms you wish but the fact remains that if some of us consider ourselves to be English, then that is what we are, not British, not European, just English. I you consider yourselves to be different, then that is your right, kindly respect the feelings of our belief in ourselves and remember that you also live here.

[Stanley]

Politics has been suspended in favour of Referendum Fever. Roll on June 23rd so we can get it out of the way and start running the country properly again.....

[PanBiker]

Referendum aside, the question is, is it being run properly now?

[Big Kev]

I came to terms with being an Englishman 70 odd years ago, born of English parents in Barnoldswick, I am also a Yorkshireman. You may dress this country up in whatever terms you wish but the fact remains that if some of us consider ourselves to be English, then that is what we are, not British, not European, just English. I you consider yourselves to be different, then that is your right, kindly respect the feelings of our belief in ourselves and remember that you also live here.

I can also lay claim to being born an Englishman and also a Kentish Man (having been born in Kent) but a quick glance at the family tree goes to Ireland and then Scotland within 3 generations. So I presume I must be British

[plaques]

From Richard Dawkin's analogy of evolution using "Mount Improbable" was to imagine a mountain range where one side was a perpendicular cliff and the other side a very gradual slope. The horizontal distance being the time scale. If the final evolutionary animal was to be standing on top of the cliff then looking up from the bottom it would be impossible to imagine a leap in evolution that would start with a simple organism and finish up with 'man' at the top. Hence some divine intervention is required. Taking the gradual route, evolution could be accomplished over millions of years finally arriving at 'man'.
Using the same analogy for Yorkshire men. Then the route would probably be Africa, Asia, Europe and finally the British Isles. Some of the failures like Hobbits and Nethanderthals dropping out on the way. But standing alongside the Yorkist would be a Lancastrian and a host of other equally worthwhile races. Being where we are: its probably best to be happy with what we are and to be contented that humans are at the top of the tree.

[PanBiker]

I too am an Englishman and all my family line in the dales as far back as I have got so far (about 1715), which in the vast scale of things is nor very far. My invader relatives form mainland Europe could be French, German or Danes the latter not from their first foray into our lands. There are variations of my surname in all three camps but not here on our isle before William and his lot came knocking. Thomo's surname although he is English born and bred originates in Scotland, we all have a bit of mongrel in us which is probably why we are so resilient. Evolution of the best bits I reckon. I learned a few years ago that the lineage of folk who have red or ginger hair are descendants of the Neanderthal branch of humanity, black, through brown and the lighter hair colours are the African branch. DNA profiling now proves that there was intermingling between the two.

[Stanley]

Ian, re. the question as to how we are being run now, you're right, I could have phrased it better. No, we are not!
As for ancestry, we are all mongrels and if the experience of dogs bred under Cruft's rules is anything to go by, what a good thing we are. A good cross breed is far healthier than a 'pure bred'! When I was bringing cattle down from Scotland for Richard Drinkall I learned about the Ramsay Brothers who had a closed herd of Ayrshire cattle on an island. They bred some superb cattle but also occasionally produced a dead leg. It was one of the latter which did its best to kill me once, it was mad. This is one of the problems of closed societies and in-breeding. Look no further than some of our aristocratic families who have bred close to keep the money in the family!
I've been watching the six rebel cabinet ministers cavorting around telling us why we'd be better off out of the EU and I can't make my mind up how much is genuine focus on the EU problem and how much is Tory DNA and infighting in the party. It may be that politicians in office are not the most reliable people to use as advisers.
Later after our walk. I was thinking as I walked round that one thing in common with all the 'rebel' ministers is that first they praise Dave for his efforts, then assure us that this is not a split in the Tory party and then go on to rubbish the negotiations and the EU. No split in the party? Oh yeah? Just think what the headlines would be if this was the Labour Party, we would be assured that once again the Labour Party was intent on tearing itself to pieces. The papers and news reports would be concentrating on that and not the substance of the debate. Sauce for the goose or sauce for the gander....?

[Tizer]

For me, the major reason for voting to stay in the EU now is that it's the worst possible time to even consider leaving it. There are too many dangers in the world at the moment: an increasingly aggressive stance from Russia; greater instability in the USA; fundamentalist Islam on the move; uncontrolled and increasing mass migration; a slowing of China's economy; the prospect of massive civil unrest in India between rich and poor; climate change; antibiotic resistance; global epidemics. Each of these is dangerous enough on its own but in the real world they will interact; for example, civil unrest, migration and epidemics. Now is a time to stand together, not to go it alone. A time for treaties, agreements and understanding between nations.

[Stanley]

Wise words Tiz and I agree with all you say. I watched the Nick Robinson programme on BBC1 last night and was disgusted by the fact that most of the 'discussion' was inter party sniping. The BBC tell us they are going to give us all the facts. Not a lot of it about at the moment......
I watched the TV clips of PMQs and it was obvious that despite protestations of solidarity in the Tory Party, if Cameron gets his 'IN' result Boris can wave good bye to future preferment and I suspect this applies to other rebels as well. I don't buy the line that this is not a party split.
In another part of the forest.... See THIS for a BBC report on the massive loss reported by one of the biggest mining conglomerates in the world, BHP Billiton. This is bad enough but even more worrying is their forecast that low commodity prices due to global slow-down will continue into an undefined future. The markets are very twitchy and of late have not received any good news. A kitchen commentator like me has no real idea of what is actually going on but thinking about Ossie's 'Economic Miracle' all I can say is that I have never seen the UK economy do well if global trade is wavering. The EU matter isn't helping, the pound has fallen against the dollar to a seven year low. Marginally good news for exporters if there are any customers out there but all the signs are that the slow down in global trade is not going to reverse any time in the near future. Remember what Mark Carney said a year ago about the 'recovery' being fragile and not balanced. It looks as though the only sector that was actually making money was financial services and they are staggering a bit now. Not a rosy picture......

[plaques]

Boris's reasons for exiting the EU was, after deep deliberations, included the introduction of new laws and supernatural elements and that stuff. I'm now left with the thought that the EU has been practicing the dark arts of the occult leaving us in a trance about the benefits of being members of the EU. We are now not just faced with smoke and mirrors but black magic.