TO SMOKE OR NOT TO SMOKE

 

King James 1 observed the perils of smoking over

four hundred years ago: A custom loathsome to
the eye, hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain
and dangerous to the lungs, nearest resembling
the horrible Stygian smoke of the pit that is
bottomless. Nothwithstanding that smokling kills
at least 100,000 a year and harms countless others,
the debate on the freedom to cause premature death
and incapacity will doubtless continue.

 

 

EU - NEED TO EMBRACE ECONOMIC REALITY

Any critical analysis of the

eurozone crisis does not have

an obvious solution beyond that

of greater fiscal and political

integration. While this may indeed

come to pass, it would not address

the disparity in productivity

between the countries of northern

and southern Europe.

In the absence of a cultural change

in the work ethic, which is hard to

imagine, the inevitable consequence

would be Germany keeping the

southern states on extended

financial life-support.

It will continue to fund
accelerating social cost, until such
time as the German economy ran
out of money. The strategy will
merely prolong, perhaps for a
generation, the misery to which
millions will continue to be
subjected.

The only practicable way
forward is for insolvent
eurozone members to rebalance
their economies through the
re-introduction of their former
currencies.

This would, of course, be
extremely painful in the medium
term. However, exhange rates
reflecting competitive performance
rather than a single currency, would
enable tourism and other activities
to flourish and economies to grow.

Such an outcome would not satisfy

the federalist deciples of Ardanauer,

Monet and Schuman, the founding

fathers of the EU. It would, however,

bring hope to those countries that
would prefer economic and political
self-determination with all its initial
pain, to a slow but remorseless
descent into even more dystopian
misery.

David Cameron's speech at Davos
articulated the need for change. The
EU has 7% of the world's population,
generates 25% of global GDP, but
spends 50% of GDP on welfare, which
is unsustainable. The question is does
the EU have the political and economic
will to change, or will reality impose
change upon it?

TWO DIFFERENT DEFICITS - BUDGETARY AND STRUCTURAL

 

The Chancellor is repeatedly asked why, if the economy

is recovering, it is necessary to pursue a programme of

continued austerity? The Coalition says that it has

reduced the deficit by a third, but this is only part of the

picture. It refers to the difference between annual income

and expenditure, which is currently some £90bn.

George Osborne should remind the electorate that the

Budget deficit is the not the same as total national

debt, which at around 80% of GDP is the higest of

any major economy. However, when all liabilities,

including state and public sector pensions are taken

into account the real national debt is closer to

£4.8 trillion, some four times greater than GDP. With

annual debt interest running in excess of £45bn -

equal to the entire Defence budget - the case for

continuing with the Chancellor's tight fiscal policy is

compelling.

 

Clegg's Weak Leadership

All political careers end in failure and this is

a defining moment for Nick Clegg's leadership

of his Party. Winning 57 seats and undue

influence at the General Election hardly called
for political leadership, simply the promise that
the Liberal Democrat tail would wag the Tory
dog.

Now he has failed to address the festering

sore of historical allegations and possible
motives of a number of women activists with
regard to Lord Rennard. Nick Clegg was made
aware of the problem several years ago but
took no action in an environment where gender
equality has beccome a key issue.

Entering Government and becoming Deputy

Prime Minister by a quirk of the electoral
system, Nick Clegg finds himself in a bind.
The outcome would appear to be extended
litigation, possible challenge to his position as
Party Leader, further decline in the opinion
polls and a return to business as usual
at next year's General Election. 

Postscript

Given the influence that the Deputy Prime
Minister's wife appears to be having in the
Rennard affair, one questions the extent to
which the spouse of the leader of a party
with 8.7% of parliamentary seats has in
determining the Government's priorities.

 

 

IMMIGRATION - TOO LITTLE,TOO LATE

 

David Cameron's belated proposals for restricting

benefits for the expected influx of Bulgarian and

Romanian immigrants, characteristically, amount

to little more than empty rhetoric. They will do

nothing to abate the mounting anger at the

prospect of public services, already stretched

to breaking point, having to cope with even

more immigrants.

The level of immigration is the greatest in our history

and its cultural impact on this small, overcrowded

island, dramatic. Politicians talk but appear not

to heed the voice of the people, who are reduced

to impotent bystanders, as their nation becomes

almost unrecognisable.

 

We shall see the deteriorating social conditions

in Sheffield, Boston and other cities replicated

across the country. The Prime Minister's intention

to remove EU beggars and vagrants will surely

be as unsuccessful as that of past attempts of

the UK Border Agency.

 

The proposed restrictions on access to benefits

clearly do no go far enough and will require primary

legislation, which will not go through Parliament

until next year. By this time potentially thousands

of new immigrants could well have arrived here,

creating social dislocation, a situation no-one ever

wanted and no-one voted for

.

 

EU Block to UK's Cheap Energy

In his demeaning role as political supplicant
David Cameron has written to EU President,

Snr Manuel Borroso, complaining that new

EU laws could kill off investment in fracking.

Fracking is delivering enormous benefits

which are transforming the American

economy.

This will result in the export of thousands of

British jobs, as major multi-nationals,

particularly in petro-chemicals, take

advantage of cheap energy. It will lead to

whole swathes of UK industry becoming

uncompetitive, blighted by some of the

highest industrial electricity costs in the

western world.

 

Asking Snr Barroso to cut red tape, in

order to facilitate fracking is to ask the

impossible from this arch-federalist,

whose intention is to bring the UK

Government to heel.

 

Not since the time of Munich have the

actions of appeasement of a prime

minister so damaged Britain's interests

and its future.

 

CULTURAL IMPACT OF UNCONTROLLED IMMIGRATION

David Cameron's belated proposals for restricting

benefits for the expected influx of Bulgarian and

Romanian immigrants, characteristically, amount

to little more than empty rhetoric. They will do

nothing to placate mounting anger at the prospect

of public services, already stretched to breaking

point, having to cope with even more immigrants.

The level of immigration is the greatest in our history

and its cultural impact on this small, overcrowded

island, dramatic. Politicians talk but appear not

to heed the voice of the people, who are reduced

to impotent bystanders, as their nation becomes

almost unrecognisable.

 

We shall see the deteriorating social conditions

in Sheffield and other cities replicated across

the country. The Prime Minister's proposed

action to remove EU beggars and vagrants will

surely be as unsuccessful as that of the past

attempts of the UK Border Agency.

The proposed restrictions on access to benefits

clearly do no go far enough and will require primary

legislation, which will not go through Parliament

until next year. By this time potentially thousands

of new immigrants could well have arrived here,

creating social dislocation, a situation no-one ever

wanted and no-one voted for.