Don't believe me? Take a look around you. Read the papers and watch the news. It's happening. The creaking behemoth that has for years been eating up Europe's nations and swallowing their sovereignty in large chunks is about to burst in a huge bout of indigestion.
The idea is completely barmy to some. I work with EU civil servants all the time, so it is only normal that they will big up their roles and deny any evidence of EU disintegration. They say I'm just a Eurosceptic Brit and enjoy spreading the gloom. But the opposite is true - I am in fact pro-European; I am just anti-Brussels.
The reason for this is that the more Brussels tries to make Europeans and their governments join in their mantra of "ever-closer union", the more they are put off by it. Let us bring the EU into a more condensed setting: if you ask a street's neighbours if they think more close collaboration is necessary, they will say "yes". About what? Well, fighting local crime; putting out each other's rubbish when they're away or have forgotten; feeding their pets when absent; making informal, fair rules on parking; discussing noise levels, building and boundaries, and such like. In a European context, that means fighting international crime and exchanging information (Europol); removing the previous red tape and making it easier to live in another country without needing sworn translations or conversion of qualifications (Maastricht, Pisa and Bologna); bringing better understanding of each other's cultures in an academic setting (Erasmus) and making war an impossibility (Rome and everything thereafter).
What neighbourhood collaboration is most certainly not is knocking down the walls between the houses so everyone can see into your living rooms, kitchens and (heaven forfend) bathrooms and bedrooms. It is not about going on a camping holiday all together and all the awkwardnesses there would be surrounding bodily odours and showering. It is not about allowing neighbours to park on each other's driveways, or rearranging next door's garden so that it becomes the same as yours, or making everyone drive the same car, wear the same clothes, drink the same wine, go to the same shops or listen to the same music. And this cannot be done when new neighbours, who seem to be poorer and less pampered than the others move in, when half reluctantly accept their new arrivals and the others refuse to have anything to do with them. All this will do is create an air of exasperation. It will cause untold damage to neighbourly relations and cause the rapid re-building of walls and a lot of "For Sale" signs to go up in the street.
Having the opportunity to close the door behind you and keep out any unwanted interference in the family unit is not a luxury, it is a right. Being able to choose how you raise your family, what school the kids go to, where you go on holiday, who you spend time with, where you shop, what you wear, and what you eat are your choices and yours alone. Don't be fooled by the need to conform, integrate or do the same as everyone else. It's your life.
The same is of the European Union. There is currently too much integration. The arrival of the Euro was, at the time, a cause for celebration. It relied on the pretence that countries shared the same money even though they didn't share the same budget, pricing arrangements, economic systems, social security systems or even tax harmonisation. that's because, despite the willingness to share currency, nations are really loath to lose more sovereignty to Brussels. And this is where the plan unravels.
If countries are unwilling to open up their books, integrate budgets and amalgamate ministerial portfolios, there is no reason for them to keep up the charade that they really do want ever-closer union. I don't believe they do. And there is a trend running along national lines depending what governments want: the French, when they are unwilling to surrender sovereignty or do something about their overspending (CAP; social security bill) will accuse their detractors of being bad Europeans. This tactic has kept up the illusion that France is a rich nation for many years now. It is not rich; it just has a large territory and population. It is an agrarian country that masquerades as a world power. The Germans will strong-arm the smaller nations into falling into line by finding some other nasty experience to threaten them with, like send Wolfgang Schäuble to shake a finger at them. The British keep moaning and sighing from the sidelines and veto or opt out of everything, while hoping to gain support from other Eurosceptic countries, who often make friendly noises until the Germans and French tell them to step in line behind everyone else. The Italians and Spanish, despite being fairly large countries, do what they are told and the Poles want to join in the Franco-German gang and become the third main motor of the European project.
It would be like Mr Johnson at No 24 and Mr Simmonds at No 26 deciding what all the others in the street should be doing and accusing those who don't want to do the same of being bad neighbours. This is not right. Why should the whole street succumb to the systems dreamed up by the Simmondses and Johnsons, when there are so many other neighbours in the street who are unhappy with their situation? I'll tell you why: because Messrs Johnson and Simmonds have too many good deals going on.
In national circumstances, it means the government of France is creaming off a lot of cash to subsidise its burgeoning agricultural sector without having to reduce it, therefore keeping the farmers from burning Paris to the ground, because it is too feeble and frightened of its militants to take drastic action and take them on, and Germany has profits for life from having persuaded many other countries to integrate with the Deutsche Mark back in the day, and making everyone sign a contract saying "if you break the economic chain, this automatically becomes the property of Germany." Everyone fell for it.
This is no way to run an international organisation. In fact, this can only lead down one path. The inexorable rise of anti-European parties and anti-austerity movements. And who will be the victims? The ordinary people. We will be cutting off our noses despite our faces. The European project is a force for good. It has helped integrate us for the better and for the common improvement of our status in the world and our standard of living. What it has also done is it has shown just how selfish, opportunistic and avaricious nation states really are, even though they won't tell you. Don't forget, what the EU's Council decides to carry out in Brussels is the brainchildren of the 28 EU leaders, not the Commission - that particular institution just carries out the Council's instructions.
Some countries want to play no part in the allocation of asylum seekers; some do not want to make efforts to reduce their national spending; some are unwilling to end their reliance on a particular sector of industry, even if it is anti-competition or even hurting other member states. Some do not want to be at all flexible in the economic plight of the poorer member states. This is all leading to the inevitable withdrawal of countries from various treaties and agreements if they don't get their way.
If I were David Cameron right now, I would feel like a real prize turnip. Having promised a referendum on the UK's membership of the most successful multinational organisation of them all, granting small nations unprecedented standing in the world and prosperity the likes of which had not been foreseen even in the 1960s, I would now find myself in the awful position of being the prime minister who most likely took my country out of it. Nigel Farage and his ragbag collection of buffoons and bigots will tell you that the UK is better out, but they are missing the point. The EU and its institutions are cementing the future for a better society. It is just unfortunate that many nation states, not just the UK, have vested interests that they are unwilling to compromise on. If we could all trust each other, this would not be an issue, but it is.
The other thing David Cameron has failed to realise is he has been visiting various capital cities trying to gather support for his request to get a deal done on UK membership and conditions, but the French and German cabal has pre-empted this by saying it would require treaty change, while at the same time sewing up their own deal that does not require treaty change. This is despicable, underhand, and a brazen attempt to highlight who is in charge in the EU. On the other hand, while Cameron has been trying to negotiate this deal with one pleading face, and with the other, sterner face, with issues like asylum he has been saying "no". He cannot seriously hope to get something out of it if he, for example, refuses to take in his country's fair share of the current wave of refugees. In all of this, hypocrisy and power games seem to pervade. This is not the right climate to instil trust and confidence in your neighbours.
The simple answer to this is as follows: what Europe needs to do is to consolidate its progress so far. Maybe for ten years to a generation, it needs to put any more major integration projects on ice and take stock of its current situation. People need to be aware of how far it has come and the leaders need to take a step back and look on their work, adjust it where necessary and make the system work. If this means that after a shorter time it becomes clear that a Eurozone social security and tax system needs to be set up, or if it becomes evident that greater flexibility and understanding of nations' individual concerns need to be addressed, so be it. The European project has indeed reached a crossroads. The only thing is, one of those future directions is also back along the way we have travelled. And nobody wants to go there, do they?
Finally, Europe needs to take the concerns of its non-Eurozone members into account. It needs to address British, Scandinavian and to some extent central European attitudes to the European project, that have always been seen as non-integrationist and anti-European. It is so far from the truth that it hurts. Everyone thinks that the good things the EU has done are to be cherished and kept. But some are unwilling to drop too many barriers because they value their privacy and right to choose. If certain rights were granted these non-Eurozone countries, I am quite sure they would have nothing against the rest carrying on with their ever-closer union.
I am also one of those neighbours who values his privacy. I don't mind inviting people round for drinks or lending them a few quid until pay day, but I will most certainly not let them open my fridge door or help themselves to the contents of my wallet. And this is why the European project may be doomed in any case: if you get too close to someone, there will inevitably be more arguments.
Showing posts with label Eurosceptic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Eurosceptic. Show all posts
Wednesday, 26 August 2015
Monday, 7 November 2011
What is democracy?
The world over, there are different ways of viewing, for want of a better expression, "people power". In some countries, this takes the form of a revolution every ten or so years, installing another dictator. In others, it is the complete opposite, where governments cannot so much as change the VAT rate without a referendum. Extremes in the crazy systems governing this planet. What is clear though is that, with a couple of seriously wacky exceptions, in all countries of the world, the system is bigger than any individual.
What, though, is the most bizarre thing, is the sheer number of organisations, corporations, state-owned bodies and self-governing regions that bypass any form of public scrutiny. There's the Bilderberg group, the City of London Corporation, OPEC, any number of multi-billion-dollar company, media outlet or bank to name but a few. These organisations generally accept the widely-held opinion that politicians in democracies (at least those who make it) are malleable, popularity-hungry, attention-seeking, shallow petty criminals, loan sharks and dangerously crooked property owners in need of a place to legitimise, consolidate and widen their shady dealings through networking and rubbing shoulders with other like-minded individuals. A kind of LinkedIn for criminals who want to do everything officially.
These organisations also know that there are those who genuinely come into politics wishing to change the world. Visionaries, fresh-minded academics, talented individuals with imagination and a steely eye on the goals they wish to achieve. Of course, when they come up against the might of the machine, they also find their dreams dashed, their hopes halved and their ambitions annulled, either through being told that the thought is a valiant one but totally impractical, or by being ridiculed, scandalised or hounded out of office by the more sinister factions of politics, and their media buddies. This of course depends on how close to the bone the visionary entrant comes when airing his or her new ideas.
So the large firms single out the right politicians for their dirty work: they give them special deals, assure them of seats on their boards of directors and pushing their candidacies for posts where they can be of use to them after their political careers are over. This is why nothing truly pleasing to the people ever gets done; because it's not in anyone's interest. It's not in the politicians' interests, because they would be putting themselves out of use; it's not in the corporations' interests because they'd not have anyone to represent their shady interests at international level, and it's not in the people's interests because it would make us all jumpy, to think that everything was going so swimmingly well. We'd think there was a catch and start petty paranoid skirmishes with traditional foes.
Leaders in the democratic world these days are so uninspirational, so faceless, so full of themselves, that we cannot really blame the Chinese for viewing democracy with suspicion, when they see how the Greeks behaved. How can you respect a politician who, in order to secure another term in power, promises to reduce taxes, or the retirement age by a year, or unemployment by hiring another few thousand people to do meaningless tasks that could be handled by half a dozen job students? How can you respect a politician who fakes his own country's economic situation in order to join a currency union his country has no hope of keeping up with?
I'll tell you how.
Let's take each country as being a person, and the Eurozone a little like marriage. So before the Eurozone was set up, when each country was in the singles market, so to say, they put on their best outfits for summits and kept the smiles going long into the evening, a little like singles have done for decades. Once they get married, of course, the partners start noticing little niggling habits that irritate them, like too many referenda (Ireland, Denmark) or inability to save money (Ireland gain, Italy, Greece). In the end, what happens to most married people? They let themselves go. They get unfit, lazy, start putting on weight and neglecting their personal hygiene. The same has happened in the euro marriage. Now they're tied together in an eternal bond of "till death us do part" those newlyweds feel that they'll be saved by the others if things go wrong. And then the mid-life crisis sets in, where the man decides to get a Porsche convertible and go trekking in the Arctic. The woman (Germany in this case) stays at home, horrified. No wonder she (Merkel) wants to limit the manoeuvrability of the Greek economy.
Now, returning to the original question - what is democracy? For me, you can' t let the people decide everything, because we'd reintroduce hanging and expel anyone with an accent. That's unfortunately how it goes, because those with opinions, principles or views are usually a lot louder than those who just get on with their lives worry-free, and are more likely to bother to vote in any referendum, which is why David Cameron refuses to give the UK a referendum of staying in the EU. On the other hand, you can't let politicians carry on governing forever, or they get too big for their boots. They get to know the system too well. So well, in fact, they do things like rein in the national media (Italy, Hungary), reduce freedom of speech (UK, France) or change the constitution to make it harder to remove them, or to indict them for any wrogdoing during or after their terms of service (Italy again). This was not planned when democracy was conceived. It was not the main idea.
So, how has this shrinking of democratic values occurred in historically democratic countries where politicians are traditionally accept their fates every four or five years at the ballot box? In Europe, this has happened because the EU has made it necessary. On one hand, the European Council of Ministers has replaced many of the features of national government because a great deal of decisions take place at European level, and are implemented nationally under the pretext that they were actually decided by the national politicians. And on the other, because of the turbulence they knew they were about to unleash on everyone. Don't tell me that five years ago, or even ten, those politicians had no idea of the storm they were kicking up when they introduced the euro, allowing Greece, Portugal and other such ClubMed nations into the club. I cannot believe for one moment that after so many errors of judgement on the way, so many wrong moves, so many contrived agreements and forced referendum decisions in the last decade, that there is no alternative agenda. You cannot tell people "you will have democracy, but only if you vote our way". Democracy has to mean something, and it has to be binding.
On the other hand, what is it like living in a country without democracy? In a country like the People's Republic of Korea, it's probably a living nightmare. I would not wish to spend 24 hours in that country. I think the same about Myanmar and Zimbabwe. But in Belarus or pre-election Azerbaijan or Bhutan, I could imagine living, despite not having much in the way of freedom of speech. It poses the questions, "is democracy over-rated?" and "is democracy something for everyone?" When you look at China or Russia, two vast countries, are either of them capable of further democratising without keeping a firm grip on the people for fear of independence movements springing up everywhere? Would the Chinese people really know what to with full voting rights? Do they really need it? I think they are doing very well with their systems as they are now.
Let us look at something simple: if a little village in, say, Nigeria applies to the EU for funding of a bridge over a dangerous river, the European Commission will firstly send it to a committee, who will then decide whether it is viable or not. Within months, they will dispatch a surveyor, an engineer and a budget analyst to the location to draw up plans and make an offer to the Nigerians. Once this has been approved, it will go back to Brussels for ratification, and within the next budgetary outlay, funds will be made available. Months later, the bridge will be built using ethically sourced materials and properly paid skilled workers, but the whole process will take about 2 to 3 years. Then there's the Chinese. They'll just turn up in the village, ask where they'd like the bridge and get to work. The material for the bridge might not be so stable or Kosher, and the builders might be less capable, but the whole thing would take 3 months, maximum. That is the difference between an ethical democratic process and a one-party state: the bridge might take a lot shorter to build, and the shorter waiting time will mean fewer will be killed whilst the Europeans are still discussing the proposal, and there will be
So, could the slow eradication of democracy in Europe be a necessity, clandestinely being introduced to be able to compete with China and Russia in the long term? Could the lack of transparency at European level be something to do with politicians' need to hide something far more worrying from us? I doubt it. But there's still a little thought cloud in my head which does not rule it out entirely. What I think is most likely, is that the current crop of politicians is grasping at any way at all to distance themselves from the mess they made of the last 10 years.
To finish, when asking what democracy is, we cannot put a finger on it because everywhere is different. In the politically disengaged countries of western Europe, democracy has been compromised. It has shifted from parliament to talent shows, from local government to online polls and customer satisfaction surveys. Panem et Circenses is the motto of our civilisation. With the coming of the Occupy movement and the sudden unpopularity of the European Union and what it stands for, I think the day is coming where people power, in whatever form is most suited to each country, will take back control. But in the end, it's the power-hungry that corrupt the system causing an endless cycle of bad governance. That makes no difference if in Asia, Africa or Europe, dictatorships or democracies: the sharpest elbows win.
What, though, is the most bizarre thing, is the sheer number of organisations, corporations, state-owned bodies and self-governing regions that bypass any form of public scrutiny. There's the Bilderberg group, the City of London Corporation, OPEC, any number of multi-billion-dollar company, media outlet or bank to name but a few. These organisations generally accept the widely-held opinion that politicians in democracies (at least those who make it) are malleable, popularity-hungry, attention-seeking, shallow petty criminals, loan sharks and dangerously crooked property owners in need of a place to legitimise, consolidate and widen their shady dealings through networking and rubbing shoulders with other like-minded individuals. A kind of LinkedIn for criminals who want to do everything officially.
These organisations also know that there are those who genuinely come into politics wishing to change the world. Visionaries, fresh-minded academics, talented individuals with imagination and a steely eye on the goals they wish to achieve. Of course, when they come up against the might of the machine, they also find their dreams dashed, their hopes halved and their ambitions annulled, either through being told that the thought is a valiant one but totally impractical, or by being ridiculed, scandalised or hounded out of office by the more sinister factions of politics, and their media buddies. This of course depends on how close to the bone the visionary entrant comes when airing his or her new ideas.
So the large firms single out the right politicians for their dirty work: they give them special deals, assure them of seats on their boards of directors and pushing their candidacies for posts where they can be of use to them after their political careers are over. This is why nothing truly pleasing to the people ever gets done; because it's not in anyone's interest. It's not in the politicians' interests, because they would be putting themselves out of use; it's not in the corporations' interests because they'd not have anyone to represent their shady interests at international level, and it's not in the people's interests because it would make us all jumpy, to think that everything was going so swimmingly well. We'd think there was a catch and start petty paranoid skirmishes with traditional foes.
Leaders in the democratic world these days are so uninspirational, so faceless, so full of themselves, that we cannot really blame the Chinese for viewing democracy with suspicion, when they see how the Greeks behaved. How can you respect a politician who, in order to secure another term in power, promises to reduce taxes, or the retirement age by a year, or unemployment by hiring another few thousand people to do meaningless tasks that could be handled by half a dozen job students? How can you respect a politician who fakes his own country's economic situation in order to join a currency union his country has no hope of keeping up with?
I'll tell you how.
Let's take each country as being a person, and the Eurozone a little like marriage. So before the Eurozone was set up, when each country was in the singles market, so to say, they put on their best outfits for summits and kept the smiles going long into the evening, a little like singles have done for decades. Once they get married, of course, the partners start noticing little niggling habits that irritate them, like too many referenda (Ireland, Denmark) or inability to save money (Ireland gain, Italy, Greece). In the end, what happens to most married people? They let themselves go. They get unfit, lazy, start putting on weight and neglecting their personal hygiene. The same has happened in the euro marriage. Now they're tied together in an eternal bond of "till death us do part" those newlyweds feel that they'll be saved by the others if things go wrong. And then the mid-life crisis sets in, where the man decides to get a Porsche convertible and go trekking in the Arctic. The woman (Germany in this case) stays at home, horrified. No wonder she (Merkel) wants to limit the manoeuvrability of the Greek economy.
Now, returning to the original question - what is democracy? For me, you can' t let the people decide everything, because we'd reintroduce hanging and expel anyone with an accent. That's unfortunately how it goes, because those with opinions, principles or views are usually a lot louder than those who just get on with their lives worry-free, and are more likely to bother to vote in any referendum, which is why David Cameron refuses to give the UK a referendum of staying in the EU. On the other hand, you can't let politicians carry on governing forever, or they get too big for their boots. They get to know the system too well. So well, in fact, they do things like rein in the national media (Italy, Hungary), reduce freedom of speech (UK, France) or change the constitution to make it harder to remove them, or to indict them for any wrogdoing during or after their terms of service (Italy again). This was not planned when democracy was conceived. It was not the main idea.
So, how has this shrinking of democratic values occurred in historically democratic countries where politicians are traditionally accept their fates every four or five years at the ballot box? In Europe, this has happened because the EU has made it necessary. On one hand, the European Council of Ministers has replaced many of the features of national government because a great deal of decisions take place at European level, and are implemented nationally under the pretext that they were actually decided by the national politicians. And on the other, because of the turbulence they knew they were about to unleash on everyone. Don't tell me that five years ago, or even ten, those politicians had no idea of the storm they were kicking up when they introduced the euro, allowing Greece, Portugal and other such ClubMed nations into the club. I cannot believe for one moment that after so many errors of judgement on the way, so many wrong moves, so many contrived agreements and forced referendum decisions in the last decade, that there is no alternative agenda. You cannot tell people "you will have democracy, but only if you vote our way". Democracy has to mean something, and it has to be binding.
On the other hand, what is it like living in a country without democracy? In a country like the People's Republic of Korea, it's probably a living nightmare. I would not wish to spend 24 hours in that country. I think the same about Myanmar and Zimbabwe. But in Belarus or pre-election Azerbaijan or Bhutan, I could imagine living, despite not having much in the way of freedom of speech. It poses the questions, "is democracy over-rated?" and "is democracy something for everyone?" When you look at China or Russia, two vast countries, are either of them capable of further democratising without keeping a firm grip on the people for fear of independence movements springing up everywhere? Would the Chinese people really know what to with full voting rights? Do they really need it? I think they are doing very well with their systems as they are now.
Let us look at something simple: if a little village in, say, Nigeria applies to the EU for funding of a bridge over a dangerous river, the European Commission will firstly send it to a committee, who will then decide whether it is viable or not. Within months, they will dispatch a surveyor, an engineer and a budget analyst to the location to draw up plans and make an offer to the Nigerians. Once this has been approved, it will go back to Brussels for ratification, and within the next budgetary outlay, funds will be made available. Months later, the bridge will be built using ethically sourced materials and properly paid skilled workers, but the whole process will take about 2 to 3 years. Then there's the Chinese. They'll just turn up in the village, ask where they'd like the bridge and get to work. The material for the bridge might not be so stable or Kosher, and the builders might be less capable, but the whole thing would take 3 months, maximum. That is the difference between an ethical democratic process and a one-party state: the bridge might take a lot shorter to build, and the shorter waiting time will mean fewer will be killed whilst the Europeans are still discussing the proposal, and there will be
So, could the slow eradication of democracy in Europe be a necessity, clandestinely being introduced to be able to compete with China and Russia in the long term? Could the lack of transparency at European level be something to do with politicians' need to hide something far more worrying from us? I doubt it. But there's still a little thought cloud in my head which does not rule it out entirely. What I think is most likely, is that the current crop of politicians is grasping at any way at all to distance themselves from the mess they made of the last 10 years.
To finish, when asking what democracy is, we cannot put a finger on it because everywhere is different. In the politically disengaged countries of western Europe, democracy has been compromised. It has shifted from parliament to talent shows, from local government to online polls and customer satisfaction surveys. Panem et Circenses is the motto of our civilisation. With the coming of the Occupy movement and the sudden unpopularity of the European Union and what it stands for, I think the day is coming where people power, in whatever form is most suited to each country, will take back control. But in the end, it's the power-hungry that corrupt the system causing an endless cycle of bad governance. That makes no difference if in Asia, Africa or Europe, dictatorships or democracies: the sharpest elbows win.
Saturday, 23 June 2007
Brussels Treaty: Mrs Thatcher lives on!
I sometimes read the tabloid press. Not because I enjoy doing so, but because I like to see what the enemy is doing. Tabloid journalism in the UK is the single biggest contributor to ignorance and naïveté amongst the average Briton, especially when it comes to the world at large.
FRONT PAGE NEWS:
SOME STAR HAS ANOTHER STAR'S BABY
SECOND PAGE NEWS:
VITRIOLIC RUBBISH ON ANYTHING WHICH WILL MAKE THIS PAPER SELL
THIRD PAGE NEWS:
NONE - JUST A NAKED LADY AND SOME SEXIST RHETORIC ABOUT HER
FOURTH TO TWELFTH PAGE NEWS:
9-PAGE FEATURE ON HOW YOU CAN IMPROVE YOUR SEX LIFE BY LISTENING TO FARM ANIMALS INTERSPERSED WITH SHORT ARTICLES ON FUNNY OR WEIRD TRIVIA
Thirteenth page news:
There's a war on in Iraq and Chirac is no longer President of France PLUS BIG ADVERT FOR PLASTIC SURGERY
FOURTEENTH TO TWENTY-FIFTH PAGE NEWS:
WHAT THE RICH, FAMOUS AND PERVERTED HAVE BEEN UP TO RECENTLY
blablabla, adverts, insurance cons, schemes to rip off old people, holiday ads, horoscopes, recipes, useless gadgets, telephone sex for sale, etc. etc.
SIXTIETH TO BACK PAGE NEWS:
SPORT, GAMBLING, RUMOURS OF BIG MONEY FOOTBALL TRANSFERS
The type of "person" who reads the tabloid press is the same one who would spend a decadent amount of money voting in TV reality shows but would find it hard to name his/her local Member of Parliament, and would have little idea as to what policies they have.
OK, I admit, this type of person exists all over Europe, but on a far greater extent in the UK. You just need to take a five-minute walk down the High Streets of Orpington, Gravesend or Chatham to realise how widespread they have become. So when I was reading several articles and forums, not only from the tabloid press, concerning this weekend's crucial European Summit and treaty, I was horrified to see how naïve people are on this matter, and how fearful they are of anything non-British.
"Sold to Europe!"
"Bliar has tied us to a European superstate" (note spelling of PM's name)
"Let's get out before it's too late!"
"No to any undemocratic treaty"
and the list goes on.
In order to see what kind of journalism breeds this lack of understanding and mind-boggling isolationism, you only need to look at a tabloid newspaper's website.
One article which made me embarrassed to be British was this one:
http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2007280672,00.html
And I decided to write the editor an email:
Dear Mr Pascoe-Watson,
Having read your article comparing Tony Blair to either Napoleon or Wellington, I find it hard to digest that Thatcherite jingoism can still have a place in 21st century Europe.
Times have moved on now.
The world is forming into power blocs of allies, including Europe, looking after each other's interests and assuring the UK of a higher profile and a louder voice at the world table.
Mr Blair did not sign up to the Charter of Fundamental Rights because it gets in the way of his draconian clampdown on British people's legal status. It means that all the historically retarded readers of the tabloids have encouraged Mr Blair to make the UK the most spied upon Orwellian nation on Earth, and you think it is a good thing, simply because this piece of legislation was not made solely by a British politician.
Let us face matters: you would prefer an independent British police state to a European law protecting your rights to be innocent BEFORE proven guilty, unlike the recent unilateral UK Home Office decision to detain people for long periods even if they may be innocent.
The Empire is long past. English-speaking countries are no better allies, not least the US, who made the UK pay every penny back for the Second World War, and still anti-Europeans harp on about how strong allies we are. Wake up little England, and smell the coffee.
If British anti-Europeans don't like the feeling of being in Europe because they feel the rules are being made elsewhere, just remember one thing: fighting your corner as a member who is taken seriously is better than skulking around on the periphery where nobody wants to notice you.
The only other leader who had any objections to the procedings this weekend was Mr Kaczynski of Poland - and just ask any educated Pole what they think of him.
The only reasons why Brits are universally disliked is firstly on evidence in the tourist resorts of Ibiza, Torremolinos and Corfu, and secondly on the political stage where the contributors to forums and blogs are right now vilifying any European project, whether it be for our benefit or not. And upon viewing their appalling spelling and grammar it is no wonder: they do not seem to take in basic linguistic rules, so they'll read and agree with every acidic demagogical syllable so artfully paraphrased in the negative to suit their small, monolingual worlds they wish to wallow in.
It is sad when a once-mighty nation has more voters in the Big Brother final than in the general election. It just shows you how little people really care about what is good for them.
Still, I admire your journalistic guile! Do you really believe what you write, though?
Yours Sincerely,
Raymond Goslitski
God, I needed that. I feel so much better now.
If the European Union has one failing though, it is that it has not promoted itself in the right way. It has good ideas, some excellent in fact. But it hides its light under a bushel. It doesn't seem to let people know why it can be a force for good, and what it has done to make our European continent a good place to live in. And that is where the battle against the hardline Euro-sceptics can be won.
FRONT PAGE NEWS:
SOME STAR HAS ANOTHER STAR'S BABY
SECOND PAGE NEWS:
VITRIOLIC RUBBISH ON ANYTHING WHICH WILL MAKE THIS PAPER SELL
THIRD PAGE NEWS:
NONE - JUST A NAKED LADY AND SOME SEXIST RHETORIC ABOUT HER
FOURTH TO TWELFTH PAGE NEWS:
9-PAGE FEATURE ON HOW YOU CAN IMPROVE YOUR SEX LIFE BY LISTENING TO FARM ANIMALS INTERSPERSED WITH SHORT ARTICLES ON FUNNY OR WEIRD TRIVIA
Thirteenth page news:
There's a war on in Iraq and Chirac is no longer President of France PLUS BIG ADVERT FOR PLASTIC SURGERY
FOURTEENTH TO TWENTY-FIFTH PAGE NEWS:
WHAT THE RICH, FAMOUS AND PERVERTED HAVE BEEN UP TO RECENTLY
blablabla, adverts, insurance cons, schemes to rip off old people, holiday ads, horoscopes, recipes, useless gadgets, telephone sex for sale, etc. etc.
SIXTIETH TO BACK PAGE NEWS:
SPORT, GAMBLING, RUMOURS OF BIG MONEY FOOTBALL TRANSFERS
The type of "person" who reads the tabloid press is the same one who would spend a decadent amount of money voting in TV reality shows but would find it hard to name his/her local Member of Parliament, and would have little idea as to what policies they have.
OK, I admit, this type of person exists all over Europe, but on a far greater extent in the UK. You just need to take a five-minute walk down the High Streets of Orpington, Gravesend or Chatham to realise how widespread they have become. So when I was reading several articles and forums, not only from the tabloid press, concerning this weekend's crucial European Summit and treaty, I was horrified to see how naïve people are on this matter, and how fearful they are of anything non-British.
"Sold to Europe!"
"Bliar has tied us to a European superstate" (note spelling of PM's name)
"Let's get out before it's too late!"
"No to any undemocratic treaty"
and the list goes on.
In order to see what kind of journalism breeds this lack of understanding and mind-boggling isolationism, you only need to look at a tabloid newspaper's website.
One article which made me embarrassed to be British was this one:
http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2007280672,00.html
And I decided to write the editor an email:
Dear Mr Pascoe-Watson,
Having read your article comparing Tony Blair to either Napoleon or Wellington, I find it hard to digest that Thatcherite jingoism can still have a place in 21st century Europe.
Times have moved on now.
The world is forming into power blocs of allies, including Europe, looking after each other's interests and assuring the UK of a higher profile and a louder voice at the world table.
Mr Blair did not sign up to the Charter of Fundamental Rights because it gets in the way of his draconian clampdown on British people's legal status. It means that all the historically retarded readers of the tabloids have encouraged Mr Blair to make the UK the most spied upon Orwellian nation on Earth, and you think it is a good thing, simply because this piece of legislation was not made solely by a British politician.
Let us face matters: you would prefer an independent British police state to a European law protecting your rights to be innocent BEFORE proven guilty, unlike the recent unilateral UK Home Office decision to detain people for long periods even if they may be innocent.
The Empire is long past. English-speaking countries are no better allies, not least the US, who made the UK pay every penny back for the Second World War, and still anti-Europeans harp on about how strong allies we are. Wake up little England, and smell the coffee.
If British anti-Europeans don't like the feeling of being in Europe because they feel the rules are being made elsewhere, just remember one thing: fighting your corner as a member who is taken seriously is better than skulking around on the periphery where nobody wants to notice you.
The only other leader who had any objections to the procedings this weekend was Mr Kaczynski of Poland - and just ask any educated Pole what they think of him.
The only reasons why Brits are universally disliked is firstly on evidence in the tourist resorts of Ibiza, Torremolinos and Corfu, and secondly on the political stage where the contributors to forums and blogs are right now vilifying any European project, whether it be for our benefit or not. And upon viewing their appalling spelling and grammar it is no wonder: they do not seem to take in basic linguistic rules, so they'll read and agree with every acidic demagogical syllable so artfully paraphrased in the negative to suit their small, monolingual worlds they wish to wallow in.
It is sad when a once-mighty nation has more voters in the Big Brother final than in the general election. It just shows you how little people really care about what is good for them.
Still, I admire your journalistic guile! Do you really believe what you write, though?
Yours Sincerely,
Raymond Goslitski
God, I needed that. I feel so much better now.
If the European Union has one failing though, it is that it has not promoted itself in the right way. It has good ideas, some excellent in fact. But it hides its light under a bushel. It doesn't seem to let people know why it can be a force for good, and what it has done to make our European continent a good place to live in. And that is where the battle against the hardline Euro-sceptics can be won.
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