There's your EU

Love the way too that a German court now has the right to ban sales of Samsung's new tablet throughout the EU (except the Netherlands) Did anyone notice? And there you have it - I don't want to digress from the issue of this board but a German court in Dussledorf has now decided British law as to the sale of a product. The EU doesn't even bother transferring the obligation to enact the same law to the British legal machine, to give the EU credibility and legitimacy - they just do it from another country, and we comply. There's your EU.

50% hike in British rail fares? Thanks EU!

Below is the comment I made on the following Facebook post, from the EU Referendum Campaign:

https://www.facebook.com/eu.campaign/posts/124688387627241

Comment:

There are some really interesting comments being made here, and it makes a change to see a intellectual discussion that doesn't descend into name-calling, as can so often happen to comment threads of newspaper articles. I would like to state that BR was just another tragic case of an industry (and jobs) being destroyed because of EU rules, and let's not even mention the most criminal of policies - fisheries, and what it has done to the UK. I stand in agreement with the points that the destruction of our trade links with the Commonwealth was the prerequisite of entry (as was the subsequent domination of France in agriculture, because it suddenly became cheaper to buy from France than import from the Commonwealth) but that was always part of the plan. The beauty of it is that the French built their dominance on the back of subsidies AND by having the rest of Europe as their customers, not out of choice but because high tariffs made everywhere else expensive! Neat trick. I also agree wholeheartedly with the same-old European attitude, in particular France (and other countries) where they constantly disregard the rules without fear of consequence. In turn, they then abuse the law-abiding UK as they fearlessly buy up our companies. (Surprised EDF wasn't mentioned - remember when they charged us more to subsidise cheaper bills in France?) It's not protectionism I support, but a fair playing field - and that just doesn't exist! As I always tell my students, just try to buy a French supermarket or bank, and let's see what happens! Would love Tesco to go to France and sell apples from New Zealand or South Africa more cheaply than French ones! In conclusion, if the EU can't get it right economically, and then we consider the fact that politically it is corrupt and void of democracy, the case is getting stronger by the day to leave and reestablish our relationship with those countries that DO choose to be part of the EU, as people finally realise the Brussels effect on their lives. For years I've seen the way things were going, as I'm sure many of you have - and if someone would pay me to write about the EU I gladly would(!) but I leave you with a lovely link from yesterday's papers - pay attention to what the Italian Prime Minister is reported to have said. Thanks for reading.http://www.telegraph.co.uk​/finance/comment/ambroseev​ans_pritchard/8700782/ECB-​is-eurolands-last-hope-as-​bail-out-machinery-fails-t​o-resolve-crisis.html

England 1 – Germany 4

My official response to the match:

I will begin by quoting Andy Murray, when asked about the match at half-time:

'I would like to see England win, but Germany did look pretty good. But you never know in a knockout. England have got the players to win the match but they just need to play well.'

He's absolutely right. But we just didn't play as well as we could have done. I agree with the pre-match analysis that man for man, the English team is better, but when on a field under pressure the team cohesion just did not come through. The Germans were well coordinated and had options. I also completely agree with the post-match analysis that we were weak on defence - the worst defence ever known! The Germans shall receive credit for a convincing win, as I would expect the same if the positions were reversed.

The only factor I think that needs to remain in consideration is that if it wasn't for the disallowed goal that would have equalised the score before half-time (and it WAS a goal; nobody in their right mind could say it wasn't) then I think our team spirit and hope, and MOTIVATION would have carried us into the second-half with an optimism that could have improved our chances.

Instead I believe that the anger over the disallowed goal affected the team's performance and clouded our judgement. It's like one of the commentators here said during the break "If we allow anger to enter the field we are going to make bad decisions in the second half" - and we did make awful decisions. However, although important that this point remains in consideration, the Germans played very well and we must be fair and give credit where it is due.

To close, I am in a fortunate position tonight in contrast to other England fans because I can now turn my hopes and attention to my second country Mexico this evening. For me it's not all over yet! Good luck Mexico!

Election Fever!!

The countdown has begun!  One more month and change is upon us – I’m optimistic, but also realistic.  But one step at a time.  I’ll be blogging my ideas and thoughts here and on my now-used Twitter account, so I can’t wait to see what happens.

I wrote a funny Twitter post too today, that I think I’m going to turn into a mini series of small poetic lines to summarise the general British mood at this precise time that has now dawned upon us in the eagerly-awaited political calendar.

 

So here goes a new small collection:

Reflection 1

Brown the Clown
Soon out of town (to Brussels?)
Give us our liberties back
And stay schtum on your backbench
No Lord Broon for you
Mr Clown

Reflection 2

Gordon Brown
Oh, what a clown!
Debt goes up, and..
Wealth goes down.
And just where is the gold….
At the end of Gord’s red-brick rainbow?

 

Reflection 3

Nick Clegg…let’s break a leg
And get out a chequebook or two
Liberal, yeah sure,
But not at the core
Where tax and spend prevails.
So, off to the EU you go, where for sure
You’ll find some friends
Socialists, socialists and more.

Reflection 4

Labour, Labour, do me a favour,
And let me speak my mind,
Let me take photos,
Of all those potholes,
That you’ve left in my life.
Freedom, freedom shall come to me,
From the clear blue sky.

Reflection 5

Lisbon Treaty,
Just what I wanted,
On that cold December night.
All undercover,
Without much of a flutter,
Was the deed done,
That might change us forever.
Deception, deception,
Cowardice, cowardice,
Plain for all to see.
And not just the eyes of a bat,
Saw that dreadful pact,
But too the eyes of elephants,
Who shall never forget.

A General Reflection

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As I sit here ready to leave work at 4.47pm on this sunny Thursday afternoon, with all classes done for the week but a lot of grading to do, a few thoughts are going through my head that I want to write on my blog.

I was speaking with a student earlier who was telling me that he has a friend in the UK, and I was asked questions that essentially amounted to "Is this true...or not...? etc"

I spent the next ten minutes explaining what are a lot of the current "negatives" in the UK, and I couldn't disagree when the student challenged me concerning social issues - namely:

Is it true that young girls are getting pregnant all the time?
Is it true that technologically we are falling behind?
Is it true that a lot of people are not working, and there are those who live directly off the government?

I found myself having to agree, but to clarify the points in more detail. I also reiterated strongly that despite clear issues that we currently face as a country, including drugs, the benefits culture, political correctness, teenage pregnancies and the effects of the economic crisis, (amongst others) that we do still have some wonderful things. Let's not forget that should we work hard and find a life purpose, that quality of life in general is good; that education standards despite political correctness is excellent, and who can doubt the beauty of the British countryside? There are still things to look towards!

I left the conversation and told my student to ask his friend "What does it mean to be English?" and "What are English traits as supposed to British ones?" I think these questions in the short-term future will present problems that currently exist but are underestimated.

All in all, upon coming back to the office I couldn't help but feel an overall sadness. What is going on in the UK? Am I just an eternal pessismist? I miss my family and my country, but there is little to feel patriotic for, whilst we face this collective political, economic and social mess. What kind of a future do we have as a society? Such great questions have no clear answer; however what is crystal clear is the feeling of sadness I have, as I contemplate certain realities that we cannot deny.
-

Councils won’t cut back if they can make savings elsewhere……

The title says it all.  The link is here to read the offending article….let’s just provide readers with the part that made me burst out laughing…..

“However John Denham, the local Government secretary, refused to a put a figure on local authority spending cuts, admitting only that "things are going to be tighter" for councils.

In a bad tempered exchange on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Mr Denham refused seven times to quantify the amount councils may have to cut spending.

He insisted that cuts in front line services would not be necessary if councils made efficiency savings elsewhere.”

The Government won’t say to what extent the cuts will be….claims that things are going to be tighter, and the real good part is that if cuts can be avoided by making savings elsewhere…..WHY WEREN’T CUTS MADE DURING THE GOOD TIMES?  There were obviously opportunities to save money before, and there is a strong implication that wastage has been at the heart of local Government……and for how long?

A pity state of affairs – an inefficient local Government that is about to get a whole lot worse.  Can’t protect cuts from the economic realities that this Government has largely created.

Back to writing….

In these last 20 minutes before I go to an extra class scheduled at 10am, I finally decided to get back into blogging. Regular readers will be pleased to know that I’m going to commence writing, for there remains a lot of economic/political and other issues and interests to blog about.

I’m using Windows Live Writer, which means that I no longer need to go into Blogger directly…..I always found it a chore to have to log in, and I like the idea of trying this method, as I used to do with ScribeFire, the Firefox-extra that allows you to blog from any webpage.

I’m hoping that by integrating my blog writing with other day-to-day activities that it’ll become easier to keep a written record of events. All I need to do now is find an easier method of saving posts rather than manually putting them into a word document. If anybody has any suggestions let me know.

Classes are going well at school, where I am redesigning and giving an introductory class to economics and politics. Although many of the themes remain the same to the previous incarnation of this class, the source materials have been completely overhauled, and I’m very glad to be using a book published in 2010! I am also making use of several excellent resources; one which I have found particularly useful is http://www.economics-network.co.uk – credit be to those who deserve it.

That’s all for now!