I am an unrepentant enthusiast for the European Union, indeed a European Federalist. I think the freedoms of movement of people and goods within the EU are the most profound political achievement of my lifetime, and have made the world a very much better place.
I am therefore flabbergasted by the group of unpleasant elitist bastards who apparently will lead the pro-EU campaign for the referendum. How could anybody wishing to win a vote believe that a Board including Peter Mandelson and Danny Alexander is going to help? While the appointment of Lord Rose seems to confirm belief in the “Michelle Mone theory”, that selling knickers grants universal expertise.
Most egregious of all, the Executive Director is Will Straw, whose main qualification is that his father is a war criminal. Founder of the rabid anti-Corbyn website Left Foot Forward and every bit as Atlanticist as Liam Fox, Will Straw is as insanely pro-United States hegemony and as ultra-Zionist as only an extreme Blairite can be. He really is a deeply unappealing figure.
I have no doubt they will be flooded with corporate money. But what I want to know is this. If this referendum is supposed to be a democratic exercise, where every citizen is equal, what grants this self-serving sample of the metropolitan elite the right to nominate themselves as the In campaign? I don’t see how any decent person can have anything to do with them. Having had a lot of respect for Caroline Lucas, I must say if she really is going to work alongside Will Straw then my respect for her is going to plummet.
The original ideals of the EU as a Free Trade Zone with free internal movement of labour have been corrupted long ago.
The EU is now a totalitarian bureaucracy , with the aim of stripping each country of its democratic freedoms, and by means of Financial monopoly of the Euro currency consigning the population to debt serfdom into perpetuity. (see Greece,Latvia,Ireland et al).
Germany, the strongest economy in the EU, calls the shots as regards EU financial policy and uses strong-arm tactics as required to enforce that policy. As they did to subjugate and loot Greece and Cyprus.
Germany is the main EU Vassal state of Washington and is an occupied country with many US army bases. Merkel does not make a decision, without consent from Washington. (see Ukraine and illegal Russian trade sanctions)
Scotlands pursuit of Sovereignity and Independence will all be for nought should they shackle themselves to the Euro.
A country is not free ,independent or sovereign unless it controls its own currency and uses it productively to generate employment and wealth for it citizensa benefit.
“The SNP has selected Lloyd Quinan, the man who believes not being a Nationalist makes you a bad parent, as a candidate in next year’s election. These are the people who are passing legislation to put their named persons in charge of our children.”
_______________________
Fred, I realise that not everbody in the SNP is good and proper, but then that applies to all political parties now, doesn’t it.
But to my main point regarding “named person” from what I gather, and I may be wrong to a certain degree, named persons are people in positions of responsibility.
In a radio interview a teacher at a school in Scotland was asked what she thought of becoming a named person. She replied that was already part of her job to look out for signs of neglect or harm to children in her classroom, she added when asked, if being a named person increased her work load, no its already part of my remit.
The same applies to health professionals care workers, etc, so you see Fred, the duties of a named person, already apply to many public sector jobs already.
Habbabkuk
Are you a sea-lion or a lying c***. Answers please.
Glenn and Republicofscotland
___________________
Please stop sniping at each other.
BTW – have you noticed that Mary, instead of giving us her opinion about whether the UK should stay in the EU or leave, “answers” by posting about Israel? Example:
“Israel has wormed its way into the EU, UEFA and Eurovision.”
This from the person who has the gall to call me a troll 🙂
Guano
“Habbabkuk
Are you a sea-lion or a lying c***. Answers please.”
______________________
With pleasure, Guano. You are a dingbat. 🙂
The above was a “Mary” answer.
you are a troll Habby why deny it, Schaetzchen?
Fedup
“The knickers sales director, come EU yes man…etc, etc, etc…”
_________________________
All this talk about knickers puts a question to mind. Since you and others of your persuasion obviously don’t buy your knickers from Marks and Spencer (because it’s a Jewish business), where DO you buy them? Have you investigated whether there’s not a knicker manufactury somewhere in the West Bank or Gaza, the purchase of your knickers from which would allow you to feel at ease both around your crotch and in your head?
Caroline Lucas and the Greens, are about to become the Scottish media’s 2nd favourite party. They are going to plug the Slimey Greens for the List Vote. Patrick Harvie’s latest wheeze of having a referendum to decide whether or not to hold an INdependence Referendum is going down very well at Pacific Quay
I post “off topic”
You divert
He/she is a troll
Lord Nash who founded Care UK, now owned by Lord Rose’s Bridgepoint, became a Con Minister for Education.
Here is the latest about him
Tory minister has £50,000 secret shares in energy company lobbying government
9 October
•Tory minister Lord Nash failed to declare £50,000 investment in energy industry startup
•Firm lobbied UK government, a competition inquiry and the European Commission to act against its competitors
•Company claims credit for select committee inquiry and clampdown by regulator
•Peer voted on three different pieces of energy-related legislation
http://politicalscrapbook.net/2015/10/minister-lord-nash-50000gbp-secret-energy-shares/#more-54531
His Lords register is as extensive and lengthy as Lord Rose’s.
http://www.parliament.uk/biographies/lords/lord-nash/4270
A Tory donor too.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/mps-expenses/9794202/Two-major-Conservative-donors-appointed-to-government.html
They have no shame. Even though he has a clear interest in promoting academies, he is appointed an Education Minister.
‘Mr Nash sponsors the Pimlico Academy and has been a non-executive member of the Department for Education’s board for the past two years.
Until Thursday morning, Mr Nash worked at Sovereign Capital, which specialises in the healthcare and education sectors.
The Telegraph previously disclosed that Caroline Nash, Mr Nash’s wife, had funded the office of the former Health Secretary Andrew Lansley while he was in opposition.
Mr Nash was previously the former chairman of one of the biggest private health providers to the NHS, Care UK.’
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/mps-expenses/9794202/Two-major-Conservative-donors-appointed-to-government.html
11/1/13
There are 14 mentions of my name on this page. 8 are from me as comments. 6 are from the troll who is attempting to provoke a response. He is filling up the blog for no purpose as per usual.
When it came to the invasion of Iraq the EU was completely ignored,the UK and U.S carried on it’s attack despite De Villepin. (I know the new Eastern European members and Spain were pro invasion )
“The same applies to health professionals care workers, etc, so you see Fred, the duties of a named person, already apply to many public sector jobs already.”
No, the Named Person scheme isn’t the same as the system already in place or they wouldn’t be passing legislation. A named person will be appointed by the government and work to criteria dictated by the government. They will have a list of questions they will have to ask every child and report back. They will have access to information about the child denied to the parent and there will be no way to opt out of the system.
With one named person for 200 children already having been convicted of child sex offences before the scheme is properly in place it’s obvious and should have been obvious all along that this is a groomers charter, the system is there to be abused and it will be abused. Parents are the ones best fiitted to care for children not governments and the SNP attampts to micromanage the lives of every family in Scotland is an infringement of our human rights.
If it was Westminster passing laws so they could dictatate to and spy on the family lives of those in Scotland I’m sure it would be a different story. How would you like it if the Conservatives decided they were going to appoint one of their agents to keep an eye on your children and report back to them?
For me, the debate in the UK about the EU and immigration is totally confused.
I fully understand why some people have a real issue with immigrants, but what you’re mostly talking about is immigrants from the Indian sub-continent, which has nothing to do with the EU. What you really need to address is the British empire and its legacy.
Then we have all the shouting in the UK about ‘open borders’. Well, Britain (and Ireland) never signed-up to the Schengen Agreement…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schengen_Agreement
… and have always retained full control of their own borders. ‘Open EU borders is why we have so many immigrants’ is one of the biggest lies in British politics.
But maybe you do have an issue with the number of fellow Europeans we allow in. Well, that’s mostly because big business wants cheap labour, and increasingly the public sector also needs cheap labour (as I type this the NHS are actively recruiting nursing staff from Spain and Portugal). The vast majority of them come to the UK to earn a buck and then return to their own countries; so why do you hate people from southern and eastern Europe so much?
Or maybe you have a problem with dusky skinned people from the Middle East and Africa? We bomb the fuck out of these countries, in pursuit of corporate profit, and then wonder why we have the biggest refugee crisis since the Second World War (and of course the solution is to bomb them even more).
So tell me, what’s your beef with immigration? or are you one of those people who falls for all the lies and propaganda spoon-fed to you by politicians and the media?
I’m pro EU but also seriously worried about TTIP which is a real Trojan horse in both the In and Out camps.
The fact that the U.S. is so determined to keep Britain in the EU is surely an argument against that result.
RoS: “So we’ve established from Glenns comments, he likes his “puff” he also maybe likes Will Straw but can’t be sure.”
This is rather pathetic stuff, RoS. Have you ever tried rebutting an actual point, instead of coming up with slurs, innuendo and non sequiturs?
I pointed out your hypocrisy in attacking someone simply because they got busted with cannabis at 17, while you cheerfully ignore the admitted cannabis use of people you like.
Your response? To accuse me personally of being a dope-smoker, and a fan of the individual concerned.
Yeah, does the EU even matter anymore, now we have TTIP? Of course, almost nobody knows, because it’s a secret. It looks like TTIP will just take the bad EU stuff, and enforce it on everyone, whilst removing the good EU stuff, so in or out doesn’t matter. Actually, TTIP might mean Cameron would be happy to placate his right flank and get out of the EU, on the grounds that it’s a symbolic gesture anyway.
Again, who knows? But I do know that any treaty negotiated in secret by Big Corporations with a pro-US Empire agenda will not be a good thing, that’s fairly obvious.
Mary: “There are 14 mentions of my name on this page. 8 are from me as comments. 6 are from the troll who is attempting to provoke a response. He is filling up the blog for no purpose as per usual.”
Indeed. While from you, there are numerous slams on various individuals, countries (well, one anyway), posters on this blog, and a couple of links to writing elsewhere. But not one single word on whether -you- would like to see us leave the EU or not.
So who – exactly – “is filling up this blog for no purpose as per usual”?
Fred said
“No, the Named Person scheme isn’t the same as the system already in place”
——————
The Scottish Government says.
A form of the Named Person service is already operating across much of Scotland and builds on the supportive role teachers and health visitors have long offered to children and parents. The new legislation simply makes good practice the standard across Scotland so that all children, young people and their families can expect the same support.
—————
Fred said.
They will have a list of questions they will have to ask every child and report back. They will have access to information about the child denied to the parent and there will be no way to opt out of the system.
——-‘——–
The Scottish government said.
Parents and carers are, with very few exceptions, the best people to raise their children. The Named Person will have no duty to monitor family life. GIRFEC provides a common approach to thinking about wellbeing but does not introduce or impose a uniform set of wellbeing standards. The service recognises that each child and family situation is unique.
——————
Fred said
The system is there to be abused and it will be abused. Parents are the ones best fiitted to care for children not governments and the SNP attampts to micromanage the lives of every family in Scotland is an infringement of our human rights.
————–
The Scottish government said.
The Act does not give the Named Person a monitoring role
The Named Person will respond to information about wellbeing needs raised by the child, young person, parents or those who work with them. The Named Person will help put children, young people and families in control of getting help and support to overcome difficulties at the right time.
A wide range of children’s charities and professionals working daily to support families across the country support the Named Person service.
Instead of meaning quoting Fred read it for yourself.
http://www.gov.scot/Topics/People/Young-People/gettingitright/named-person/top-ten
This is rather pathetic stuff, RoS. Have you ever tried rebutting an actual point, instead of coming up with slurs, innuendo and non sequiturs?
I pointed out your hypocrisy in attacking someone simply because they got busted with cannabis at 17, while you cheerfully ignore the admitted cannabis use of people you like.
Your response? To accuse me personally of being a dope-smoker, and a fan of the individual concerned.
__________________
Rather pathetic Glenn, now that made me laugh, coming from a guy who can’t answer any questions posed to him.
When you start answering questions Glenn maybe just maybe I’ll take you a tad more seriously, as for dope smoking Glenn, you’re the one, all fired up over your buddy Will Straw getting his knuckles rapped over selling the stuff.
If I were a psychologist Glenn, and it doesn’t take much to figure you out, laddie, I guess you may have been caught as a youngster smoking your “puff.”
I mean why else woukd someone get so fired up over Jack Straws waster kid getting busted, it certainly nothing to do with fairness that’s for sure.
Habbabkuk: “Greece’s financial difficulties were not caused by the EU (it managed them all by itself)to and without the EU Greece would have gone bankrupt (as had already occurred twice in its modern history).”
Wasn’t it Germany who was completely intractable, imposed conditions of wretched austerity by way of punishment and warning, and has been the single force determining the fate of Greece, coming down very hard indeed on them?
Was Germany not characterising Greeks as being lazy and feckless, and pretending that the bailout money was going to the Greek people (rather than the banks), and insisted that the Greek people had to pay for the reckless loans – together with full interest – instead of the banks that were stupid and greedy enough to have made them having to take a haircut?
Was Greece not systematically humiliated, with the threat from Jeroen Dijssekbloem (Dutch finance minister and “Eurogroup” president of the finance ministers of the eurozone) “We are going to collapse your banks”, should Varoufakis not capitulate in full? This threat concerned Tsipras having to sign a take-it-or-leave-it ultimatum, with worse conditions than had been presented to the previous government.
I don’t think people are silly for being disgusted at the shocking treatment Greece has been dealt, and feel that alone is enough to abandon the EU as a enabling house for banksters and elite capitalists.
“And ensures that children are raised nationalist.”
Holy Cow, I’ve seen some twisted nonsense and O/T bile on here from the same source and others but this really takes the biscuit. Positively barking. Go directly to Coventry.
I think I like the ‘imposter’ Fred better.
RoS: Good of you to double down on your ludicrous set of personal insults and accusations, with not one shred of evidence for any of them, just to prove my point. I’m actually sorry I mistook you for a genuine commentator at one point.
The EU budget is small, compared with the EU’s size and population. In 2014, it reported revenues of 143,940 million euros (less than 15% of UK government spending).
Here are the largest total contributions by country, in million euros and % of EU revenue:
1. Germany – 25,815 (18%)
2. France – 19,573 (14%)
3. Italy – 14,368 (10%)
4. UK – 11,341 (8%)
The UK actually contributed 14,524 million in 2014 but, unlike the other 27 member countries, it gets a whopping rebate each year – 6,066 million in 2014.
http://ec.europa.eu/budget/index_en.cfm
Mary
“There are 14 mentions of my name on this page. 8 are from me as comments. 6 are from the troll who is attempting to provoke a response. He is filling up the blog for no purpose as per usual.”
______________________
How can my request for you to tell us whether you think the UK should stay in the EU or leave be considered a provocation, Mary?
Why are you ducking giving us your opinion?
Glenn (in reply to RoS)
“I’m actually sorry I mistook you for a genuine commentator at one point.”
_________________
Well, Glenn, you can’t say you (and others) weren’t warned, can you.
I warned you (and others) several times but you chose not to listen.
“The fact that the U.S. is so determined to keep Britain in the EU is surely an argument against that result.”
_____________________
It is nothing of the sort. Typical conspiralunacy.
“RoS: Good of you to double down on your ludicrous set of personal insults and accusations, with not one shred of evidence for any of them, just to prove my point. I’m actually sorry I mistook you for a genuine commentator at one point.”
___________________
Glenn, its me you’re talking too, not some blog rookie, go play the victim with someone who’s a bit more verdant laddie.
I draw your attention to your comment to Fred at 5.36pm, in which you call him a, what was it…..ah yes a BELLIGERENT TWAT.
So don’t speak to me of insults and accusations, I’ve been commenting in here long enough to know your style laddie.
“Saint Fred wrote, “Would the retard pretending to be me kindly fuck off and die.”
“It might have been someone else simply calling themselves Fred who hasn’t posted before, and is unaware of your hallowed presence, you belligerent twat.”