There are many things that the EU
do that effects our lives. These are just some of them:
European ruling could cost woman drivers £4,300 extra
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/news/8350495/European-ruling-could-cost-woman-drivers-4300-extra.html
2) Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall wins his Fish Fight: discarding dead fish may be banned
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/8350443/Hugh-Fearnley-Whittingstall-wins-his-Fish-Fight-discarding-dead-fish-may-be-banned.html
3) Now the EU wants to harmonise pensions, national budgets and public
sector wages
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/danielhannan/100077330/now-the-eu-wants-to-harmonise-pensions-national-budgets-and-public-sector-wages/
4) The EU is weak and clueless on Libya
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/nilegardiner/100077436/the-eu-is-weak-and-clueless-on-libya/
5) London 2012 Olympics: EU ticket applications could flood British system
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/olympics/8339456/London-2012-Olympics-EU-ticket-applications-could-flood-British-system.html
6) Unauthorised GM crops could be allowed in British food chain for the
first time after EU vote
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/8341394/Unauthorised-GM-crops-could-be-allowed-in-British-food-chain-for-the-first-time-after-EU-vote.html
7) City firms ban top executives from promoting EU withdrawal
Companies are petrified that the new European regulators – who took
control of the City on January 1 – will direct their attentions to firms
that are seen to be anti-EU “troublemakers”.
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/alexsingleton/100076495/city-firms-ban-top-executives-from-promoting-eu-withdrawal/
8 ) Migrant car insurance scam exposed: Police admit it's 'become a
running joke'
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1361329/Migrant-car-insurance-scam-exposed-Police-admit-running-joke.html
Not British news, but of interest:
9) Turkish PM rouses immigrant crowd in Germany
Children of Turkish immigrants should learn Turkish before German, Recep
Tayyip Erdogan tells 10,000 in Düsseldorf
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/28/turkish-pm-addresses-immigrants-germany
10) Row over treatment of immigrants reopens Turkey's rift with Europe
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/row-over-treatment-of-immigrants-reopens-turkeys-rift-with-europe-2227548.html
Recep Tayyip Erdogan lambasted the Berlin government's attempts to
integrate its 3.5 million Turkish immigrants, and said policies that
encouraged them to renounce their culture and speak German were a
"violation of international law".
11) We don't care about revolution - we just want to go to Europe:
Chaos, militant Islam and thousands fleeing Tunisia in the aftermath of
uprising
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1360950/Chaos-militant-Islam-thousands-fleeing-Tunisia-aftermath-uprising.html
12) ANOTHER BRIGHT EU IDEA THAT WE COULD DO WITHOUT
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/231645/Another-bright-EU-idea-that-we-could-do-without/Another-bright-EU-idea-that-we-could-do-without
13) THE BRITISH PUBLIC HAVE HAD THEIR FILL OF IMMIGRATION
After all, the very existence of the EU is predicated on the abolition
of national identity and destruction of borders. The motto of the EU is
“united in diversity”. Already we can see signs of the new migration
wave sweeping across the Mediterranean from Africa.
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/231700/The-British-public-have-had-their-fill-of-immigration
14) FIFA, UEFA lose EU court bid over exclusive pay-TV rights
FIFA and UEFA, the game’s global and European governing bodies, lost
court appeals today against EU decisions allowing nations to make the
soccer tournaments available to anyone with access to a TV set.
http://thesoccerroom.com/?p=22914
Today we mourn the
passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for
many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his
birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be
remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as:
- Knowing when to come in out of the rain;
- Why the early bird gets the worm;
- Life isn't always fair;
- and maybe it was my fault.
Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend
more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children,
are in charge).
His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but
overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a 6-year-old boy
charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended
from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for
reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.
Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the
job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly
children.
It declined even further when schools were required to get parental
consent to administer sun lotion or an aspirin to a student; but could
not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an
abortion.
Common Sense lost the will to live as the churches became businesses;
and criminals received better treatment than their victims.
Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a
burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault.
Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to
realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in
her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.
Common Sense was preceded in death, by his parents, Truth and Trust, by
his wife, Discretion, by his daughter, Responsibility, and by his son,
Reason.
He is survived by his 4 stepbrothers;
I Know My Rights
I Want It Now
Someone Else Is To Blame
I'm A Victim
Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone. If
you still remember him, pass this on. If not, join the majority and do
nothing. 11 AUG 2010
*****
Tuesday, 23rd December 2008 *****
Santa may have had some difficulty getting around this year. He had enough trouble in 2007, with the Scottish executive demanding all fur be registered as per Regulation (EC) 338/97 restrictions on importation. Then Rudolf the red-nosed reindeer broke methane emissions regulations over Ulster, Santa left carbon footprints on a hearth in Wales and he was deeply offensive to women in England when he said "Ho Ho Ho". Back in Lapland, his elves had to contend with the working time directive, the ongoing argument about whether they have human rights and, of course, with elf and safety. Santa also has his multiple identities to account for as Claus, Saint Nicholas and Papa Noël, and why he's living in Finnish Lapland when he was born in Turkey.
The new problem, however, is far more serious. It's to do with
Rudolf, and I don't mean his disability discrimination case against the
other reindeer for laughing and calling him names. Rudolf his wild
reindeer buddies are dying out in Finland courtesy of the EU. Soon
Santa will have no one to pull his sleigh.
Rudolf is on the run because the
EU decided wolves are an endangered species. It has banned wolf
hunting. In Italy the 500 remaining wolves remind the misty-eyed
population of the capital city of former greatness (i.e. before
AD451). In Spain and Portugal, the combined population of 2,400
wolves rarely visit Marbella or the Algarve. Even in Swedish Lapland
the ban is not a problem unless you are a reindeer herdsman wanting to
supply the supermarket rather than feed the wolves.
Finnish Lapland is another matter. It has a border with Russia and
Russia's wolf population is such a problem that bounty hunters were
called in. Wolves are clever and they had no trouble digging tunnels
under Finland's "patchy" border fence. They now benefit from EU
endangered species status while they hunt down another endangered
species, Finnish wild reindeer.
The EU has issued only six wolf hunting licences in the problem areas.
The bureaucrats compare road kills of reindeer (2,500 animals in 2002)
to 200-300 officially killed by wolves in 2002. However, in a rugged
country like Finland dead reindeer on the road are a lot easier to
count than chewed bones scattered in the woods. It's also a lot
easier to jump inside a car than hug your way up a tree when wolves
arrive.
Oddly enough, no vegetarian carrot-leather shod EU ecologist has been
sensible enough to suggest that a clampdown on Finnish drink driving
would actually be of more use to the reindeer than endangered species
status – which has effectively done what is says on the label and,
well... endangered them.
Whatever the true figures, the Russo-Finnish wolf population has had
six years to expand since 2002. In Finnish border towns parents heading
for the shops have found wolf tracks following their kids' footprints
to school. A mother found paw prints leading to her baby's pram left on
the porch. Nothing, though, can be done to change the EU rules until
there is real evidence of a problem – and the last "real evidence" is
church records from the severe winter of 1823, when wolves took 23
Finnish children.
Once again it is the EU's obsession with having a one-size-fits-all
policy is at fault. Finland is not like Italy or Spain or even
Sweden. Controlling the local and migrant wolf population, and
protecting wild reindeer, should be a Finnish matter.
Spare a thought for Finnish parents watching over their children at
play, with a shotgun to hand, this Christmas.
RALPH ATKINSON
Post offices: point the
finger at Brussels
Monday, 17 March 2008
There is a continuous stream of media coverage about the battle to save
post offices but the great elephant in the room, the role of the
European Union, is mysteriously never mentioned, writes Jeffrey
Titford, UK Independence Party MEP for Eastern Counties.
Did you know that the government has to go to the European Commission,
cap in hand, for permission to subsidise the Post Office? Since 2003,
the Commission has frozen the subsidy the government can pay to cover
the loss-making parts of the service, like small local post offices in
urban and rural areas, at £150 million per annum.
On 29th November 2007, the Commission authorised the government’s
public funding plans for the Post Office for the period 1st April 2008
to 31st March 2011. It is a total package of £634 million but the
amount to cover the loss-making part of the operation remains frozen at
£150 million per annum. The rest of the money must be used to fund a
loan facility so that cash services at counters can be provided and to
cover the cost of the government’s closure programme.
It is clear that the British government is no longer in control and
neither is Royal Mail, though both take the flack, when closures are
announced. The reality is that because it has frozen the annual £150
million subsidy for so long, the European Commission is responsible for
post office closures. With inflation, the subsidy becomes worth less
each year, so more post offices have to close.
I have considerable concern about the new proposals from Essex County
Council and other local authorities, who are looking at taking over
post offices from Royal Mail. Will the EU approve of this arrangement?
It constitutes state aid and will presumably be over and above the
package agreed with Brussels. We don’t want to spend large amounts of
public money on setting up council run post offices, only for the EU to
say “naughty, naughty you can’t do that.”
You might also like to know that the European Parliament approved the
new EU Postal Directive on 31st January 2008, which means that from 1st
January 2011, the market in postal delivery must be fully opened up to
competition. There will be no more national monopolies like Royal Mail.
Parcel and package deliveries are already open to competition but this
new ruling will, for the first time, include letters under 50 grams or
1.75 ounces.
This ‘liberalisation’ of the market is dressed up as being of great
benefit to the consumer but it really means that competitors will
cherry pick the best parts of the Royal Mail service and it will be
left with the unprofitable bits, like rural deliveries. Once the Royal
Mail is out of the picture, costs to the consumer will inevitably rise
and quality may suffer.
It is time for a reality check in the great Post Office debate. Let’s
point the finger in the right direction – Brussels.
Published in the East Anglian Daily Times
Tangled
Tories get nets in a knot over fishing 06-09-2006
The Conservative Party's fisheries policy became even more tangled
today (6.9.06), as Conservative MEP Struan Stevenson confirmed his
Party’s intention to remain within the Common Fisheries Policy, despite
saying it was a ‘disaster’.
Mr Stevenson, highlighting his ability to face both ways at the same time, stated that CFP withdrawal might still be an ultimate sanction, before confirming that withdrawal would be illegal under the terms of EU membership. As chairman of the European Parliament’s fisheries committee, he was responsible for requesting that the CFP be included in the failed EU Constitution.
Nigel Farage MEP, UKIP’s representative on the fisheries committee, described Mr Stevenson’s comments as ‘Janus like’ and said: “The Conservative Party have really got their nets in a knot over the fisheries policy. Mr Stevenson’s comments simply highlight the tangle at the heart of Tory policy.
“They need to retain a Eurosceptic image while supporting Europhile policies. Who better to defend their Blue Labour image than an MEP who supported the idea that the EU Constitution needed to cover more areas?”.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Not Negotiable 16-01-2007
Mr Cameron said the next Tory government would opt out of the
European Social Chapter. But this provoked a scathing response from the
Ukip leader, Nigel Farage: "Britain cannot just 'opt-out' of the Social
Chapter because it's now part of the Treaty of Amsterdam and fully
enshrined in EU law, which the Conservative Party is fully committed
to."
Last update 2nd March 2011