Dan, Dan - the democracy man!

I must admit that I find Daniel Hannan a little too good to be true at times. His speeches are so brilliantly delivered and the contents so well thought through that it's hard to find any flaws in his arguments.


Watch Daniel Hannan Speech in News  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com


PS: I meant to post this yesterday but couldn't find the code!

When Irish eyes are smiling - not!

This could be the sign of things to come in the UK if this rather over-long cameraphone video of the queue for jobs at a Londis supermarket in Dublin is anything to go by. (I haven't been to that lovely gem of a city for about fifteen years and it seems a lot more cosmopolitan than I remember.)

Don't watch it to the end if you're easily bored!



More pertinently, I wonder whether Libertas can reproduce the original Irish 'no' vote against the Lisbon Treaty (aka The European Constitution) in the next ballot in October? Or has the economic landscape changed so much that a majority of the electorate will be persuaded to put their faith in ever closer union with the EU and all that will entail?

I'm worried they will do the wrong thing for the wrong reasons and, consequently, drag the UK into a spiralling fall into the abyss of a United States of Europe.

Can we trust the Irish to do the right thing?

A worrying report in the Irish Times today which reports a poll showing 51% in favour of the Treaty of Lisbon (aka "The European Constitution").

More work to do, my friends.

Oh God! Not him again!

Despite the fact that the Treaty of Lisbon (aka The European Constitution), which provides for a European president to be elected for (if I recall correctly) six years, has not been brought into effect because of the Irish 'No' vote, there is still a movement to get Tony Blair slotted into the post.

According to this report, Sarkozy is pushing his old friend forward.

More likely, they are both trying very hard to keep alive the chances of the Constitution actually being ratified by the Irish in a second vote in the autumn.

A 'yes' vote by the Irish would be a major disaster but Blair becoming the EU president would be the last straw. I cannot stand the idea of all those smug New Labourites feeding off my taxes.

Labour peer not sure about democracy

I had begun to warm to Lord Malloch-Brown, the Foreign Office Minister, over the last few months. He is an experienced operator in the field of diplomacy and speaks with an assuringly moderate tone. He especially impressed during the Burma crisis last year.

However, his reputation has dropped like a stone following this prouncement on Eire's position in relation to the Treaty of Lisbon:

"With 24 countries having approved the treaty, I am not sure whether the voters of Ireland should have a right of veto over the aspirations of all the other people of Europe. I am not sure whether that is, or is not democracy."

Well, Lord Pillock-Brown, I am not sure it is democracy that the British people have been denied the right to vote on whether they wish to approve it despite the Labour government's manifesto expressly promising that a referendum on a new EU Constitution would be held. (OK, tell me it's not a new constitution even though it is 90% the same as the previously proposed constitution that was vetoed by Holland and France!)

EU to take "power" from the UK?

Whilst I am not a supporter of UKIP or Nigel Farage, their leader in the EU Parliament, this piece by him is most concerning.



If what he says is true about the Commission trying to 'mutualise' the UK's natural gas and oil supplies under the guise of the yet unratified Treaty of Lisbon then this must surely be the time when we all say "enough is enough".

Respecting The Irish "No" Vote - Not!

Take a few minutes to read this wonderful piece from Robert Shrimsley reported on the FT Blog. It illustrates beautifully what the politicians that run the EU really think about the people whose views they are supposed to represent

"The great figures of Europe met in the wake of the Irish No vote to agree on a way forward. About one thing they were absolutely clear. “We must respect the Irish vote,” they agreed. “It would be a terrible sign of European arrogance to suggest we could just sweep aside a democratic vote of a member state.

"So they all agreed to go out and tell the Irish how much they respected their vote. And they agreed there must be no bullying; no warning the Irish to get their ungrateful Fenian butts into line or go it alone in miserable and obscure isolation. In fact, they were so clear on this point that they at once agreed to go out and start emphasising it in public. Several gave statements noting that there was pressure from some quarters for Ireland to be left behind but adding that the people of Ireland should not be frightened or feel disrespected because they were sure it would not come to this.

"And so, just to offer further reassurance, they would put up posters in Ireland making clear that the Irish had better vote Yes PDQ or get their miserable Fenian butts out of the EU. But maybe even this is not enough, said one. Perhaps we ought to get over to Ireland and give TV interviews stressing that under no circumstances will there be any miserable Fenian butt-kicking. While they were there, they would take the chance to add that so deep was their respect for the Irish No that Ireland could have as long as it liked to change its mind. Across the continent European leaders insisted there would be no pressure. “If the deadline slips by a few months, so be it,” said one, adding that to take any other view would be to “disrespect the Irish No”.

"But surely, they argued, the best way to demonstrate our respect to the Irish people is to show how we can move Europe forward. We need to change the agenda, said another.“The people have spoken,” they said. And the message was that they wanted to get away from all this talk of treaties and constitutions and referendums that had caused the Irish reaction that had to be respected. “We have to move the agenda on,” they said. We need to stop bothering the people of the EU with these referendums they do not understand. When you analyse this, they said, what the Irish - who had to be respected - were telling them was that this was far too complex a matter and they want us to drive this through without bothering them.

"Once you put it that way it was clear their views had to be respected. More importantly they had to heed the message that they were being told - to stop fussing about internal stuff and start talking about things that really mattered to the people, like jobs and the economy. That meant they needed to drive through those changes as fast as possible so they could get on to the important matters.

"So they got to work at once, working out how to secure most of the rejected changes without bothering the Irish again - out of respect for their democratically expressed wishes. After all, they noted, deep down the Irish are good Europeans. They know a convoy cannot move at the pace of its slowest member - unless, of course, that slowest member is France."

So there we have it! Stuff you Ireland - get off your butts and fall into line. We are going full steam ahead whether you like it or not. Democracy - don't ya just love it?

Friday 13th - Lucky For Some? (Part Two)

Thank God for the Irish!

Voting no against the Lisbon Treaty has probably stopped the final, and what seemed inevitable, step in the absorption of the UK into the "European Project".

Several pints of Guinness are now required to get the celebrations underway. My shout!

Gordon Brown Speaks With Forked Tongue!

Anyone who has ever suspected that Gordon Brown is a devious lying toad should read this invaluable expose in the Spectator's Coffee House blog today.

If the Lisbon Treaty isn't a European Constitution then I'm a Dutchman!

Of course, you might choose to think he's not bad - just mad - at least if this item in the FT Westminster blog is to be believed.

Happy 51st Birthday To The Treaty Of Rome...Not!

The EUSSR was created on this day in 1957 and has come a long way since then as John Redwood writes here .

But it's not a cause for celebration. If, in 1975 when the UK was given the chance to vote on leaving the then so-called "European Economic Union", we had known what was to come would the outcome have been different?

Probably not because most of us had no idea what the Treaty of Rome actually said. It appears that was our last chance to escape from being drawn into what has become an unelected, bureaucratic, unaccountable and corrupt organisation that is spending our money, making our laws and turning us all into "Europeans".

I Want A Referendum! Any Referendum!

I am getting a bit confused by this Treaty of Lisbon debate in the Commons.

On the one hand, Labour say we don't need a referendum because its not a new constitution so they don't have to honour their manifesto pledge.

On the other hand, the Conservatives (who also promised a referendum on a new constitution) say the Treaty is, by any other name, the same as the former proposed Constitution that was abandoned by the EU after it was rejected in referenda by France and Holland.

On the other other (sic) hand, the LibDems, who had also promised a referendum on a new constitution, came up with the wheeze (under Ming Campbell's leadership) to offer one on whether the UK should remain a member of the EU.

I am running out of hands at this point! But it was very amusing to see the LibDems feigning mock outrage in the Commons today because they were not allowed to raise the issue of holding a referendum on our continuing membership of the EU. What a bunch of wallies! What a bunch of disingenuous obsessive EU-ophiles they are! And they can't even get that right, according to Iain Dale's blog: "The Pre-Planned LibDem Stunt That Went Wrong".

The real issue is that this Treaty makes fundamental and far-reaching changes to the UK's relationship with the EU and it needs to be properly debated in Parliament and then put to a referendum as all the three main parties promised in their manifestoes before the 2005 General Election.

The only party that has kept it's promise? The Conservatives, of course.

Born in the EUSSR!

Do you want yourself, your children and grandchildren to be citizens of the United States of Europe?

If not, then read this blog by John Redwood MP to understand why you have no choice in the matter.

Your Government is about to give away your centuries old right to be British. There is nothing you can do about it. Gordon Brown and his despicable, devious and mendacious administration have reneged on Blair's promise to hold a referendum on the Treaty of Lisbon (aka The European Constitution).

Don't it make you feel proud to be, well, er....a European?

Sarkozy - the real threat to European unity?

The Spectator's Coffee House blog posed an interesting question about the relative corruptness of the EU after the European Court of Auditors refused to sign off its accounts for the 13th year in a row citing "errors of legality and regularity". It asks: "can anyone think of a more financially corrupt institution outside of Africa?"

Then, link this to the post by Danniel Hannan, the excellent Conservative MEP writing in the Daily Telegraph here where he reports on a speech by Nicolas Sarkozy to the European Parliament. "The French people had not voted No to the EU. On the contrary, they wanted Europe to do more..... the EU should decide things by majority, not by unanimity, which gave the power of veto to the most reluctant.... ratification of the constitution would now be without a referendum.... on the subject of protectionism, the EU mustn’t leave capitalism unrestrained ... the capitalism that he was interested in was that of the workers and producers, not that of the speculators and rentiers."

Hannan goes on to say: "My problem is not with him, but with the self-deceit of the British commentators who keep claiming, against all the evidence, that the EU is becoming less federalist and more free market. We’ve been telling ourselves this for 50 years, during which time Brussels has steadily agglomerated more and more powers."

It's all going to end in disaster, mark my words! And the treachorous French will be to blame. Should we bail out these cheese eating surrender monkeys yet again? I don't think so!