Belgium emits the usual confidence that the UK even under the Conservatives will be absorbed into EU processes … nicely: Belgian negotiators are convinced that Mr Cameron’s hard line opposition to giving more sovereignty up to the EU, a pledge written into his coalition government’s agreement, will be sacrificed in […]
We all agree that government spending in many Western countries is too high – stupidly high. We are cranking up debts to pay for current consumption at a rate which suggests to the markets that we have lost our minds. The markets look to charge us higher interest rates, as […]
BBC Radio 5 Live has just been poring over poverty in South African townships and today’s UK Budget. They interviewed some township shack-dwellers in Port Elizabeth where, you will remember, veteran collectivist ANC/Communist Govan Mbeki was all against local self-help. With the dismal results now apparent today, albeit not for his […]
Will the EU exist in its current form in a million years’ time? No! In 100,000 years’ time? No! In 1000 years’ time? No, but there may be traces of its current form. In 100 years’ time? Maybe, but much changed. In a mere 10 years’ time? Probably, but perhaps […]
Back from my European wanderings, just in time to see the worst England football performance of all time. Really. The worst since the day when a bolt of lightning zapped the primordial ooze and somehow brought forth DNA. Here’s my question. Why, when the forwards are getting no service from an […]
It comes round again. The bewildering inability of an England football team to field a midfield group of players able to tackle hard and/or trap and control and pass the ball with high accuracy/speed almost every time. This time with added goal-keeping cluelessness. The effect is ingeniously to organise the […]
Maybe it all gets just too complicated. Too many things go wrong at the same time. The capacity of the world’s leaders and institutions to respond in a coherent and authoritative way on several huge problems at the same time ebbs away. This opens the way for calculated lunges by different regional […]
David Cameron ready to veto treaty to shore up euro So says the Indy headline this evening. Hmm. What does the article say? Mrs Merkel has suggested that all European countries need to be willing to surrender more sovereignty to give the EU powers to prevent another Greek-style eurozone crisis. […]
Derek Tonkin is a distinguished former Ambassador (of an older generation than me) who follows closely the situation in Burma. He was brought up in a Foreign Office which prided itself on impeccable standards and good manners. Hence his sensible and courteous letter to David Miliband in March about Burma, […]
… But far and away the most important thing here is just that, if these concerns about sovereign debt were to spread to a wider range of countries – and I hope the measures taken at the weekend and the measures that will now be taken will stop that and […]
