This from the website of UKIP's Yorkshire MEP, Godfrey Bloom: "Foreign MEPs, i.e. the vast majority, like the EU Commissioners, over half of whom are communists..."
Note to ALL 13 UKIP MEPs, there are 736 Members of the European Parliament, of whom 72 represent the UK.
736-72 = 654
Therefore, the vast majority of MEPs (representing the other 26 countries of the EU) are by definition going to be "foreign".
As yet, there's no crime in being "foreign".
It puts me in mind of that wonderful Not the Nine O'Clock News sketch where a police constable is reproved for repeatedly arresting one Mr Vincent Kodogo for such offences as "wearing a loud tie in a built up area", "smelling of foreign food" and "possession of curly black hair and thick lips".
Showing posts with label eu. Show all posts
Showing posts with label eu. Show all posts
Saturday, 3 April 2010
Friday, 2 April 2010
Yorkshire Forced Rhubarb
Three cheers for that wonderfully pink, sweetly delicious, fragrantly sublime produce grown up and down the 'West Yorkshire Triangle' of Leeds, Bradford, and Wakefield.
I refer of course to rhubarb.
Earlier tonight I made a lovely rhubarb and apple crumble, even if I do say so myself.
Even more wonderfully Yorkshire Forced Rhubarb is Britain's latest addition to the EU protected names list.
Three cheers for Yorkshire, and three cheers for Europe.
I refer of course to rhubarb.
Earlier tonight I made a lovely rhubarb and apple crumble, even if I do say so myself.
Even more wonderfully Yorkshire Forced Rhubarb is Britain's latest addition to the EU protected names list.
Three cheers for Yorkshire, and three cheers for Europe.
Tuesday, 23 February 2010
23-F - El pueblo unido, jamás será vencido!
Thirty years ago today, I was glued to the TV watching the Nine O'clock News on the Beeb reporting the attempted coup in Spain.
Later, on Newsnight, Peter Snow described the earlier events when a group of armed Guardia Civil stormed the Cortes, their leader, Antonio Tejero, waving a pistol about and telling 350 MPs to sit down.
One of three MPs to openly defy the gun-wielding goons, Santiago Carrillo (leader of the Communists) just sat in his chair smoking a cigarette.
The whole event was over by dawn the following morning when the plotters realised they had no support, after King Juan Carlos had gone on air to denounce the coup and urging the maintenance of law and the continuance of the democratically elected government.
But it showed how fragile a bloom democracy was, and how with the help of other Western European countries (later, through the European Union) it could be nurtured and strengthened.
Oh and Tejero? He got 15 years.
El pueblo unido, jamás será vencido! The people united will never be defeated!
Later, on Newsnight, Peter Snow described the earlier events when a group of armed Guardia Civil stormed the Cortes, their leader, Antonio Tejero, waving a pistol about and telling 350 MPs to sit down.
One of three MPs to openly defy the gun-wielding goons, Santiago Carrillo (leader of the Communists) just sat in his chair smoking a cigarette.
The whole event was over by dawn the following morning when the plotters realised they had no support, after King Juan Carlos had gone on air to denounce the coup and urging the maintenance of law and the continuance of the democratically elected government.
But it showed how fragile a bloom democracy was, and how with the help of other Western European countries (later, through the European Union) it could be nurtured and strengthened.
Oh and Tejero? He got 15 years.
El pueblo unido, jamás será vencido! The people united will never be defeated!
Saturday, 13 February 2010
Greece, Liberty, and Democracy
One of my favourite films is "Z" directed by Costa Gavras, starring Yves Montand, Jean-Louis Trintignant, and Irene Papas based on the book of the same name by Vassilis Vassilikos.
It tells the story of the toppling of the democratic government in Greece. A liberal politician (Montand) is murdered at an anti-nuclear demo, the right- wing military and the police try to cover up the murder and their complicity in it.
It is powerful, tense, and riveting... beautifully acted, deftly directed, with a haunting soundtrack by Mikis Theodorakis.
Which brings me to the problems in Greece today and the EU's response.
Whilst many commentators are gloating over the situation and have recommended leaving Greece to sink. I'd like to remind folk who may have forgotten that it was not that long ago when Greece was under the yoke of a military dictatorship.
It was joining the European Union (then EEC) that helped to nurture, nourish, and nurse that fragile flower, democracy, in the land that gave us the word and indeed the concept.
So when Europhobes say they want us to withdraw from the EU complaining that they were duped and only wanted to join an economic market, I say that only shows the paucity of their imagination.
In fact the idea of an ever-closer union is not only exciting and attractive but vital to our national and international interests and the greater cause of freedom in an ever-globalised world.
To finish with a quote from the film, "The military banned long hair; mini-skirts; Sophocles; Tolstoy; Euripedes; smashing glasses after drinking toasts; strikes; Aristophanes; Ionesco; Sartre; The Beatles; Albee; Pinter; freedom of the press; sociology; Beckett; Dostoyevsky; Gorky; modern music; popular music; the new mathematics; and the letter "Z", which in ancient Greek means 'He is alive!'".
It tells the story of the toppling of the democratic government in Greece. A liberal politician (Montand) is murdered at an anti-nuclear demo, the right- wing military and the police try to cover up the murder and their complicity in it.
It is powerful, tense, and riveting... beautifully acted, deftly directed, with a haunting soundtrack by Mikis Theodorakis.
Which brings me to the problems in Greece today and the EU's response.
Whilst many commentators are gloating over the situation and have recommended leaving Greece to sink. I'd like to remind folk who may have forgotten that it was not that long ago when Greece was under the yoke of a military dictatorship.
It was joining the European Union (then EEC) that helped to nurture, nourish, and nurse that fragile flower, democracy, in the land that gave us the word and indeed the concept.
So when Europhobes say they want us to withdraw from the EU complaining that they were duped and only wanted to join an economic market, I say that only shows the paucity of their imagination.
In fact the idea of an ever-closer union is not only exciting and attractive but vital to our national and international interests and the greater cause of freedom in an ever-globalised world.
To finish with a quote from the film, "The military banned long hair; mini-skirts; Sophocles; Tolstoy; Euripedes; smashing glasses after drinking toasts; strikes; Aristophanes; Ionesco; Sartre; The Beatles; Albee; Pinter; freedom of the press; sociology; Beckett; Dostoyevsky; Gorky; modern music; popular music; the new mathematics; and the letter "Z", which in ancient Greek means 'He is alive!'".
Friday, 20 November 2009
Eendracht maakt macht; L'union fait la force; Einigkeit macht stark
The above is the national motto of Belgium, and means "strength through unity".
A few years ago, the then Belgian PM Guy Verhofstadt said, “Belgium is the laboratory of European unification”.
I have long had great respect for Belgium, and her contributon to the European Project. As a student of the history of the EU, I well know the hard work and vision of people like Paul-Henri Spaak, Jean Duvieusart, Victor Leemans, and Jean Rey amongst many others.
Maybe it has something to do with the fact that Belgium herself is an "artificial" construct, where the Francophone Walloons and the Dutch-speaking Flemings, have been living together in relative harmony for nigh on 180 years.
Her contributions to international peace is well-documented with Nobel Prize winners like Auguste Beernaert, Henri La Fontaine, and Georges Pire.
Belgium's artists have been very important, writers like Maurice Maeterlinck, and Georges Simenon, painters like René Magritte and James Ensor, architects like Victor Horta and Henry van de Velde, musicians like Adolphe Sax and César Franck, and of course, my hero Jacques Brel.
I won't even mention sportsmen and sportswomen like Eddy Merckx and Jacky Ickx, Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin, and of course the great Ivo Van Damme.
Whoops I just did.
I've never bought into the anonymous grey boring Belgian thing, the "Name Ten Famous Belgians", "Tin Tin, Plastic Bertrand, ... er that's it!"
The point I'm trying to make is that somehow it is meet that earlier last night, Herman van Rompuy was chosen to be the first full-time President of the European Council. He had unanimous backing from the 27 EU leaders, and is a consensus-builder who brought stability to Belgium after months of uncertainty.
The whole point of the European Project is to pool sovereignty, to move forward by debate, discussion, and negotiation.
Our traditions are different from the US model of presidential politics of seeking a Messiah, which is why (amongst many, many other reasons) Tony Blair was such a bad idea.
Bon chance/Veel geluk/Good luck to him. Van Rompuy, that is, not Blair!
I'm going to listen to Brel's live album, Olympia 1964, especially the first track, Amsterdam.
A few years ago, the then Belgian PM Guy Verhofstadt said, “Belgium is the laboratory of European unification”.
I have long had great respect for Belgium, and her contributon to the European Project. As a student of the history of the EU, I well know the hard work and vision of people like Paul-Henri Spaak, Jean Duvieusart, Victor Leemans, and Jean Rey amongst many others.
Maybe it has something to do with the fact that Belgium herself is an "artificial" construct, where the Francophone Walloons and the Dutch-speaking Flemings, have been living together in relative harmony for nigh on 180 years.
Her contributions to international peace is well-documented with Nobel Prize winners like Auguste Beernaert, Henri La Fontaine, and Georges Pire.
Belgium's artists have been very important, writers like Maurice Maeterlinck, and Georges Simenon, painters like René Magritte and James Ensor, architects like Victor Horta and Henry van de Velde, musicians like Adolphe Sax and César Franck, and of course, my hero Jacques Brel.
I won't even mention sportsmen and sportswomen like Eddy Merckx and Jacky Ickx, Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin, and of course the great Ivo Van Damme.
Whoops I just did.
I've never bought into the anonymous grey boring Belgian thing, the "Name Ten Famous Belgians", "Tin Tin, Plastic Bertrand, ... er that's it!"
The point I'm trying to make is that somehow it is meet that earlier last night, Herman van Rompuy was chosen to be the first full-time President of the European Council. He had unanimous backing from the 27 EU leaders, and is a consensus-builder who brought stability to Belgium after months of uncertainty.
The whole point of the European Project is to pool sovereignty, to move forward by debate, discussion, and negotiation.
Our traditions are different from the US model of presidential politics of seeking a Messiah, which is why (amongst many, many other reasons) Tony Blair was such a bad idea.
Bon chance/Veel geluk/Good luck to him. Van Rompuy, that is, not Blair!
I'm going to listen to Brel's live album, Olympia 1964, especially the first track, Amsterdam.
Wednesday, 4 November 2009
Dave's "cast-iron" guarantee turns to rust
So Cameron's zwischenzug on the Lisbon Treaty finally ran out of time, now that the Czechs have finally ratified.
It was always a hopeless ploy, promising a referendum when every other country in the EU had already ratified.
I'm fed up of the shenanigans of the Tories, and to a lesser extent the Labour Party, over Europe.
I am an internationalist, and believe that co-operation amongst states is the best way forward for everyone on this tiny blue planet of ours.
I am a huge fan of the United Nations with all its faults and shortcomings.
I am an even bigger fan of the "European Project".
Think about it, a continent that twice in the last century through terrible wars was brought to its knees, and also brought much of the rest of the world into ruin, is finally at peace.
The idea that we could ever go to war with Germany again or that we would witness the sight of German tanks at the Eiffel Tower is frankly ludicrous.
For that alone the EU and our contribution to it is worthwhile.
Not to mention the fact that it has stabilised militaristic and fascistic regimes in Greece, Spain, and Portugal.
And as we come to the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, democracy has spread and been firmly rooted in the former Eastern Bloc countries, thanks in large part to the European Union.
I am fed up of the "little Englander" mentality that automatically assumes that everything that comes out of the mainland is a threat rather than an opportunity.
I'm fed up with Tories wanting to "protect" us from Europe rather than "promoting" us in Europe.
I'm fed up of the right-wing media constantly distorting the truth about Europe, whilst all their editors, senior journalists, and multi-millionaire owners have property in the Dordogne, or Chiantishire.
We are in Europe, we are of Europe, and I want us to be leading Europe rather than sniping from the sidelines.
Maybe Nick Clegg's proposals for a wider referendum on whether Britain should remain in the EU, is the way to go.
It was always a hopeless ploy, promising a referendum when every other country in the EU had already ratified.
I'm fed up of the shenanigans of the Tories, and to a lesser extent the Labour Party, over Europe.
I am an internationalist, and believe that co-operation amongst states is the best way forward for everyone on this tiny blue planet of ours.
I am a huge fan of the United Nations with all its faults and shortcomings.
I am an even bigger fan of the "European Project".
Think about it, a continent that twice in the last century through terrible wars was brought to its knees, and also brought much of the rest of the world into ruin, is finally at peace.
The idea that we could ever go to war with Germany again or that we would witness the sight of German tanks at the Eiffel Tower is frankly ludicrous.
For that alone the EU and our contribution to it is worthwhile.
Not to mention the fact that it has stabilised militaristic and fascistic regimes in Greece, Spain, and Portugal.
And as we come to the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, democracy has spread and been firmly rooted in the former Eastern Bloc countries, thanks in large part to the European Union.
I am fed up of the "little Englander" mentality that automatically assumes that everything that comes out of the mainland is a threat rather than an opportunity.
I'm fed up with Tories wanting to "protect" us from Europe rather than "promoting" us in Europe.
I'm fed up of the right-wing media constantly distorting the truth about Europe, whilst all their editors, senior journalists, and multi-millionaire owners have property in the Dordogne, or Chiantishire.
We are in Europe, we are of Europe, and I want us to be leading Europe rather than sniping from the sidelines.
Maybe Nick Clegg's proposals for a wider referendum on whether Britain should remain in the EU, is the way to go.
Saturday, 11 July 2009
Srebrenica - "People are not little stones"
Today is the anniversary of the most horrific atrocity on European soil in my lifetime, namely the genocide at Srebrenica in the former Yugoslavia.
In July 1995 more than 8,000 Bosniak men and boys were killed, and 25,000-30,000 refugees were "ethnically cleansed" in Bosnia and Herzegovina, by units of the Army of Republika Srpska under the command of General Ratko Mladić.
The presiding judge at the Hague said, "The Bosnian Serb forces committed genocide. They targeted for extinction the forty thousand Bosnian Muslims living in Srebrenica... They stripped all the male Muslim prisoners, military and civilian, elderly and young, of their personal belongings and identification, and deliberately and methodically killed them solely on the basis of their identity".
The Srebrenica massacre is the largest mass murder in Europe since World War II. It was and remains a shameful stain on the conscience of Europe.
We must never allow such barbarity to occur again, and by strengthening the European Union and embedding democracy across Europe, we will go a long way to achieving this goal.
In July 1995 more than 8,000 Bosniak men and boys were killed, and 25,000-30,000 refugees were "ethnically cleansed" in Bosnia and Herzegovina, by units of the Army of Republika Srpska under the command of General Ratko Mladić.
The presiding judge at the Hague said, "The Bosnian Serb forces committed genocide. They targeted for extinction the forty thousand Bosnian Muslims living in Srebrenica... They stripped all the male Muslim prisoners, military and civilian, elderly and young, of their personal belongings and identification, and deliberately and methodically killed them solely on the basis of their identity".
The Srebrenica massacre is the largest mass murder in Europe since World War II. It was and remains a shameful stain on the conscience of Europe.
We must never allow such barbarity to occur again, and by strengthening the European Union and embedding democracy across Europe, we will go a long way to achieving this goal.
Saturday, 2 May 2009
Euro Adoption Meeting in Sheffield
Must get some kip in, am off to Sheffield tonight (Saturday) for the last of the regional adoption meetings for the European Elections in June.
The theme of my speech will be that we need to sell the benefits of Europe even more than we have been already.
"What has Europe done for us?"
1 The end of war between European nations
2 Democracy is now flourishing in 27 countries
3 Cheap travel and study programmes gives greater mobility for Europe's youth
4 The single market has brought cheap flights for all, and new prosperity for far-flung cities
5 Co-operation on crime, through Europol
6 No death penalty, it is incompatible with EU membership
7 Cleaner beaches and rivers throughout Europe
8 Greater protection for Europe's wildlife
9 The Regional development fund has aided the deprived parts of Britain
10 One currency from Bantry Bay to Bratislava, but not Britain
The theme of my speech will be that we need to sell the benefits of Europe even more than we have been already.
"What has Europe done for us?"
1 The end of war between European nations
2 Democracy is now flourishing in 27 countries
3 Cheap travel and study programmes gives greater mobility for Europe's youth
4 The single market has brought cheap flights for all, and new prosperity for far-flung cities
5 Co-operation on crime, through Europol
6 No death penalty, it is incompatible with EU membership
7 Cleaner beaches and rivers throughout Europe
8 Greater protection for Europe's wildlife
9 The Regional development fund has aided the deprived parts of Britain
10 One currency from Bantry Bay to Bratislava, but not Britain
Sunday, 26 April 2009
Icelandic general election
It seems that voters in Iceland have backed the left-wing coalition and strongly rejected Independent party that oversaw economic collapse.
The coalition is led by interim prime minister Johanna Sigurdardottir. She became her country's first woman PM on 1 February this year; she also became the world's first openly gay head of government.
The conservative Independence party had held a parliamentary majority for some 70 years. However, many blamed it for the country's economic troubles.
The win allows the government to push through a pro-EU agenda, and the majority of the coalition want Iceland to apply for EU membership, which would eventually allow the country to adopt the euro.
Good luck Iceland!
The coalition is led by interim prime minister Johanna Sigurdardottir. She became her country's first woman PM on 1 February this year; she also became the world's first openly gay head of government.
The conservative Independence party had held a parliamentary majority for some 70 years. However, many blamed it for the country's economic troubles.
The win allows the government to push through a pro-EU agenda, and the majority of the coalition want Iceland to apply for EU membership, which would eventually allow the country to adopt the euro.
Good luck Iceland!
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