Naples policemen, having stopped a speeding dairy van, accepted bribes of mozzarella to let the driver off without a fine, internal affairs officers said.
A Greek temple has been found in the sea in front of Reggio Calabria's main railway station. Some reports say it is Reggio Calabria’s main railway station.
An Italian researcher has found a way to stop cancers spreading by starving them. An antibody can be used to block the molecule in bone marrow, Bv8, that helps tumours secure a blood supply to feed on
The media hype surrounding the murder of a British exchange student in Perugia has tarnished
the image of the city, local groups have complained. The normally quiet mediaeval city is among other things the centre of the chocolate industry.
Italy may be penalised by The European Commission for the amount of advertising on television. Unfortunately reducing the adverts will mean people have to watch the programmes.
A company in Prato has invented an illuminated umbrella, the ‘Lumino’. The handle lights up due to a high-tec diode, very useful for .. er.. something.
The Censis survey of Italian life says eight out of ten Italians have no faith in politics and 76% say no one worries about anything that happens to other people. No change there then. Over half of Italians are dissatisfied with the state. Or there. The report says TV quality is poor (not enough adverts).
Padua - An Italian priest mistakenly used a picture of Silvio Berlusconi's head on Pope John Paul II's body for a Christmas campaign on the importance of forgiving people. Viewers are advised to look very carefully at the smiling figure who gives the Christmas blessing from St Peters
The head of Italy's employers' federation Confindustria has announced that absenteeism in the public sector is costing the nation almost 1% of GDP a year. A union spokesman was unavailable for comment.
08 December, 2007
04 December, 2007
Iran
The threat of Iran's nuclear ambitions has been perhaps the most disturbing aspect of global politics for the past couple of years. Diplomacy, we said, should cool the situation, not just as regards the Iranians but to prevent Israel from making a preemptive strike; that would lead to war, perhaps not now if the Israeli strike was successful, but in the future, when we took our eye off the ball for a second and Iran succeeded in developing nuclear weapons, because they would feel justified (and almost be justified) in attacking a nation which had preemptively attacked theirs.
But the diplomacy didn't seem to be working. At least Israel has stayed its hand, but Iran thumbed its nose at delegations from Europe and the 'Quartet'. It seemed as though something would have to give.
At this point many anti-war people (myself included) began to think the unthinkable. If Iran continued to develoop the bomb, the free world (not just Israel) would have to destroy its bomb making factories, or we risked a world war.
We learn today, however, that a new study suggests Iran put on hold its nuclear activities some time ago. What are we to think? Did our political masters know of this and yet allow the rhetoric to harden - in short did they coax me into supporting a war which would have proved unnecessary? Why? It is a Dr Strangelove sort of mindset which I had hoped we had abandoned in the 60s and 70s. Perhaps the report really is new and a pleasant surprise to all its recipients.
What is perhaps most disturbing about all this is that despite this being the Age of Information, we know so little about what is going on and, as our fathers did, have to trust that our politicians are sensible, and right. Then we look at those politicians...... and yet we know if our politicans are no good we should change them ... and we look at the others...
It's the uncertainty isn't it? Bush, Brown, Sarkozy, Putin, the Chinese, the UN, none of them seem any good.
Ah well, keep low and keep moving.
But the diplomacy didn't seem to be working. At least Israel has stayed its hand, but Iran thumbed its nose at delegations from Europe and the 'Quartet'. It seemed as though something would have to give.
At this point many anti-war people (myself included) began to think the unthinkable. If Iran continued to develoop the bomb, the free world (not just Israel) would have to destroy its bomb making factories, or we risked a world war.
We learn today, however, that a new study suggests Iran put on hold its nuclear activities some time ago. What are we to think? Did our political masters know of this and yet allow the rhetoric to harden - in short did they coax me into supporting a war which would have proved unnecessary? Why? It is a Dr Strangelove sort of mindset which I had hoped we had abandoned in the 60s and 70s. Perhaps the report really is new and a pleasant surprise to all its recipients.
What is perhaps most disturbing about all this is that despite this being the Age of Information, we know so little about what is going on and, as our fathers did, have to trust that our politicians are sensible, and right. Then we look at those politicians...... and yet we know if our politicans are no good we should change them ... and we look at the others...
It's the uncertainty isn't it? Bush, Brown, Sarkozy, Putin, the Chinese, the UN, none of them seem any good.
Ah well, keep low and keep moving.
01 December, 2007
Italian News (6)
The good news: after two days of stoppages which blocked central Rome on Wednesday and Thursday, Rome taxi drivers went back to work on Friday.
The bad news: everyone else to do with transport, trains, buses, planes even funeral drivers went on strike. The workers of Alitalia, their company collapsing around them, did not miss the opportunity to walk out as well. Ironically, at least for Alitalia which has received billions in subsidy over the years, the strikes were about underinvestment.
Letitia Moratti, mayor of Milan and Berlusconi crony, is being investigated for abuse of office, in connection with some highly paid management positions in the city.
Industry minister Pierluigi Bersani has said he plans to eliminate nepotism in the workplace. Apparently 89% of Italians think that knowing the right person is the most important factor in getting a job and perhaps 70% of jobs go to a candidate on ‘raccomandazione’. The person Bersani recommends for putting the plan in place is....
The Italian agricultural association, which with the nation’s love of acronyms is unhappily called the CIA, has said that foreign food masquerading as Italian is costing farmers 60 billion euros each year. In Germany there are three times as many fake Italian products as real ones, one of the major offending items being parmesan cheese.
In Bolzano a cock has been fined 200 euros for crowing. The bird's owner was taken to court by a woman neighbour who accused the farmer of noise pollution.
Attempts by the Palazzo Ducale in Urbino to produce electronic frescoes have been hindered by the realisation that the fifteenth century masters did not have to rely on ENEL for their output.
Rome’s third airport will be built at Viterbo, to be used when taxi drivers block Ciampino and Fiumicino again. Alitalia has asked for a map.
In a first for European Royalty, Vittorio Emanuele di Savoia, the son of Italy's last king, has been cleared of peddling video poker games. He is continuing with his lawsuit claiming compensation for exile, citing what he might have done if allowed back into the country earlier.
The bad news: everyone else to do with transport, trains, buses, planes even funeral drivers went on strike. The workers of Alitalia, their company collapsing around them, did not miss the opportunity to walk out as well. Ironically, at least for Alitalia which has received billions in subsidy over the years, the strikes were about underinvestment.
Letitia Moratti, mayor of Milan and Berlusconi crony, is being investigated for abuse of office, in connection with some highly paid management positions in the city.
Industry minister Pierluigi Bersani has said he plans to eliminate nepotism in the workplace. Apparently 89% of Italians think that knowing the right person is the most important factor in getting a job and perhaps 70% of jobs go to a candidate on ‘raccomandazione’. The person Bersani recommends for putting the plan in place is....
The Italian agricultural association, which with the nation’s love of acronyms is unhappily called the CIA, has said that foreign food masquerading as Italian is costing farmers 60 billion euros each year. In Germany there are three times as many fake Italian products as real ones, one of the major offending items being parmesan cheese.
In Bolzano a cock has been fined 200 euros for crowing. The bird's owner was taken to court by a woman neighbour who accused the farmer of noise pollution.
Attempts by the Palazzo Ducale in Urbino to produce electronic frescoes have been hindered by the realisation that the fifteenth century masters did not have to rely on ENEL for their output.
Rome’s third airport will be built at Viterbo, to be used when taxi drivers block Ciampino and Fiumicino again. Alitalia has asked for a map.
In a first for European Royalty, Vittorio Emanuele di Savoia, the son of Italy's last king, has been cleared of peddling video poker games. He is continuing with his lawsuit claiming compensation for exile, citing what he might have done if allowed back into the country earlier.
29 November, 2007
Cormack
Picture the scene. Prime Minister's Questions, Brown on the ropes. Cameron has made one of the most savage attacks on him ever heard, and the vastly underrated Vince Cable says the PM has transformed 'from Stalin to Mr Bean'.
Blow after low is landing on Brown. A senior Conservative backbencher stands up. Will this be the coup de grace? No, for it is Sir Patrick Cormack, who defuses the tension by asking the PM what he would like for Christmas. The relief on the Labour benches is palpable.
Cormack features in the opening paragraphs of Peter Oborne's book 'The Triumph of the Political Class' for a couple of instances of his refusing to damage or embarrass the Government. He is almost the archetype Political Class man: we are all in this together, the little cadre that run the country; we don't want any fisticuffs, or strongly held views.
Really, his constituency needs to deselect him pronto.
Blow after low is landing on Brown. A senior Conservative backbencher stands up. Will this be the coup de grace? No, for it is Sir Patrick Cormack, who defuses the tension by asking the PM what he would like for Christmas. The relief on the Labour benches is palpable.
Cormack features in the opening paragraphs of Peter Oborne's book 'The Triumph of the Political Class' for a couple of instances of his refusing to damage or embarrass the Government. He is almost the archetype Political Class man: we are all in this together, the little cadre that run the country; we don't want any fisticuffs, or strongly held views.
Really, his constituency needs to deselect him pronto.
28 November, 2007
State Funding for Politics
Two things can be confidently forecast about the Labour Party funding debacle: firstly that several party apparatchiks will cling to power even though their dishonesty and incompetence has been exposed beyond all doubt. The second is that there will soon be calls (from the Political Class, naturally) for State (i.e. you and me) funding of political parties.
The way they will express it is 'If we want to avoid this sort of thing happening in the future (as if it has been a natural phenomenon and not abuse of power by the Political Class) we should regulate by law the amount they can receive and this obviously leads to State donations'.
It would be hard to exaggerate what an awful thing it would be if this were to be let through. A minor, but significant argument against it is that small parties would find it hard to grow, starved of funds and unable to get them anywhere else (as a founder of the UKIP I am sensitive to this). But far, far more important is that the Parties (the big ones, that is) wouldn't have to try to behave in such a way as to attract membership and donations. The Political Class (and I am aware that is the third time I have used the term in this post but that is what it is all about) would become even more detached from the people than they are now.
I have occasionaly referred to the systemic corruption in Italian politics where they have State Funding. It is the same in all the others including the European Union itself.
No, we must resist it at all costs in the UK.
The way they will express it is 'If we want to avoid this sort of thing happening in the future (as if it has been a natural phenomenon and not abuse of power by the Political Class) we should regulate by law the amount they can receive and this obviously leads to State donations'.
It would be hard to exaggerate what an awful thing it would be if this were to be let through. A minor, but significant argument against it is that small parties would find it hard to grow, starved of funds and unable to get them anywhere else (as a founder of the UKIP I am sensitive to this). But far, far more important is that the Parties (the big ones, that is) wouldn't have to try to behave in such a way as to attract membership and donations. The Political Class (and I am aware that is the third time I have used the term in this post but that is what it is all about) would become even more detached from the people than they are now.
I have occasionaly referred to the systemic corruption in Italian politics where they have State Funding. It is the same in all the others including the European Union itself.
No, we must resist it at all costs in the UK.
27 November, 2007
Oxford Union
From the Independent: 'Hundreds of protesters gathered outside the Oxford Union last night to voice their disapproval of the two men from the extreme right whom the illustrious debating chamber had invited there to speak.'
When I was an undergraduate at Oxford mnthg years ago we often had extreme left wing speakers without rioting that they shouldn't be given a platform. You don't just learn from people you agree with.
When I was an undergraduate at Oxford mnthg years ago we often had extreme left wing speakers without rioting that they shouldn't be given a platform. You don't just learn from people you agree with.
26 November, 2007
World Trade - a new era?
'Wake up to the dangers of a deepening crisis' and 'One of the most influential theories about exchange rates in the age of globalisation may be about to go up in smoke' shrieks the Financial Times. 'Of profound political importance' says Liam Halligan in the Telegraph.
The FT Article, by Wolfgang Munchau, discusses an increasingly commonly held belief. He traces world economic systems like geological strata. First we had the gold standard; then after the war we had Bretton Woods, the system under which all currencies were quoted against the dollar. Then we had Bretton Woods II which is what we have been living under without knowing it, and now that has come to an end.
In my view the theory, which to be fair Munchau doesn't much like, seems to have missed out a bit and exaggerated the recent bit. Bretton Woods established fixed exchange rates against the dollar which, to a diminishing degree, was backed by gold. After that we had floating exchange rates (which started for Britain back in Ted Heath's early years). And then we had globalisation.
What some refer to as Bretton Woods II is the system by which the Far Eastern economies, China, Japan and the smaller ones, sell goods to America in amazing quantity. What would normally happen under a system of floating exchange rates is that the Far Eastern currencies would then rise against the dollar. But that wouldn't suit China (we'll deal with Japan in a minute) because it would make its exports more expensive. So China manipulates the exchange rate, keeping the Yuan artifically low and their exports cheap; Chinese exporters can't hold dollars but have to sell them to the Bank of China at the artificial rate, and the BoC buys US Treasury Bills thus keeping the dollar relatively high and dollar interest rates relatively low so the American Consumer can buy more Chinese goods. So all Bretton Woods II is, then, is the failure of emerging economies to adapt to floating excvhange rates, and a large dollop of globalisation.
And now it is unravelling; the dollar is falling. But the dollar has been here before. In 1985 the problem was Japan. The US current account deficit was going through the roof, just like now, because Americans were buying Japanese goods, and the dollar had to fall to prevent severe recession. So the major powers, and Japan for the first time, got together and intervened in the currency markets to let the dollar fall. US exports rose, ironically to everywhere except Japan where they didn't like the idea of foreign goods. The people who suffered were the Europeans.
And this, in my view is what will happen again. Not currency intervention - the markets are too big for that, but an agreement between the US and China. Don't forget who suffers most if the US stops buying Chinese goods: the Chinese. Europe, with its export based economies and mature markets, think the euro is already strong enough against the dollar. I heard Airbus is unprofitable at $1.25; if it goes to $1.50????
Yes there will be a US recession, yes that will affect us, yes the falling dollar will affect us more. In the UK consumer spending might hold out, keeping our factories open. I am more pessimistic about Europe. If governments start holding the euro as their reserve currency it will make matters even worse. Unless something can be done we will import America's banking crisis, and we will import America's trade deficit. Europe will ask China to revalue the Yuan. But I have a feeling China is only interested in the USA.
The FT Article, by Wolfgang Munchau, discusses an increasingly commonly held belief. He traces world economic systems like geological strata. First we had the gold standard; then after the war we had Bretton Woods, the system under which all currencies were quoted against the dollar. Then we had Bretton Woods II which is what we have been living under without knowing it, and now that has come to an end.
In my view the theory, which to be fair Munchau doesn't much like, seems to have missed out a bit and exaggerated the recent bit. Bretton Woods established fixed exchange rates against the dollar which, to a diminishing degree, was backed by gold. After that we had floating exchange rates (which started for Britain back in Ted Heath's early years). And then we had globalisation.
What some refer to as Bretton Woods II is the system by which the Far Eastern economies, China, Japan and the smaller ones, sell goods to America in amazing quantity. What would normally happen under a system of floating exchange rates is that the Far Eastern currencies would then rise against the dollar. But that wouldn't suit China (we'll deal with Japan in a minute) because it would make its exports more expensive. So China manipulates the exchange rate, keeping the Yuan artifically low and their exports cheap; Chinese exporters can't hold dollars but have to sell them to the Bank of China at the artificial rate, and the BoC buys US Treasury Bills thus keeping the dollar relatively high and dollar interest rates relatively low so the American Consumer can buy more Chinese goods. So all Bretton Woods II is, then, is the failure of emerging economies to adapt to floating excvhange rates, and a large dollop of globalisation.
And now it is unravelling; the dollar is falling. But the dollar has been here before. In 1985 the problem was Japan. The US current account deficit was going through the roof, just like now, because Americans were buying Japanese goods, and the dollar had to fall to prevent severe recession. So the major powers, and Japan for the first time, got together and intervened in the currency markets to let the dollar fall. US exports rose, ironically to everywhere except Japan where they didn't like the idea of foreign goods. The people who suffered were the Europeans.
And this, in my view is what will happen again. Not currency intervention - the markets are too big for that, but an agreement between the US and China. Don't forget who suffers most if the US stops buying Chinese goods: the Chinese. Europe, with its export based economies and mature markets, think the euro is already strong enough against the dollar. I heard Airbus is unprofitable at $1.25; if it goes to $1.50????
Yes there will be a US recession, yes that will affect us, yes the falling dollar will affect us more. In the UK consumer spending might hold out, keeping our factories open. I am more pessimistic about Europe. If governments start holding the euro as their reserve currency it will make matters even worse. Unless something can be done we will import America's banking crisis, and we will import America's trade deficit. Europe will ask China to revalue the Yuan. But I have a feeling China is only interested in the USA.
24 November, 2007
Italian News (5)
Silvio Berlusconi says he intends to create a new Centre-Right Bloc, called The People’s Liberty Party which will absorb his Forza Italia. His traditional allies however have shunned the new proposal.
The Italian Sherlock Holmes Society celebrates its 20th anniversary in Florence on November 23rd
The Italian Foreign Exchange Office said tourists spent 4.8 bln euros in Rome in 2006, up 12.3% compared to 2005. With control free borders and a currency used by most of the rest of Europe, how do they know?
Archaeologists drilling into an unexplored area of the Palatine Hill next to the home of Emperor Augustus have discovered the Lupercal Shrine, the cave where adherents celebrated the suckling of Romulus and Remus by a wolf.
Farmers’ organisation Coldiretti says there has been a flood of Chinese tomatoes imported into Italy, amounting to perhaps 25% of the market. Coldiretti says that the imported tomato puree should be tested for safety. From January 1st all tomato puree sold in Italy will show where the tomatoes were grown.
This winter's influenza season is expected to peak between January and February and around three to five million people will catch the flu, according the Italian Society of Medicine. They’ll be giving us their names next.
A platoon of women soldiers took over guard duties at Italy's presidential palace for the first time on 23rd November
Vittorio Emanuele of Savoy, the son of Italy's last king, and his son Emanuele Filiberto, are claiming 260 million euros in compensation for their exile, which ended in 2002 when parliament decided to allow them back. They claim it was contrary to the European Convention on Human Rights. So far there does not appear to be a rush of politicians supporting the claim. Early days, I expect
The sports shirt maker Umbro, Italian for Umbrian, is in fact a contraction of Humphrey Brothers, a clothing firm in Wilmslow, Cheshire. Well, it was news to me.
The murder of Roberto Calvi known as 'God's Banker' was done by the Mafia to punish him for mishandling their money. There are reports of panic across the European banking system in case the idea catches on.
The Italian Sherlock Holmes Society celebrates its 20th anniversary in Florence on November 23rd
The Italian Foreign Exchange Office said tourists spent 4.8 bln euros in Rome in 2006, up 12.3% compared to 2005. With control free borders and a currency used by most of the rest of Europe, how do they know?
Archaeologists drilling into an unexplored area of the Palatine Hill next to the home of Emperor Augustus have discovered the Lupercal Shrine, the cave where adherents celebrated the suckling of Romulus and Remus by a wolf.
Farmers’ organisation Coldiretti says there has been a flood of Chinese tomatoes imported into Italy, amounting to perhaps 25% of the market. Coldiretti says that the imported tomato puree should be tested for safety. From January 1st all tomato puree sold in Italy will show where the tomatoes were grown.
This winter's influenza season is expected to peak between January and February and around three to five million people will catch the flu, according the Italian Society of Medicine. They’ll be giving us their names next.
A platoon of women soldiers took over guard duties at Italy's presidential palace for the first time on 23rd November
Vittorio Emanuele of Savoy, the son of Italy's last king, and his son Emanuele Filiberto, are claiming 260 million euros in compensation for their exile, which ended in 2002 when parliament decided to allow them back. They claim it was contrary to the European Convention on Human Rights. So far there does not appear to be a rush of politicians supporting the claim. Early days, I expect
The sports shirt maker Umbro, Italian for Umbrian, is in fact a contraction of Humphrey Brothers, a clothing firm in Wilmslow, Cheshire. Well, it was news to me.
The murder of Roberto Calvi known as 'God's Banker' was done by the Mafia to punish him for mishandling their money. There are reports of panic across the European banking system in case the idea catches on.
22 November, 2007
The French Strikes
Much of Europe reminds me of early 1980s Britain, and the French (and recent Italian) strikes are a case in point. There is a lot of jockeyng for position: these strikes are as political as they are specific, and may determine the next five years of France's economic development (already decided in Italy - Prodi keeled over like a friendly labrador at anything serious but stood firm for the right of hairdressers to open on a Monday. Yes: when the going gets tough, the tough get going).
The nature of the French strikes is, prima facie, enough to make you want to support the strikers. A previous administration (Mitterand's, I think) allowed railway workers to retire early, at 50. I have recently been reading Zola's La Bete Humaine, with its descriptions of early railway life and this looks as if it was a late 20th century solution to a strictly 19th century problem. Drivers sit in air conditioned cabs in front of something more akin to a computer than an engine, and as for porters - have you been to a French railway station recently? Why should they need to retire at 50? The pensions scheme is absurd and the government wants to stop it; the workers feel rightly aggrieved that they have done a deal and the government must stick to it (although they have been offered current compensation).
But it's more than that. Sarkozy has identified a large number of reforms which the French economy badly needs. If he loses this he will find it difficult to get the others through (this is what Prodi has learned in Italy) but the unions realise that this is only the thin end of the wedge.
Mrs Thatcher succeeded by picking the right fight at a time of her choosing (the increasingly unpopular miners at a time when she had surreptitiously built up coal stocks). My guess is that Sarkozy has chosen the wrong fight, and that he will back down. In short that he will be the same as Chirac, Mitterand, Giscard and the rest.
We shall see. In the meantime don't go to Paris (Rome is far nicer anyway and you can get a decent meal there)
T
The nature of the French strikes is, prima facie, enough to make you want to support the strikers. A previous administration (Mitterand's, I think) allowed railway workers to retire early, at 50. I have recently been reading Zola's La Bete Humaine, with its descriptions of early railway life and this looks as if it was a late 20th century solution to a strictly 19th century problem. Drivers sit in air conditioned cabs in front of something more akin to a computer than an engine, and as for porters - have you been to a French railway station recently? Why should they need to retire at 50? The pensions scheme is absurd and the government wants to stop it; the workers feel rightly aggrieved that they have done a deal and the government must stick to it (although they have been offered current compensation).
But it's more than that. Sarkozy has identified a large number of reforms which the French economy badly needs. If he loses this he will find it difficult to get the others through (this is what Prodi has learned in Italy) but the unions realise that this is only the thin end of the wedge.
Mrs Thatcher succeeded by picking the right fight at a time of her choosing (the increasingly unpopular miners at a time when she had surreptitiously built up coal stocks). My guess is that Sarkozy has chosen the wrong fight, and that he will back down. In short that he will be the same as Chirac, Mitterand, Giscard and the rest.
We shall see. In the meantime don't go to Paris (Rome is far nicer anyway and you can get a decent meal there)
T
The lost records (2)
Apparently the data that has been lost is not enough to access or open a bank account. We can expect, however, the usual crop of fraudulent emails asking for bank details, perhaps a special offer inviting you to ring a (hastily put together) call centre whereupon you will be asked for your password.
Watch out.
Watch out.
21 November, 2007
The lost records
Scarcely any need to inform readers of the latest cock-up: perhaps 25 million personal records lost, details of every child in the country. But we are used to government-created disasters, particularly when they involve computers and however awful, it will soon be forgotten. There is talk in the British press that this will bring about the end of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alastair Darling, but I am not so sure. I don't know much about the man, but I expect he is the same as the other New Labour apparatchiks, who have clung to their jobs while the edifice of public confidence collapses around them under the weight of their own incompetence. If he does go he will be able to say that he was told not to make any decisions without consulting his boss, only to find that the top man was incapable of decision making. Brown's fingerprints are too much over this to hand him the pistol and the whisky bottle right now.
No, what interests me is how the government happened to have all these details on disk - 25 million people! - and be posting them somewhere else. The answer leads us again back to Gordon Brown. His policy has been that everybody should be dependent on the state: there are examples of people earning £50,000 a year and still able to get government handouts, and he won't stop until Jonathan Ross is on some income supplement (the rest of us won't stop until he's on unemployment benefit but that's another matter). It is quite absurd that payments should be made to people who don't need them and the result is a bloated - and incompetent - state, hungry for information about you, eager to turn you into a dependant, a welfare junkie. And worse: they know who you are, where you are and what you're doing.
Applied for your ID card yet?
No, what interests me is how the government happened to have all these details on disk - 25 million people! - and be posting them somewhere else. The answer leads us again back to Gordon Brown. His policy has been that everybody should be dependent on the state: there are examples of people earning £50,000 a year and still able to get government handouts, and he won't stop until Jonathan Ross is on some income supplement (the rest of us won't stop until he's on unemployment benefit but that's another matter). It is quite absurd that payments should be made to people who don't need them and the result is a bloated - and incompetent - state, hungry for information about you, eager to turn you into a dependant, a welfare junkie. And worse: they know who you are, where you are and what you're doing.
Applied for your ID card yet?
Perugia
Perugia is not a place that usually detains the world’s thoughts for long – an attractive hilltop town of about 150,000 people, capital of Umbria, centre of the Italian chocolate industry (or at least the part that isn’t owned by Nestlé, which also has a factory there) and home of the University for Foreigners (although there is another in Siena). But now the international press has focused on the bizarre murder of an English girl student, Meredith Kercher. As befits such a place the dramatis personae are an eclectic bunch: an American girl, an Italian man, a Congolese bar owner and a basketball player from the Ivory Coast.
It is not, to say the least, what one might expect of such a place. Perugia is provincial, not just in the sense of being a province but inward-looking, with a tradition of independence stretching back to its having been one of the twelve cities of Etruria and displaying a sometimes haughty disinterest to the Roman Empire. But the town has never seen anything like this. A friend who has been going there for 25 years says the place has changed almost overnight. People look at each other suspiciously; every hooded youth could be a drug dealer with a knife; or worse, a reporter.
The social fabric of Perugia, particularly in the evenings, is dominated by the Strangers’ University. This was set up by a local philanthropist in the early 1920s and soon appropriated by Mussolini as an international propaganda tool, for the dissemination of modern Italian culture world wide. Some people say that the problems started when, short of money, it found it could pay its way by attracting the children of the rich, many of them Arabs, now Russian. The deal seems to be something like a holiday gap year and the understretched students are easy fodder for the drug dealers.
The Universita’ per Stranieri is a good idea but it needs to change. It needs to become more of an academic institution, less of a summer camp. It needs to select its students academically rather than by wealth, but alas there is no tradition of this in Italy, where everyone can go to University and employers are prevented from discriminating between one university degree and another.
The Universita’ per Stranieri could be the goose that lays the golden eggs for Perugia or its millstone, a burden from which the town can never free itself, a druggy free-for-all that brings down the whole city. It must choose.
It is not, to say the least, what one might expect of such a place. Perugia is provincial, not just in the sense of being a province but inward-looking, with a tradition of independence stretching back to its having been one of the twelve cities of Etruria and displaying a sometimes haughty disinterest to the Roman Empire. But the town has never seen anything like this. A friend who has been going there for 25 years says the place has changed almost overnight. People look at each other suspiciously; every hooded youth could be a drug dealer with a knife; or worse, a reporter.
The social fabric of Perugia, particularly in the evenings, is dominated by the Strangers’ University. This was set up by a local philanthropist in the early 1920s and soon appropriated by Mussolini as an international propaganda tool, for the dissemination of modern Italian culture world wide. Some people say that the problems started when, short of money, it found it could pay its way by attracting the children of the rich, many of them Arabs, now Russian. The deal seems to be something like a holiday gap year and the understretched students are easy fodder for the drug dealers.
The Universita’ per Stranieri is a good idea but it needs to change. It needs to become more of an academic institution, less of a summer camp. It needs to select its students academically rather than by wealth, but alas there is no tradition of this in Italy, where everyone can go to University and employers are prevented from discriminating between one university degree and another.
The Universita’ per Stranieri could be the goose that lays the golden eggs for Perugia or its millstone, a burden from which the town can never free itself, a druggy free-for-all that brings down the whole city. It must choose.
19 November, 2007
Fixed Term Parliaments
Unsurprisingly after the autumn election or non-election fiasco there has been a fair bit of publicity in favour of fixed term parliaments of four or five years. The idea is that it should not be at the Prime Minister's whim to play around with something so important. The case for fixed terms can be seen HERE. Two LibDem MPs have tabled a bill in Parliament, and ueber-blogger Ian Dale is in favour.
I am not at all sure that I am, though.
Firstly, the discretion to prorogue parliament and call an election is technically not the Prime Minister's but the Queen's. Now, I know that with most aspects of the Royal Prerogative, such as the right to declare war and appoint peers, HMQ doesn't get much of a look in, but I am not sure it is necessarily the case here. Remember when Tony Blair wanted to call an election after two and a half years (to match some temporary increase in his fortunes or more likely trying to get a few more years before a downturn in public opinion): there were rumours, presumably emanating from Buckingham Palace, that it should not be necessary and the Queen might not allow it. Blair might have called the Queen's bluff but that would have generated a lot of negative publicity. He held on until a decent four year period had expired.
Secondly, I have a general feeling that tinkering with checks and balances concerning the monarch's role should be given a lot more thought; it is easy to destroy an age-old tradition but not so easy to reinstate it.
Third, the calling of an election is very much a test of the Prime Minister. Heath called an election under the 'Who governs Britain' banner and the public replied that we had been paying him to. He was voted out. Brown dithered about calling an election he would certainly have won and the electorate now seem likely to penalise him. Whoever calls the election, the voting is in our hands.
Lastly the fear that a government might inflate the economy in time for a General Election is to my mind somewhat irrelevant. If it knows the election will be in five years time it can still manipulate the economic climate to meet that date - what could be easier?
People should think before tinkering with the Constitution. There are more important changes to be considered, such as the make-up of the House of Lords (see here)
I am not at all sure that I am, though.
Firstly, the discretion to prorogue parliament and call an election is technically not the Prime Minister's but the Queen's. Now, I know that with most aspects of the Royal Prerogative, such as the right to declare war and appoint peers, HMQ doesn't get much of a look in, but I am not sure it is necessarily the case here. Remember when Tony Blair wanted to call an election after two and a half years (to match some temporary increase in his fortunes or more likely trying to get a few more years before a downturn in public opinion): there were rumours, presumably emanating from Buckingham Palace, that it should not be necessary and the Queen might not allow it. Blair might have called the Queen's bluff but that would have generated a lot of negative publicity. He held on until a decent four year period had expired.
Secondly, I have a general feeling that tinkering with checks and balances concerning the monarch's role should be given a lot more thought; it is easy to destroy an age-old tradition but not so easy to reinstate it.
Third, the calling of an election is very much a test of the Prime Minister. Heath called an election under the 'Who governs Britain' banner and the public replied that we had been paying him to. He was voted out. Brown dithered about calling an election he would certainly have won and the electorate now seem likely to penalise him. Whoever calls the election, the voting is in our hands.
Lastly the fear that a government might inflate the economy in time for a General Election is to my mind somewhat irrelevant. If it knows the election will be in five years time it can still manipulate the economic climate to meet that date - what could be easier?
People should think before tinkering with the Constitution. There are more important changes to be considered, such as the make-up of the House of Lords (see here)
16 November, 2007
National Motto
One certain sign the wheels are coming off the Brown PR vehicle is the call for a national motto: an obvious chance for public pillory, what boxers call 'leading with your chin'
Some fun stuff on Danny Finkelstein's Times blog (HERE) (I liked 'Mathematically, we could still qualify')
My offer: Kleptocracy, Bureaucracy, Hypocrisy
Some fun stuff on Danny Finkelstein's Times blog (HERE) (I liked 'Mathematically, we could still qualify')
My offer: Kleptocracy, Bureaucracy, Hypocrisy
Barclays
Speaking of Barclays, its happy statement yesterday that it had only blown a billion or so on dodgy instruments and so there was nothing to worry about left me, I don't know, with a slight feeling that we haven't quite heard the end of this. Doubtless I'm wrong.
I am often reminded of the dictum of Christopher Fildes: giving capital to a bank is like giving beer to a drunk. You know exactly what he will do with it but you don't know which wall he will choose.
I am often reminded of the dictum of Christopher Fildes: giving capital to a bank is like giving beer to a drunk. You know exactly what he will do with it but you don't know which wall he will choose.
Northern Rock
As more information emerges from the Northern Rock debacle there seems to me to be a great deal to think about. A couple of days ago the government tried to stop publication of a leaked sales memorandum for the bank, which implied that the government’s funding (ie guaranteed by the Treasury and that means you and me) would continue beyond the agreed date of February and that it might be interest free. This funding amounts to something like £24 billion.
The stance taken by the Governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, (and I mentioned at the time that it was unfortunate that the bank he had to practise it on was New Labour’s in-house bank with branches in marginal constituencies) is that of the moral hazard. This says that if we indemnify depositors and investors against the risks they are taking, they will become risk happy: I could set up a bank tomorrow and it would have the same credit rating as Barclays because the government guaranteed the depositors. This is even more true of shareholders and professional lenders. Why should my taxes underwrite a South Korean bank lending to Northern Rock? Or a Canadian pension fund buying shares in it?
So everybody should stand to lose something? Not so easy. The people must have confidence in the banking system. After all, the reason I haven’t opened a bank is that the Bank of England would not have granted me a banking licence. And here we come to the nub of the problem and the largely unmentioned culprit. What used to happen, and the reason we haven’t had a run on a bank these few hundred years, is that the Bank of England knew what was going on in each bank, knew in advance of any problems and sorted them – even arranging for a takeover by a larger bank. And this has happened many times, to my knowledge. What changed was Gordon Brown’s new architecture for the financial system, a tripartite system with the Bank of England, the Financial Services Authority and the Treasury. Banking supervision was transferred from the Bank of England to the FSA so the Governor could no longer raise an eyebrow and call HSBC telling it to splash some cash. Gordon Brown, who drums himself up as an intellectual but didn’t seem to have the ability to think this through properly, is one of the main causes of this fiasco.
The answer now, apart from giving the Bank back its supervision of the banking system, and Gordon Brown apologising for introducing half thought through measures (Ha!) is that taxpayers’ money should not be used to bail out professionals. The loans should be at a proper rate of interest and should expire in February or within 6 months (there are some difficult maturities coming up so a short extension might be easier). To keep public confidence, particularly now that a large bank has been seen to go under, depositors should be given a 100% guarantee, but only up to £10,000. If you have that amount of savings you should have the nous to open an account at another bank.
The stance taken by the Governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, (and I mentioned at the time that it was unfortunate that the bank he had to practise it on was New Labour’s in-house bank with branches in marginal constituencies) is that of the moral hazard. This says that if we indemnify depositors and investors against the risks they are taking, they will become risk happy: I could set up a bank tomorrow and it would have the same credit rating as Barclays because the government guaranteed the depositors. This is even more true of shareholders and professional lenders. Why should my taxes underwrite a South Korean bank lending to Northern Rock? Or a Canadian pension fund buying shares in it?
So everybody should stand to lose something? Not so easy. The people must have confidence in the banking system. After all, the reason I haven’t opened a bank is that the Bank of England would not have granted me a banking licence. And here we come to the nub of the problem and the largely unmentioned culprit. What used to happen, and the reason we haven’t had a run on a bank these few hundred years, is that the Bank of England knew what was going on in each bank, knew in advance of any problems and sorted them – even arranging for a takeover by a larger bank. And this has happened many times, to my knowledge. What changed was Gordon Brown’s new architecture for the financial system, a tripartite system with the Bank of England, the Financial Services Authority and the Treasury. Banking supervision was transferred from the Bank of England to the FSA so the Governor could no longer raise an eyebrow and call HSBC telling it to splash some cash. Gordon Brown, who drums himself up as an intellectual but didn’t seem to have the ability to think this through properly, is one of the main causes of this fiasco.
The answer now, apart from giving the Bank back its supervision of the banking system, and Gordon Brown apologising for introducing half thought through measures (Ha!) is that taxpayers’ money should not be used to bail out professionals. The loans should be at a proper rate of interest and should expire in February or within 6 months (there are some difficult maturities coming up so a short extension might be easier). To keep public confidence, particularly now that a large bank has been seen to go under, depositors should be given a 100% guarantee, but only up to £10,000. If you have that amount of savings you should have the nous to open an account at another bank.
Italian News (4)
Monte dei Paschi di Siena, which says it is the oldest bank in the world, has bought Antonveneta which in the last few years has been owned both by Algemene Bank Nederland and by Banco Santander. MPS seems to have paid far too much and has been put on 'credit watch' by several ratings agencies.
The toll of injuries among policemen rose to 40 by Monday morning from a night of street violence around the city's Olympic Stadium in the wake of the fatal police shooting of a Lazio fan on Sunday morning. The policeman who shot the fan said his gun went off by accident and is now facing murder charges.
The new Fiat 500 has been named car of the year. By my calculations this is the twelfth time the FIAT Group have won it. The first FIAT Cinquecento was built before the competition started.
A Gay art show has been put on in Florence after the Milan authorities refused it permission. I am told that many people in Italy do not believe there are any gays in the country at all so it will be fairly deserted.
Italy's tireless efforts to obtain a UN resolution against capital punishment have taken a step further after a successful committee vote. It will now be put to the General Assembly.
The lack of rainfall and high temperatures has resulted in early harvests for both grapes and olives with overall production for olive oil and wine down 10% or more over last year. Round here I can tell you it is more like 50%
Florentine Carlo Ferrini is the Oenologist of the Year according to the 2007 Wine Star Awards given by Wine Enthusiast magazine, foolishly ignoring the claims of some smaller Umbrian winemakers.
An Italian unmanned aircraft has set a European endurance record flying for eight consecutive hours with a full load. Built by Alenia Aeronautica, the Sky-Y aircraft set the record at the end of a one-month test campaign in Sweden. The Alitalia entry has yet to arrive at the testing ground but is expected soon.
The toll of injuries among policemen rose to 40 by Monday morning from a night of street violence around the city's Olympic Stadium in the wake of the fatal police shooting of a Lazio fan on Sunday morning. The policeman who shot the fan said his gun went off by accident and is now facing murder charges.
The new Fiat 500 has been named car of the year. By my calculations this is the twelfth time the FIAT Group have won it. The first FIAT Cinquecento was built before the competition started.
A Gay art show has been put on in Florence after the Milan authorities refused it permission. I am told that many people in Italy do not believe there are any gays in the country at all so it will be fairly deserted.
Italy's tireless efforts to obtain a UN resolution against capital punishment have taken a step further after a successful committee vote. It will now be put to the General Assembly.
The lack of rainfall and high temperatures has resulted in early harvests for both grapes and olives with overall production for olive oil and wine down 10% or more over last year. Round here I can tell you it is more like 50%
Florentine Carlo Ferrini is the Oenologist of the Year according to the 2007 Wine Star Awards given by Wine Enthusiast magazine, foolishly ignoring the claims of some smaller Umbrian winemakers.
An Italian unmanned aircraft has set a European endurance record flying for eight consecutive hours with a full load. Built by Alenia Aeronautica, the Sky-Y aircraft set the record at the end of a one-month test campaign in Sweden. The Alitalia entry has yet to arrive at the testing ground but is expected soon.
14 November, 2007
EU: The Bottomless Pit
The EU spends over €100 billion of our money. But, for fear of making itself unpopular, it makes the national governments do the taxation. For the 'citizens' of Europe the EU just gives. And it knows how to publicise its giving: every road, building, training course has the appropriate wording to make you feel what a marvellous thing it is.
And how well is this money spent? Well, for the thirteenth year running the Court of Auditors has refused to approve the accounts. It has approved of about 40% (up from 33% last year, the Commission boasts, so it must be doing the right things!) leaving something like €60 billion which is subject to error, poor accounting or fraud. One of the favourites this year is that now agricultural subsidies are being doled out on the basis of the agricultural land area rather than production, they are being claimed by golf clubs and railway companies.
And yet we tolerate it. Why? Because the political class won't allow too much argument in case the thing unravels. As Daniel Hannan points out in the Telegraph: it's a racket - a mechanism for redistributing wealth to people who, directly or indirectly, are on its payroll. We need one country to refuse to pay its contribution until the accounts are in proper shape.
Don't hold your breath.
And how well is this money spent? Well, for the thirteenth year running the Court of Auditors has refused to approve the accounts. It has approved of about 40% (up from 33% last year, the Commission boasts, so it must be doing the right things!) leaving something like €60 billion which is subject to error, poor accounting or fraud. One of the favourites this year is that now agricultural subsidies are being doled out on the basis of the agricultural land area rather than production, they are being claimed by golf clubs and railway companies.
And yet we tolerate it. Why? Because the political class won't allow too much argument in case the thing unravels. As Daniel Hannan points out in the Telegraph: it's a racket - a mechanism for redistributing wealth to people who, directly or indirectly, are on its payroll. We need one country to refuse to pay its contribution until the accounts are in proper shape.
Don't hold your breath.
Jacqui Smith (2)
It appears that thousands of illegal immigrants have been cleared to work in the Home Office, some guarding important installations, one apparently guarding the Prime Minister's car.
Ms Smith knew about this four months ago, but, incredibly, all the Home Office's efforts (we learn this from leaked memos) have gone towards covering it up.
Ms Smith of course tendered her resignation.
(Sorry, I made that bit up. The rest, unfortunately, is true)
Too cool to blog
No, not that sort of cool. No posts for a while because temperatures, which have been very pleasant for the time of year, started to fall and we decided to have the heating on. The system, not used since March, promptly blew up and all the plumbers were busy (Note: next year test it in August). I have been slumped in front of the computer in a cryogenic stasis, unable to think.
Now after two minor floods and more than a day's work, we are getting there and my attention has been drawn to.......
Now after two minor floods and more than a day's work, we are getting there and my attention has been drawn to.......
08 November, 2007
Italian News (3)
- Roma campaign. A confusing one for non-natives, this. The Roma are Romanians, sometimes referred to as Rom, which sometimes means gypsies, and the city they have chosen to settle in is Roma. Giovanna Reggiani, the wife of an admiral was murdered while out walking in the capital, the culprit seemingly being a Romanian living in one of the many makeshift camps in the area. Prodi reacted to public outrage (there have been 76 murders by Romanians this year) by threatening to deport illegals who are deemed a threat to the state. This unfortunatey comes up against EU law which permits them to travel freely.
- Interview with Prodi: in an interview with the Financial Times Mr Prodi sought to take the heat out of the situation. Yes, there had been a massive influx of Romanians - perhaps half a million - and they made up 75% of the people arrested for serious crimes but that had to be set against the 22,000 Italian companies employing 600,000 Romanians over there. He is in talks with the Romanian foreign minister but in the meantime Veltroni the mayor of Rome is rounding them up.
- Biagi dies: the distinguished journalist Enzo Biagi has died aged 87. He ws a much loved figure in Italy, fiercely critical of governments of all persuasions
- Student murder: the death of a British student in Perugia appears to have been as a result of sex games with an American flatmate, her Italian boyfriend and a Congolese bar owner. Arrests have been made and police say the case is closed.
- MS Breakthrough: another astonishing success for Italian medical research. A team in Rome have established that EBV, a variant of herpes, causes Multiple Sclerosis, making treatment easier.
- Interview with Prodi: in an interview with the Financial Times Mr Prodi sought to take the heat out of the situation. Yes, there had been a massive influx of Romanians - perhaps half a million - and they made up 75% of the people arrested for serious crimes but that had to be set against the 22,000 Italian companies employing 600,000 Romanians over there. He is in talks with the Romanian foreign minister but in the meantime Veltroni the mayor of Rome is rounding them up.
- Biagi dies: the distinguished journalist Enzo Biagi has died aged 87. He ws a much loved figure in Italy, fiercely critical of governments of all persuasions
- Student murder: the death of a British student in Perugia appears to have been as a result of sex games with an American flatmate, her Italian boyfriend and a Congolese bar owner. Arrests have been made and police say the case is closed.
- MS Breakthrough: another astonishing success for Italian medical research. A team in Rome have established that EBV, a variant of herpes, causes Multiple Sclerosis, making treatment easier.
- 10 commandments: Police have discovered during the arrest of Salvatore Lo Piccolo, the Boss of Bosses, a list of rules governing the deportment of a mobster, which include 'Appointments must absolutely be respected' and 'Wives must be treated with respect' making the Cosa Nostra unique among Italians
- Saudi meets Pope: King Abdullah has a historic meeting with the Pontiff. These heads of small wealthy countries whose very word is law have to stick together
07 November, 2007
Youth Parliament
A hasty correction in case I have maligned them: the Youth Parliament is an independent charity with no party political affiliation. Its website (HERE) is pretty good.
Youth need advice and here is mine: putting your name to a New Labour press release is like accepting sweets from a stranger. Don't.
Youth need advice and here is mine: putting your name to a New Labour press release is like accepting sweets from a stranger. Don't.
Jacqui Smith
No, I haven't got it in for New Labour women (the men are just as bad) but I have to tell you this. Ms Smith is, somewhat surprisingly, the Home Secretary. The Times reports (HERE) that after she had seen members of the Youth Parliament (I shall try to find out what this is - the main one seems childish enough - and how much it costs) three representatives, Natalie Irvin of the North East, Dan Kent for Sutton and Natalie Hall for Staffordshire all said exactly the same thing in their press releases including 'It is good to hear that gun and knife crime is a key priority for the Government' (which will be news to anyone who lives in a British city).
So the government makes a big splash about consulting 'Yoof' and then tells them what to say, dressing it up as their own thoughts. This, in a nutshell, is how the country is run. And not even an apology this time.
Alitalia
Alitalia is losing something in the region of a million euros a day, and has debts of over €1 billion. The Italian Government, with its keen eye for investment quality, has decided to sell its near 50% stake.
One of the bidders is Air One, the Italian internal airline with the heron on its tail (airone is the Italian for heron - geddit?) which says it wants to maintain its character. This 'character' is of baggage handlers who block the luggage tags reader while they go out for a smoke, ensuring your luggage goes nowhere, strikes, absurd over-staffing by militant unions and appalling delays such that you cannot rely on the airline to get you anywhere anything like on time.
I have done a fair bit of corporate finance advisory work in my time and my advice to Air One's CEO Carlo Toto is:
Lie down in a darkened room until you feel better.
One of the bidders is Air One, the Italian internal airline with the heron on its tail (airone is the Italian for heron - geddit?) which says it wants to maintain its character. This 'character' is of baggage handlers who block the luggage tags reader while they go out for a smoke, ensuring your luggage goes nowhere, strikes, absurd over-staffing by militant unions and appalling delays such that you cannot rely on the airline to get you anywhere anything like on time.
I have done a fair bit of corporate finance advisory work in my time and my advice to Air One's CEO Carlo Toto is:
Lie down in a darkened room until you feel better.
06 November, 2007
Ruth Kelly
The cabinet minister with the connection to Opus Dei and the peculiar manufactured proley accent (which I can't imagine she had when attending posh girl's school Shrewsbury College) has admitted, after being found out by the Mail on Sunday (HERE) that money given to her for non-political communication with the electorate in fact went to making a piece of Labour Party propaganda. It was just around the time we all thought Gordon would call an election and she has a very marginal constituency.
Ms Kelly has apologised 'unreservedly' and..er...that's it.
This is the equivalent to being caught with your hands in the till, and she's a Cabinet Minister! I've asked it before and I'll ask it again: just what does it take to get these people to resign?
British Constitution
It used to be a test for drunkenness. Bertie Wooster, suspected by an aunt of being tight, was made to say it, and having got that right was only able to prove his sobriety by saying, if I remember rightly, 'She stands outside Fotheringham's Fish Sauce Shop, welcoming him in'.
Anyway we are due to hear a bit about the Constitution today, it is rumoured, in Gordon Brown's first Queen's Speech. This is the bit, if you remember, where he sets out his 'vision'.
So here is a suggestion or two.
House of Lords: 80% elected, the rest a minimal number of political appointees, enough to keep parliamentary business flowing, and ex-officio members, such as a couple of bishops, the Chief Rabbi, Head of the Muslim Council, former Prime Ministers and other holders of the Great Offices of State, Law Lords, Governor of the Bank of England, Head of the National Trust etc etc. Everyone to retire at age 75.
Voting: House of Lords Commission to oversee voting, prevent fraud, introduce new voting methods such as by computer etc
Referenda: Any constitutional change put to the people in a referendum. House of Lords committee to rule on what is a constitutional change (eg changes to Habeas Corpus in Anti-terrorism measures)
West Lothian Question: English Grand Committee as suggested by Rifkind, only English MPs to vote on purely English laws; Scottish Executive to be given tax raising powers.
Abolish Human Rights Act and submission of English Courts to European ones.
Well, that's a start.
Something tells me that none of the above will be in it. I am also guesing that there will be a few surprises, and that Gordon Brown will come out of it marginally better but not much. We shall see.
Anyway we are due to hear a bit about the Constitution today, it is rumoured, in Gordon Brown's first Queen's Speech. This is the bit, if you remember, where he sets out his 'vision'.
So here is a suggestion or two.
House of Lords: 80% elected, the rest a minimal number of political appointees, enough to keep parliamentary business flowing, and ex-officio members, such as a couple of bishops, the Chief Rabbi, Head of the Muslim Council, former Prime Ministers and other holders of the Great Offices of State, Law Lords, Governor of the Bank of England, Head of the National Trust etc etc. Everyone to retire at age 75.
Voting: House of Lords Commission to oversee voting, prevent fraud, introduce new voting methods such as by computer etc
Referenda: Any constitutional change put to the people in a referendum. House of Lords committee to rule on what is a constitutional change (eg changes to Habeas Corpus in Anti-terrorism measures)
West Lothian Question: English Grand Committee as suggested by Rifkind, only English MPs to vote on purely English laws; Scottish Executive to be given tax raising powers.
Abolish Human Rights Act and submission of English Courts to European ones.
Well, that's a start.
Something tells me that none of the above will be in it. I am also guesing that there will be a few surprises, and that Gordon Brown will come out of it marginally better but not much. We shall see.
05 November, 2007
Enoch
One Nigel Hastilow, who looks, I shall mention in passing, like a cheap gangster, has apparently said 'Enoch was right', during an article on immigration given to his local newspaper in his capacity as a Conservative candidate. Presumably after some mild suggestion from the leadership he has thought it right to resign.
I'd have sacked him for stupidity. His leader Cameron has cleverly introduced the subject of immigration into the political scene, having taken the unpleasantness out of the verbiage. This was a clever move by Cameron, for whom it could be a vote winner. Hastilow's outburst was a gift to Labour.
In my view, more than half the country subscribe to the view 'Enoch was right', in what is known as the 'rivers of blood' speech, but less than 1% of them have any idea what he did in fact say. It was 'Like the Roman I see the Tiber foaming with much blood', a quote from Virgil's Aeneid. The Tiber. Not the Thames or the Ouse. 'Like the Roman'. You'd have thought even the daftest person might guess this was some sort of ancient quote. Virgil also coined the phrase 'timeo Danaos et dona ferentis' but each time anyone says 'I fear the Greeks bearing gifts' it isn't thought to be some racist comment on our European partners. I'm afraid the new ignorant class has been led by the Left to allowing the persecution of an educated man (Powell, not Hastilow). But he's dead now and it can't hurt him.
I think that with Hastilow's departure the average IQ of Conservative candidates will have risen but it all seems so silly,
I'd have sacked him for stupidity. His leader Cameron has cleverly introduced the subject of immigration into the political scene, having taken the unpleasantness out of the verbiage. This was a clever move by Cameron, for whom it could be a vote winner. Hastilow's outburst was a gift to Labour.
In my view, more than half the country subscribe to the view 'Enoch was right', in what is known as the 'rivers of blood' speech, but less than 1% of them have any idea what he did in fact say. It was 'Like the Roman I see the Tiber foaming with much blood', a quote from Virgil's Aeneid. The Tiber. Not the Thames or the Ouse. 'Like the Roman'. You'd have thought even the daftest person might guess this was some sort of ancient quote. Virgil also coined the phrase 'timeo Danaos et dona ferentis' but each time anyone says 'I fear the Greeks bearing gifts' it isn't thought to be some racist comment on our European partners. I'm afraid the new ignorant class has been led by the Left to allowing the persecution of an educated man (Powell, not Hastilow). But he's dead now and it can't hurt him.
I think that with Hastilow's departure the average IQ of Conservative candidates will have risen but it all seems so silly,
04 November, 2007
The Political Class
I have been reading Peter Oborne's book The Triumph of the Political Class (Simon & Schuster) and for once I agree with David Mellor: 'Copies..should be sent to every voter'.
The Political Class is a term I have been using for some time, mainly about Europe, but Oborne (former political editor of the Spectator, now with the Mail) traces its rise over the last 30 years to its apotheosis now (in the unlikely event of it becoming a film, Apotheosis Now would be a good title).
Whereas we once had an establishment, the governance of the country is now in the hands of a self protecting class of people which can be entered only at an early age. Almost all of them have no experience of anything outside Westminster and politics is so much a profession that even party political distinction is blurred: they borrow each other's policies simply to occupy political space as if the asppirations and needs of a nation were a chessboard. The result has been poor government, based on preserving the interests of the Political Class above serving the people, low voter turnout (what's the point?) and corruption, many instances of which Oborne cites.
This is a stunning indictment of what we have allowed to happen in Britain. I hope the book is widely read before it is too late.
The Political Class is a term I have been using for some time, mainly about Europe, but Oborne (former political editor of the Spectator, now with the Mail) traces its rise over the last 30 years to its apotheosis now (in the unlikely event of it becoming a film, Apotheosis Now would be a good title).
Whereas we once had an establishment, the governance of the country is now in the hands of a self protecting class of people which can be entered only at an early age. Almost all of them have no experience of anything outside Westminster and politics is so much a profession that even party political distinction is blurred: they borrow each other's policies simply to occupy political space as if the asppirations and needs of a nation were a chessboard. The result has been poor government, based on preserving the interests of the Political Class above serving the people, low voter turnout (what's the point?) and corruption, many instances of which Oborne cites.
This is a stunning indictment of what we have allowed to happen in Britain. I hope the book is widely read before it is too late.
02 November, 2007
Sir Ian Blair
Sir Ian Blair has been described before as 'disturbingly on-message'. In truth he is the New Labour policeman, the Political Class copper. Even the triangular revolving sign outside New Scotland Yard has some New Labour bilge like 'working for a better London'. And like the rest of the new Political Class he doesn't want to resign even when he has been found out.
The report into the Jean Charles de Menezes killing however is critical of systemic failings in the Met. He was in charge.
Of course he must resign. What are people thinking of? We can't have the country's top policeman having no support from the public, no credibility. OF COURSE HE MUST GO.
The report into the Jean Charles de Menezes killing however is critical of systemic failings in the Met. He was in charge.
Of course he must resign. What are people thinking of? We can't have the country's top policeman having no support from the public, no credibility. OF COURSE HE MUST GO.
Constitutional Fiasco
It won't surprise many people, I fear. The leaders of the 27 European nations are going down to Lisbon in December, Foreign Ministers too, to sign the Constitution. But the ceremony is scheduled for the same day as the Council of Ministers, to be held in Brussels. Why not do everything in Lisbon? Because Brussels gets all sorts of financial incentives for meetings being held there. So much for the esprit comunautaire. The politicos will sign, raise a glass of taxpayer funded bubbly to each other and then all fly in separate planes to Brussels for another freebie.
These signing arrangements are redolent of the Constitution itself: something for the political class to feather its own nest at the expense of the people.
These signing arrangements are redolent of the Constitution itself: something for the political class to feather its own nest at the expense of the people.
01 November, 2007
Italian News (2)
- Hallowe'en, until very recently unknown in Italy, has caught on in a big way in the last couple of years; pumpkin growers report a huge increase in sales
- Italian medical research, a somewhat unsung success, has been active: Teams working under Luigi Naldini in Milan and Cesare Galli in Cremona have managed to rewrite human DNA in a breakthrough that holds promise for the treatment of a range of diseases.
Italy's leading expert on breast cancer Umberto Veronesi says that in ten years the survival rate among breast cancer patients should rise to 85%
Andrea Decensi, director of the oncology department at Genoa's Galliera Hospital, said a drug used to treat osteoporosis has proven to also be effective for the prevention of breast cancer
Teams working at Aviano near Pordenone and Rome's Tor Vergata University have discovered that chronic lymphatic leukemia (CLL) is more aggressive when the tumour cells contain a specific protein on their surface.Valter Gattei of the Aviano lab said the breakthrough was "promising" because the protein is "easier and cheaper to detect than other markers".
A team from the universities of Rome and Ancona have found a marker in human bile they claim can identify bile-duct cancer before surgery becomes the only, high-risk option.
Not bad, eh?
- Bread and pasta prices, currently being investigated by the competition commission, have been a major cause in the rise in the inflation rate
- Cortina d'Ampezzo, a ski resort, has voted to switch from the northeastern Veneto region to Trentino-Alto Adige. The referendum was held to preserve the Ladino language, spoken otherwise only in the Alto Adige, but some think the positive vote may have been influenced by the lower taxes paid by their neighbours in Alto Adige.
- The number of legal immigrants in Italy climbed 21.6% last year, over 2005, the highest growth in the European Union
- Dario Fo is the only Italian in a list of living geniuses published Monday in the Daily Telegraph.The Nobel prize-winning writer came seventh; the creator of The Simpsons was fourth, Osama bin Laden joint 43rd
- The Vatican has published a document from the secret archive saying the wiping out of the Knights Templar in the 14th Century may have been a little harsh. They were bad, but not that bad
- Signposts have been erected marking the via Francigena route for pilgrims from Rome to Canterbury. There is renewed interest because it has been shown to be quicker than queuing for Ryanair
- Italian medical research, a somewhat unsung success, has been active: Teams working under Luigi Naldini in Milan and Cesare Galli in Cremona have managed to rewrite human DNA in a breakthrough that holds promise for the treatment of a range of diseases.
Italy's leading expert on breast cancer Umberto Veronesi says that in ten years the survival rate among breast cancer patients should rise to 85%
Andrea Decensi, director of the oncology department at Genoa's Galliera Hospital, said a drug used to treat osteoporosis has proven to also be effective for the prevention of breast cancer
Teams working at Aviano near Pordenone and Rome's Tor Vergata University have discovered that chronic lymphatic leukemia (CLL) is more aggressive when the tumour cells contain a specific protein on their surface.Valter Gattei of the Aviano lab said the breakthrough was "promising" because the protein is "easier and cheaper to detect than other markers".
A team from the universities of Rome and Ancona have found a marker in human bile they claim can identify bile-duct cancer before surgery becomes the only, high-risk option.
Not bad, eh?
- Bread and pasta prices, currently being investigated by the competition commission, have been a major cause in the rise in the inflation rate
- Cortina d'Ampezzo, a ski resort, has voted to switch from the northeastern Veneto region to Trentino-Alto Adige. The referendum was held to preserve the Ladino language, spoken otherwise only in the Alto Adige, but some think the positive vote may have been influenced by the lower taxes paid by their neighbours in Alto Adige.
- The number of legal immigrants in Italy climbed 21.6% last year, over 2005, the highest growth in the European Union
- Dario Fo is the only Italian in a list of living geniuses published Monday in the Daily Telegraph.The Nobel prize-winning writer came seventh; the creator of The Simpsons was fourth, Osama bin Laden joint 43rd
- The Vatican has published a document from the secret archive saying the wiping out of the Knights Templar in the 14th Century may have been a little harsh. They were bad, but not that bad
- Signposts have been erected marking the via Francigena route for pilgrims from Rome to Canterbury. There is renewed interest because it has been shown to be quicker than queuing for Ryanair
30 October, 2007
The Sun
I am an avid reader of the Sun's editorial comment 'The Sun Says'; this paper, though intellectually a tad lacking, influences the votes of its millions of readers. The Sun Says has for several months been having a go at Gordon Brown's failure to hold a referendum, and now is coming out in favour of David Cameron's immigration policy. Is this a major shift in loyalty, the first since 1997? Interesting stuff.
David and Abdullah
There's been quite a lot of self-righteous breast beating about the visit of King Abdullah to Britain. My own view is that if they're so nasty don't buy their horrid oil or sell them our planes. Ha-ha.
But the strangest thing is the absence of the Foreign Secretary from the talks. Normally it would be irrelevant and I wouldn't mention it but in this case I think we have to remind ourselves that David Milliband is Jewish. Here is his reason: that he and his we are adopting a child - in America - and that he has to be present there at that moment. This is the strangest excuse and the more I think about it the less I believe it. David Milliband has long term prime-ministerial ambitions, it should be remembered. What is going on at these talks?
A couple of things need be said: firstly it ill behoves a Cabinet Minister to decide he doesn't like British adoption regulations and to do it in the more relaxed USA.
Secondly, there appears to be a feeling among a large part of the Labour Party that foreign relations don't matter. Remember the late Robin Cook leaving the Queen on her visit to India so he could see his mistress? But the Saudi oil fuels British factories with British jobs, and the arms contract, whether you like it or not, provides a lot of workers' livelihoods.
This being a personal matter I reckon he is gambling no one will question him too deeply. But I hope we shall hear more about Mr Milliband's abandonment of his post.
But the strangest thing is the absence of the Foreign Secretary from the talks. Normally it would be irrelevant and I wouldn't mention it but in this case I think we have to remind ourselves that David Milliband is Jewish. Here is his reason: that he and his we are adopting a child - in America - and that he has to be present there at that moment. This is the strangest excuse and the more I think about it the less I believe it. David Milliband has long term prime-ministerial ambitions, it should be remembered. What is going on at these talks?
A couple of things need be said: firstly it ill behoves a Cabinet Minister to decide he doesn't like British adoption regulations and to do it in the more relaxed USA.
Secondly, there appears to be a feeling among a large part of the Labour Party that foreign relations don't matter. Remember the late Robin Cook leaving the Queen on her visit to India so he could see his mistress? But the Saudi oil fuels British factories with British jobs, and the arms contract, whether you like it or not, provides a lot of workers' livelihoods.
This being a personal matter I reckon he is gambling no one will question him too deeply. But I hope we shall hear more about Mr Milliband's abandonment of his post.
29 October, 2007
Currencies
The news is that the dollar has fallen to a new low of 1.4438 against the euro (although it came back a bit in later trading). The euro had been launched at around a dollar. So is this a good thing or a bad thing? And for whom?
The position of the US is that it has been spending more than it has been earning for some time now. It has a massive trade deficit. When it buys goods from China, it pays in dollars but the Chinese manufacturer is not allowed to hold dollars so it sells them to the central bank at a fiddled exchange rate with which it can't argue. The Bank of China then invests these dollar funds in American government stock (called T-bills). So China is lending the USA money to buy Chinese goods. The only way to get out of this deficit position is for the USA to devalue. Then the value of China's T-bill holding would go down (tee-hee) and China's exports to the US would become more expensive. But the Chinese weren't born yesterday, and their fixed yuan-$ exchange rate followed it up before it went down, and they are refusing to revalue. They may be forced to, however if the dollar falls against all other currencies; which it is trying to do.
Things are different for the euro. Consumer demand from more cautious European consumers has been much weaker than in the US. The euro-area's growth has been from exports (that is to say the factories have been working but non-Europeans have been buying the goods). And to keep your exports competitive you need a cheap currency, not one which is shooting up in value against the dollar, in which so many commodities from oil to wheat are valued.
So there was something of a race to the bottom - both the USA and the Euro trying to remain cheap - and it seams round one is to the US. I once read that the Airbus would be uncompetitive at 1.35. Presumably now it is losing money hand over fist.
Germany has in the past shown the way to manage a strong currency and export: go up market, keep your quality high, keep your costs low. It remains to be seen whether the eurozone can do this. If the dollar falls much further - and the US would like it to - there will be growing unemployment in Europe which will become a political problem.
Cut the regulation. Cut the taxes. But they won't listen.
The position of the US is that it has been spending more than it has been earning for some time now. It has a massive trade deficit. When it buys goods from China, it pays in dollars but the Chinese manufacturer is not allowed to hold dollars so it sells them to the central bank at a fiddled exchange rate with which it can't argue. The Bank of China then invests these dollar funds in American government stock (called T-bills). So China is lending the USA money to buy Chinese goods. The only way to get out of this deficit position is for the USA to devalue. Then the value of China's T-bill holding would go down (tee-hee) and China's exports to the US would become more expensive. But the Chinese weren't born yesterday, and their fixed yuan-$ exchange rate followed it up before it went down, and they are refusing to revalue. They may be forced to, however if the dollar falls against all other currencies; which it is trying to do.
Things are different for the euro. Consumer demand from more cautious European consumers has been much weaker than in the US. The euro-area's growth has been from exports (that is to say the factories have been working but non-Europeans have been buying the goods). And to keep your exports competitive you need a cheap currency, not one which is shooting up in value against the dollar, in which so many commodities from oil to wheat are valued.
So there was something of a race to the bottom - both the USA and the Euro trying to remain cheap - and it seams round one is to the US. I once read that the Airbus would be uncompetitive at 1.35. Presumably now it is losing money hand over fist.
Germany has in the past shown the way to manage a strong currency and export: go up market, keep your quality high, keep your costs low. It remains to be seen whether the eurozone can do this. If the dollar falls much further - and the US would like it to - there will be growing unemployment in Europe which will become a political problem.
Cut the regulation. Cut the taxes. But they won't listen.
27 October, 2007
Homosexuality
There has been a lot of publicity in Italy given to a campaign to promote homosexuality as something you are born with rather than something you acquire. The campaign features a baby with a wrist tag marked 'homosexual' (rather than male or female). Now new research on worms says that where a worm is homosexual it is written in the genes.
Only worms, but I hope religious leaders are looking at this: if there can be shown to be a homosexual gene then it must follow that God made homosexuals. Which rather changes things.
To date though no such gene has been discovered in humans.
Interesting fact: A lot of people say hoe-mosexuality (hom as in dome rather than hom as in bomb) on the basis that it comes from the Latin homo meaning man. But on that basis a female 'homosexual', attracted to men, would be a heterosexual. Instead it comes from the Greek hommos, meaning 'the same' as in homogenised milk. So it's hom as in bomb.
I expect you all knew that.
Only worms, but I hope religious leaders are looking at this: if there can be shown to be a homosexual gene then it must follow that God made homosexuals. Which rather changes things.
To date though no such gene has been discovered in humans.
Interesting fact: A lot of people say hoe-mosexuality (hom as in dome rather than hom as in bomb) on the basis that it comes from the Latin homo meaning man. But on that basis a female 'homosexual', attracted to men, would be a heterosexual. Instead it comes from the Greek hommos, meaning 'the same' as in homogenised milk. So it's hom as in bomb.
I expect you all knew that.
Euroopean Cnstitution
The Economist (HERE) quotes the Euro-loony Centre for European Policy Studies as welcoming the fact that the text of the constitution is opaque, because those countries which ratified the constitution last time are going to be arguing that it is the same as the failed Constitution they supported so there is no need for a referendum, whereas those which held or were going to hold a referendum will be arguing that it is a completely different document..... and so there is no need for a referendum!
What amazes me is that anybody can support this anti-democratic buro-fascism for a moment.
What amazes me is that anybody can support this anti-democratic buro-fascism for a moment.
26 October, 2007
Off the hook!
ANSA reports that Berlusconi has been acquitted of bribery charges (he was charged with bribing a judge not to sell a state food company to a rival in 1985, but after acquittal the prosecution appealed). That is not a misprint: he was charged with something 22 years ago and has only now cleared his name. Such is the speed of the Italian justice system.
Really this must improve if Italy is to be regarded internationally as a country governed by the rule of law.
In a separate development, the papers registering Clemente Mastella as a suspect in the 'Why Not' investigation have arrived in Rome. It appears they are concentrating on something particular to Mastella and not to the investigation around Romano Prodi.
So it seems the two ageing political leaders might well be off the hook together, just as people are beginning to talk of a general election in the near future. My advice is for them both to retire - innocent - and leave this one to the younger guys (people under 70)
Really this must improve if Italy is to be regarded internationally as a country governed by the rule of law.
In a separate development, the papers registering Clemente Mastella as a suspect in the 'Why Not' investigation have arrived in Rome. It appears they are concentrating on something particular to Mastella and not to the investigation around Romano Prodi.
So it seems the two ageing political leaders might well be off the hook together, just as people are beginning to talk of a general election in the near future. My advice is for them both to retire - innocent - and leave this one to the younger guys (people under 70)
25 October, 2007
Threats
It seems that someone has sent a letter to Clemente Mastella, enclosing bullets and threatening him if he doesn't reinstate de Magistris (the investigating magistrate who has been critical of him and whom he has had transferred from his post).
I have been critical of Mr Mastella but this sort of thing destroys political debate. Indeed it works in the opposite way, for now he will be seen as something of a martyr.
So Italian politics has lost none of its ability to shock.
I have been critical of Mr Mastella but this sort of thing destroys political debate. Indeed it works in the opposite way, for now he will be seen as something of a martyr.
So Italian politics has lost none of its ability to shock.
24 October, 2007
Italian News
The first of a regular mid-week summary of the news from Italy.
- Prime Minister Romano Prodi says he has confidence in Clemente Mastella. Mastella is being investigated for collaborating with a group of businessmen to defraud the EU. This news is hardy surprising because Prodi is subject to the same investigation (although only for abuse of office) and because he is desperately in need of support for his coalition in which Mastella's Udeur party is a member.
- Standard and Poors the rating agency has confirmed Italy' s debt ratings but said that the prospects for fiscal consolidation (that means sorting out the excessive public spending) do not seem good, due to rigid labour markets, the structural weakness of Italian public finances and the ageing population.
- Italian children are among the fattest in Europe according to recent research
- Evaded taxes in Italy exceed 100 billion euros a year and the bulk of the evasion takes place in the services and retail sectors, according to a new report by the economy ministry.
- A new law concerning the duties of newspaper editors will not apply to bloggers says undersecretary for culture Ricardo Franco Levi.
- Roma and Inter Milan both won in the Champions League
- Fanatical self-publicist TV girl and consort of Flavio Briatore, Elizabetha Gregoraci, claims she cannot even have a coffee with a friend without it appearing in the newspapers. Whether this is a complaint or bragging is unclear
- An Italian, Paolo Nespoli from Milan, is in space, the first Italian for 6 years. The importance of choosing a Milanese is that it is only south of Rome that they refuse to wear crash helmets.
- Prime Minister Romano Prodi says he has confidence in Clemente Mastella. Mastella is being investigated for collaborating with a group of businessmen to defraud the EU. This news is hardy surprising because Prodi is subject to the same investigation (although only for abuse of office) and because he is desperately in need of support for his coalition in which Mastella's Udeur party is a member.
- Standard and Poors the rating agency has confirmed Italy' s debt ratings but said that the prospects for fiscal consolidation (that means sorting out the excessive public spending) do not seem good, due to rigid labour markets, the structural weakness of Italian public finances and the ageing population.
- Italian children are among the fattest in Europe according to recent research
- Evaded taxes in Italy exceed 100 billion euros a year and the bulk of the evasion takes place in the services and retail sectors, according to a new report by the economy ministry.
- A new law concerning the duties of newspaper editors will not apply to bloggers says undersecretary for culture Ricardo Franco Levi.
- Roma and Inter Milan both won in the Champions League
- Fanatical self-publicist TV girl and consort of Flavio Briatore, Elizabetha Gregoraci, claims she cannot even have a coffee with a friend without it appearing in the newspapers. Whether this is a complaint or bragging is unclear
- An Italian, Paolo Nespoli from Milan, is in space, the first Italian for 6 years. The importance of choosing a Milanese is that it is only south of Rome that they refuse to wear crash helmets.
23 October, 2007
Life with the mafia
The Italian papers, and many of the British ones, lead with the story that the mafia is the biggest business in Italy. I don't know (and I don't think they know) but it seems certain it is the only one which is well organised and with a proper international outlook.
But Italians don't live their lives terrified of the bullet in the post, or the horse's head in the bed. Other than the flower sellers in restaurants (sent in to check how many people are dining so the payments can be fairly calculated) there is only one way it affects the lives of, I would guess, 99.5% of the people: the pizzo, or protection, increases the cost of the goods ordinary Italians buy. Where the mafia are strongest, ordinary things such as food, rent etc are more expensive.
If you close your eyes a bit you don't notice it; it's probably no more than the money wasted through idle civil servants or outdated labour practices.
That's why nobody does anything about it.
But Italians don't live their lives terrified of the bullet in the post, or the horse's head in the bed. Other than the flower sellers in restaurants (sent in to check how many people are dining so the payments can be fairly calculated) there is only one way it affects the lives of, I would guess, 99.5% of the people: the pizzo, or protection, increases the cost of the goods ordinary Italians buy. Where the mafia are strongest, ordinary things such as food, rent etc are more expensive.
If you close your eyes a bit you don't notice it; it's probably no more than the money wasted through idle civil servants or outdated labour practices.
That's why nobody does anything about it.
22 October, 2007
Habeas Corpus
It used to be that if the State hadn't charged you with anything after detaining you for 3 days, they had to let you go. Slowly this has been whittled away, apparently due to the post 9/11 terrorist upsurge, and the limit is now 28 days. Nearly a month. Now the police want it to be 90 days - three months that you can be held in a prison without even being charged, much less convicted.
The Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has now admitted that there has not been a single instance since 9/11 where detention would have been necessary for more than 28 days. They just want the powers, you see.
If parliament lets this through it will have ceased to be the guardian of our liberties.
The Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has now admitted that there has not been a single instance since 9/11 where detention would have been necessary for more than 28 days. They just want the powers, you see.
If parliament lets this through it will have ceased to be the guardian of our liberties.
21 October, 2007
Benazir Bhutto
The Sunday Telegraph has separate articles from estranged couple Imran and Jemima Khan, the latter describing Benazir as 'a kleptocrat in Hermes headscarf'.
Even the highly critical Jemima, however, uses the term 'self-imposed exile' for Benazir's lengthy stay in a mansion in Surrey. It sounds as if she was absenting herself for the good of her people. In fact she was fleeing a series of corruption charges.
Even the highly critical Jemima, however, uses the term 'self-imposed exile' for Benazir's lengthy stay in a mansion in Surrey. It sounds as if she was absenting herself for the good of her people. In fact she was fleeing a series of corruption charges.
20 October, 2007
Clemente Mastella (5)
According to the ANSA News Agency, Clemente Mastella is under investigation for abuse of office and violation of the laws on membership of secret societies. Apparently the suspicion is that he and a group of politicians and businessmen conspired to misappropriate public funds into San Marino.
18 October, 2007
European Constitution
Mr Brown is off to Lisbon to sign us up to the European Constitution. He and Foreign Secretary Milliband say that none of the nasties apply to us - they have protected us with their red lines. They don't believe that and nor should we; they are lying. If you are interested in exactly what the red lines are worth see HERE. You can also sign the referendum petition at the same site.
Blair stitched Brown up by agreeing to this and so Brown has to support the Constitution and therefore can't allow a vote. We are being sold down the river for a piece of cheap politics.
The question is: what do we do now? Keep the pressure on; write to newspapers and MPs. A new opinion poll taken across Europe shows that 70% of Europeans want a referendum; but they won't get one. The political class want the thing adopted and damn the people. This is one of the most outrageous pieces of deception in living memory.
Blair stitched Brown up by agreeing to this and so Brown has to support the Constitution and therefore can't allow a vote. We are being sold down the river for a piece of cheap politics.
The question is: what do we do now? Keep the pressure on; write to newspapers and MPs. A new opinion poll taken across Europe shows that 70% of Europeans want a referendum; but they won't get one. The political class want the thing adopted and damn the people. This is one of the most outrageous pieces of deception in living memory.
Burma
The plight of the poor Burmese could hardly be worse. A repressive regime which rejected the winning candidate in the elections, Aung San Suu Kyi, is kept in power by another repressive regime, China. The Chinese are not lovers of democracy, and particularly fear that the infection might spread over the border into the poverty stricken areas where the new wealth has not permeated. And China has interests in Burma: energy contracts which have privately enriched the Burmese generals.
Is this why the West does nothing, for fear of upsetting China?
There may be another reason. I once heard an interview with Aung San Suu Kyi and she was far from flattering about the West and its morality, loathing its materialism, loathing its interference in small countries which cannot resist. She took over this mantle from her father, General Aung San, who became a folk hero fighting imperialism. It may be we have little to expect from a regime run by her and that this is holding us back. Reprehensible, of course...
Is this why the West does nothing, for fear of upsetting China?
There may be another reason. I once heard an interview with Aung San Suu Kyi and she was far from flattering about the West and its morality, loathing its materialism, loathing its interference in small countries which cannot resist. She took over this mantle from her father, General Aung San, who became a folk hero fighting imperialism. It may be we have little to expect from a regime run by her and that this is holding us back. Reprehensible, of course...
17 October, 2007
The Demon Drink
When they were trying to outlaw smoking, a number of people remarked that it will be drinking next. I confess I didn't subscribe to this view, but who knows? the first shots may be sounding.
A professor Ian Gilmour, for reasons, one can only suppose, of self-publicity, has sprayed the media with his views about alcohol consumption. Apparently the middle classes are at it. Some of them are drinking at the danger level of of three and a half bottles (per week, that is). The people of Surrey appear to be particularly guilty. Prof Mark Bellis, the director of the North West Public Health Observatory (did you know there was such a thing? Have a guess who's paying for it), suggested "substantial" increases in the price of alcohol could help to tackle the problem.
The first thing to say here is that these gentlemen really should try to get out more. I don't think I know anybody who drinks as little as this and we can't all be for the morgue at an early age. There is no scientific proof or even evidence that these levels are damaging, because there has been no proper study carried out. The second thing is to ask whether they had considered minding their own business. There is a nice little piece in the Mail (here)by John Mortimer 'The true sickness of our times is not that we eat too much, smoke cigarettes or knock off a bottle of wine in an evening. It is the ever-growing tendency of medical boards, Government officials, politicians and other groups.... to tell us how to lead our lives.'
As to Mr Bellis, here in Italy good wine is 1 euro a litre (52p a bottle) and plonk cheaper than that. And yet the Italians are living longer than the British. And you never see anyone drunk on the streets.
I suppose these ill-informed busybodies will only shut up when there is such a public outcry that the newspapers don't bother to print their self-opinionated drivel. We should start that outcry now.
A professor Ian Gilmour, for reasons, one can only suppose, of self-publicity, has sprayed the media with his views about alcohol consumption. Apparently the middle classes are at it. Some of them are drinking at the danger level of of three and a half bottles (per week, that is). The people of Surrey appear to be particularly guilty. Prof Mark Bellis, the director of the North West Public Health Observatory (did you know there was such a thing? Have a guess who's paying for it), suggested "substantial" increases in the price of alcohol could help to tackle the problem.
The first thing to say here is that these gentlemen really should try to get out more. I don't think I know anybody who drinks as little as this and we can't all be for the morgue at an early age. There is no scientific proof or even evidence that these levels are damaging, because there has been no proper study carried out. The second thing is to ask whether they had considered minding their own business. There is a nice little piece in the Mail (here)by John Mortimer 'The true sickness of our times is not that we eat too much, smoke cigarettes or knock off a bottle of wine in an evening. It is the ever-growing tendency of medical boards, Government officials, politicians and other groups.... to tell us how to lead our lives.'
As to Mr Bellis, here in Italy good wine is 1 euro a litre (52p a bottle) and plonk cheaper than that. And yet the Italians are living longer than the British. And you never see anyone drunk on the streets.
I suppose these ill-informed busybodies will only shut up when there is such a public outcry that the newspapers don't bother to print their self-opinionated drivel. We should start that outcry now.
16 October, 2007
LibDems
So, Sir Ming has suddenly found himself with a knife between his shoulder blades. It can happen. He seemed like a nice old codger, although I couldn't have voted for him myself, having a prejudice against people who can't pronounce their own names (his is Menzies). I also have a prejudice against people who don't use their own names, like Alexander 'Boris' Johnson.
They will probably elect Nick Clegg, who is seen as very much the coming thing, but my view, for what it's worth, is that the only one of them who talks any sense is Vince Cable. That presumably will preclude his even standing. I should also mention that his name is in fact John. What is it with these people?
This will be watched closely in the other two parties. The Conservative revival, to seven points ahead of Labour in the polls, has come almost entirely at the expense of the Liberal Democrats. And no one knows better than David Cameron what a transformation in party fortunes can be brought about by a new, young, personable leader.
They will probably elect Nick Clegg, who is seen as very much the coming thing, but my view, for what it's worth, is that the only one of them who talks any sense is Vince Cable. That presumably will preclude his even standing. I should also mention that his name is in fact John. What is it with these people?
This will be watched closely in the other two parties. The Conservative revival, to seven points ahead of Labour in the polls, has come almost entirely at the expense of the Liberal Democrats. And no one knows better than David Cameron what a transformation in party fortunes can be brought about by a new, young, personable leader.
13 October, 2007
Rugger
The Telegraph says we are sending more supporters to the Stade de France for tonight's match than we had soldiers at Waterloo. I'm not sure we can expect much help from the Germans this time, though.
Good luck to our chaps
Good luck to our chaps
12 October, 2007
Government Figures
Imagine any sort of organisation which has to account to members for where the money has gone - it might be a company or partnership, a golf club or the Church Fete. What would you expect to receive? As a very minimum, I should have thought, how much money came in (and where it came from) and how much went out (and where it went). And there are laws governing exactly this, in every aspect of life except government. Alastair Darling's statement, the Comprehensive Spending Review (or perhaps Revue since it has been a bit of an act) takes a long long time to get through (and costs £54) and really leaves you none the wiser. The last chancellor who gave both income and expenditure statements at the same time was Norman Lamont, but his were done on different bases anyway and so worthless. The only thing you can be certain of is that you will be kept in the dark.
What we do know is that growth appears to be slowing and that both the government deficit and the borrowing levels are right at the top of where they should be. Odd, this: Gordon Brown used to state clearly that government finances should be balanced over the economic cycle. This means running a deficit when times are bad and a surplus when they are good. To keep to this, Gordon even changed the definition of the economic cycle a while back, but even so he appears to have broken his own rule: things have been booming (he never tires of telling us so) and so we should be in surplus. But we're not.
What this means is that even if the government squeezes its revised figures into its revised definition of the economic cycle, we have no leeway. The extra money for education had to come from borrowings. So we have nothing left to fall back on if times get harder.
And times are getting harder. Already people are talking about a drop in house prices. This will make homeowners less free with their money, and they are in any case up to their ears in debt, so spending will fall, unemployment will begin to rise again and increased welfare payments will test the government's finances further. When Brown was riding high on the back of the previous government's prudence he often used to lecture us and his foreign counterparts on exactly this: 'the costs of economic failure'. Now his chickens are coming home to roost. He said there will be no spending without reform but he has poured money into unreformed public services, which are still awful; all that has happened is salaries have risen, Labour voting staff have been taken on.
It's time to tighten our belts; and Brown must fight an election in 2 years or so. He must be hoping we all have short memories. But I think he will be bitterly regretting his timidity about going to the country this Autumn.
What we do know is that growth appears to be slowing and that both the government deficit and the borrowing levels are right at the top of where they should be. Odd, this: Gordon Brown used to state clearly that government finances should be balanced over the economic cycle. This means running a deficit when times are bad and a surplus when they are good. To keep to this, Gordon even changed the definition of the economic cycle a while back, but even so he appears to have broken his own rule: things have been booming (he never tires of telling us so) and so we should be in surplus. But we're not.
What this means is that even if the government squeezes its revised figures into its revised definition of the economic cycle, we have no leeway. The extra money for education had to come from borrowings. So we have nothing left to fall back on if times get harder.
And times are getting harder. Already people are talking about a drop in house prices. This will make homeowners less free with their money, and they are in any case up to their ears in debt, so spending will fall, unemployment will begin to rise again and increased welfare payments will test the government's finances further. When Brown was riding high on the back of the previous government's prudence he often used to lecture us and his foreign counterparts on exactly this: 'the costs of economic failure'. Now his chickens are coming home to roost. He said there will be no spending without reform but he has poured money into unreformed public services, which are still awful; all that has happened is salaries have risen, Labour voting staff have been taken on.
It's time to tighten our belts; and Brown must fight an election in 2 years or so. He must be hoping we all have short memories. But I think he will be bitterly regretting his timidity about going to the country this Autumn.
Thank you, Darling
Meanwhile Alastair Darling 'fesses up. He admits that he has a mortgage with Northern Rock - which I described in an earlier post as a bank with Labour Party connections. What we don't know (yet) is if he had any savings with them - covered by the 100% guarantee from us taxpayers - or if he had the sense to put them somewhere safer.
07 October, 2007
Clemente Mastella
See my blogs about Lato B and the F word, and Outrage of Sept 27th.
I have received a comment 'This is not true' which I have now identified as coming from Mr Mastella.
If he would like to write a detailed refutation of the allegations I have made I should be only too happy to publish it on this blog.
I have received a comment 'This is not true' which I have now identified as coming from Mr Mastella.
If he would like to write a detailed refutation of the allegations I have made I should be only too happy to publish it on this blog.
Bottle
The word appears in every newspaper today (as a matter of fact it should be 'bottled out' or 'lost his bottle', the term perhaps deriving from the older 'no bottle' as in the American 'no cigar' meaning no good, or perhaps the rhyming slang 'bottle and glass'. But this is no time for pedantry). Even the Labour supporting papers are giving Gordon Brown a hard time. Something big has happened this weekend. As Andrew Rawnsley writes in the Guardian, the thing almost everyone thought they knew about Gordon was that he was a mastermind at politics. He has now lost this and his reputation as a leader in the space of a few hours.
Cameron has won a famous victory; almost no one believed the Tories could have won an election whereas in 2009 (Brown will look an even bigger fool if he goes in 2008) they might well.
Now the rest of us can get on with looking at whether there will be a financial crisis and the Tories can get on with exposing the Government's failings.
Cameron has won a famous victory; almost no one believed the Tories could have won an election whereas in 2009 (Brown will look an even bigger fool if he goes in 2008) they might well.
Now the rest of us can get on with looking at whether there will be a financial crisis and the Tories can get on with exposing the Government's failings.
06 October, 2007
Paddington
The Times has suggested he must be our most famous Peruvian immigrant (forgetting Joan Collins' husband Percy and Mario Vargas Llosa)
but can't people see? Or is this a nationwide conspiracy? 'Paddington' is pictured with a jar of Marmite, when everyone knows he lives off marmalade sandwiches. This is a fake, a base, cunning creature taking advantage of the weak immigration laws to impersonate a well known and much respected figure. There must be public outrage, steps must be taken.......
UKIP
I am one of the founders of UKIP and stood for them in the 1992 Election (when we were called the Anti-Federalist League) and the 1994 Euro Election. I recruited Nigel Farage to the party, in a pub in Wiltshire. So I wish them well even though I no longer take any part in the Party. I believe the EU to be an expensive, corrupt, undemocratic shambles and have no doubt whatsoever that we would be better off democratically and financially out of it.
But UKIP has had its problems: internal party bickering, some pretty dodgy characters as candidates, and a bit too much noise on immigration (if this is going to be an election platform, and there is no reason why it shouldn't be, you have to control the language used, as David Cameron showed so well at the Tory Conference).
There are signs now that it is getting out of the rut. Nigel Farage is a good leader and trenchant speaker, the funding crisis shows signs of being behind it, and the immigration verbiage seems to be under control (5-year moratorium on economic migrants). Most people agree with them, if not on actually leaving the EU, on the euro and the constitution.
And the recent news is that Marta Andreasen, the whistle blower who was fired for exposing EU corruption, to the shame of Lord Kinnock and his appalling wife, will be the new Treasurer. Short of having your accounts signed off by the Governor of the Central Bank (and as a matter of fact I have my doubts about Mr Trichet) you could hardly do better. Is this a renaissance for UKIP? I hope so, if only to keep the other parties honest about Europe.
But UKIP has had its problems: internal party bickering, some pretty dodgy characters as candidates, and a bit too much noise on immigration (if this is going to be an election platform, and there is no reason why it shouldn't be, you have to control the language used, as David Cameron showed so well at the Tory Conference).
There are signs now that it is getting out of the rut. Nigel Farage is a good leader and trenchant speaker, the funding crisis shows signs of being behind it, and the immigration verbiage seems to be under control (5-year moratorium on economic migrants). Most people agree with them, if not on actually leaving the EU, on the euro and the constitution.
And the recent news is that Marta Andreasen, the whistle blower who was fired for exposing EU corruption, to the shame of Lord Kinnock and his appalling wife, will be the new Treasurer. Short of having your accounts signed off by the Governor of the Central Bank (and as a matter of fact I have my doubts about Mr Trichet) you could hardly do better. Is this a renaissance for UKIP? I hope so, if only to keep the other parties honest about Europe.
Election fever (2)
So..... what do we know?
Before the Tory conference it seemed certain that Gordon would call an election and that he would win it. The Tories just weren't ready and there were doubts about Cameron's leadership. After the Tory conference there has been a Cameron bounce and the Tory Party has seemed remarkably united.
Let me say now that if Cameron has pulled this off, giving his party more time to get its act together, he will have scored a remarkable political coup. And a lot of the credit must go to George Osborne, who is the election co-ordinator and also shadow chancellor: it seems from polls that what has really swayed the voters has been the proffered reduction in inheritance tax. He may look and talk like an irritating 12 year old but there seems to be some sense in him.
But I've said before, in my view Brown would be mad not to go to the country now, if only for the reason that things are going to get a lot worse. The British middle classes can put up with a lot but not the value of their houses going down. This is one of the things that did for Major and it is enough to finish Gordon Brown. And Brown knows what it happening: who better?
Total UK household debt was 164 per cent of GDP at the end of 2006. In the USA, widely regarded by international commentators as up to its ears in debt, it was only 140 per cent. If the present financial crisis brings something in the way of a slowdown - not even a serious recession - we are in for trouble. Don't forget the people who have been borrowing 100% of the value of their houses on 4 times or more their salary. They will be in negative equity, and those who lose their jobs will be bankrupt. They will vote accordingly.
At the first sign of recession the Bank of England will reverse its upward leaning on interest rates (almost everyone thought they would rise one more time to 6pct. Now nobody thinks that) and drop them gradually. But if the housing market has already suffered the jitters reduced interest rates will not immediately work through into house prices - fewer people will be buying or selling. The pound will fall and there might - in 9-18months - be an export led recovery. And this is not fancy: lenders are already tightening credit conditions and laying off staff. Many people in the City are forecasting a 20% drop in house prices.
A pick-up in 9-18 months. Now Gordon has to call an election by Spring 2010, and usually the press start jeering after four years of a government - Spring 2009. The timing looks bad for Gordon.
All this assumes that the Tories can keep united and learn that when confronted with an open goal you have to kick the ball in (too many cock-ups have passed without comment from camp Cameron over the last year). But Gordon will see that Cameron has learned how to keep the traditional conservatives in order - offer a tax cut. The press will be against him over this and over the EU Constitution and his chances could be slim.
He ought to go now while there is still a chance.
Before the Tory conference it seemed certain that Gordon would call an election and that he would win it. The Tories just weren't ready and there were doubts about Cameron's leadership. After the Tory conference there has been a Cameron bounce and the Tory Party has seemed remarkably united.
Let me say now that if Cameron has pulled this off, giving his party more time to get its act together, he will have scored a remarkable political coup. And a lot of the credit must go to George Osborne, who is the election co-ordinator and also shadow chancellor: it seems from polls that what has really swayed the voters has been the proffered reduction in inheritance tax. He may look and talk like an irritating 12 year old but there seems to be some sense in him.
But I've said before, in my view Brown would be mad not to go to the country now, if only for the reason that things are going to get a lot worse. The British middle classes can put up with a lot but not the value of their houses going down. This is one of the things that did for Major and it is enough to finish Gordon Brown. And Brown knows what it happening: who better?
Total UK household debt was 164 per cent of GDP at the end of 2006. In the USA, widely regarded by international commentators as up to its ears in debt, it was only 140 per cent. If the present financial crisis brings something in the way of a slowdown - not even a serious recession - we are in for trouble. Don't forget the people who have been borrowing 100% of the value of their houses on 4 times or more their salary. They will be in negative equity, and those who lose their jobs will be bankrupt. They will vote accordingly.
At the first sign of recession the Bank of England will reverse its upward leaning on interest rates (almost everyone thought they would rise one more time to 6pct. Now nobody thinks that) and drop them gradually. But if the housing market has already suffered the jitters reduced interest rates will not immediately work through into house prices - fewer people will be buying or selling. The pound will fall and there might - in 9-18months - be an export led recovery. And this is not fancy: lenders are already tightening credit conditions and laying off staff. Many people in the City are forecasting a 20% drop in house prices.
A pick-up in 9-18 months. Now Gordon has to call an election by Spring 2010, and usually the press start jeering after four years of a government - Spring 2009. The timing looks bad for Gordon.
All this assumes that the Tories can keep united and learn that when confronted with an open goal you have to kick the ball in (too many cock-ups have passed without comment from camp Cameron over the last year). But Gordon will see that Cameron has learned how to keep the traditional conservatives in order - offer a tax cut. The press will be against him over this and over the EU Constitution and his chances could be slim.
He ought to go now while there is still a chance.
05 October, 2007
The Post Office
The service is poor, and far too expensive, the offices are a disgrace, the staff are lazy and the unions venal. If there is an election thousands could be disenfranchised by this shambles.
Incredibly, we sanction a monopoly on all letters costing under a pound. It's high time we took it away, sold the Post Office off in bits and exposed it to competition.
Incredibly, we sanction a monopoly on all letters costing under a pound. It's high time we took it away, sold the Post Office off in bits and exposed it to competition.
04 October, 2007
Election fever
Ben Brogan, one of the most astute and well-informed political journos, has come out saying there won't be an election.
This is all getting quite exciting.
This is all getting quite exciting.
Obit
Macmillan once said (I'm not sure the quote should be attributed to him, the old fraud probably copied it) that each morning he looked at the obituaries column in the Times and if his name was not in it he got up.
I was slightly bleary early this morning when I saw the obit for Tom Hodges. But I can assure my readers that after a series of diagnostic tests at least some life has been found. The late gentleman appears to have been a book buyer for WH Smith.
I was slightly bleary early this morning when I saw the obit for Tom Hodges. But I can assure my readers that after a series of diagnostic tests at least some life has been found. The late gentleman appears to have been a book buyer for WH Smith.
Cameron
Cameron's speech seems to have gone down well. He seemed relaxed and someone saw his chief publicist sipping a drink in the bar at 10pm the previous night, which suggests the whole team were pretty laid back.
One thing no one has commented on is that as Cameron was saying that he wanted his three children to go to state schools the camera panned to his wife Samantha. She looked appalled.
One thing no one has commented on is that as Cameron was saying that he wanted his three children to go to state schools the camera panned to his wife Samantha. She looked appalled.
03 October, 2007
Party Conferences
David Aaronovitch, writing in the Times a couple of days ago (HERE) managed to get all grumpy about the Party Conference Season and even seemed to regret the passing of Tony Blair ‘this has been a bad fortnight and I am now wondering whether the era of flawed statesmen hasn’t given way to the tyranny of the parish populists’.
I don’t really recall this era of statesmen, flawed or otherwise (it certainly didn’t include Blair, who used to say whatever his audience wanted to hear, sometimes turning 180 degrees within 24 hours if the audience was different, and all irrespective of what he in any case intended to do).
When I used to attend party conferences many years ago I saw them as a way of stirring up the faithful, often to Orwellian levels of hysteria. ‘You will hear a lot about consensus politics’ said Margaret Thatcher, ‘I believe there is a consensus when everybody agrees with me’. How we cheered.
Nowadays I look at Party Conferences with the cold eye of a Kremlinologist. So here is my assessment. The first two conferences were about positioning.
Ming Campbell of the Liberal Democrats made a better speech than anybody expected him to, portraying his grey hairs as a positive factor, but this did no more than stave off open rebellion. On occasions the Lib Dems have had some bite, with the extra penny tax to pay for education, proportional representation, the environment, the slitty-eyed sincerity of Paddy Ashdown. Nowadays they just seem to be an alternative party and the more meat the two majors give us the less well they will do. I expect them to lose several seats if the General Election is this year. 4/10 for Ming.
The Labour Conference was about Gordon Brown and nothing else. He didn’t even mention David Cameron and the Conservatives but gave us a tour de force of bluster and jingoism. Much of it had been already used by Bill Clinton but nobody really minded. For those who believe this is a time for strong leadership (and there are many) this will have gone well. Brown finishes his first 100 days and his first conference as leader looking immeasurably strong, his open arms welcoming everyone into the Big Brown Tent (for this is no longer really about Labour new or old). 8/10.
I have just heard David Cameron, in what must be the most important speech of his career and certainly the most important of the Conference Season. He announced at the start that he was speaking without notes (better, surely, to let everyone notice it for themselves?) and to his credit didn’t seem nervous. There were times when I thought he was drifting, and I was scoring him 6/10, but he said ‘at least it’s me’ and it was: a fairly eloquent tour d’horizon of what he is about. I particularly liked his repeated: ‘we can’t succeed unless we understand why Labour has failed.’ Cameron is about supporting the family, individual empowerment and making public services accountable to the people. I’m not sure how this plays in Middle England: I have a feeling it will be acceptable only if people are convinced the traditional state-directed provision of services has broken down. But Cameron is coherent and came across as warm and likeable. I was scoring him 8/10 by the end.
All the Tories have offered in terms of meat is cuts in stamp duty and inheritance tax. To be fair they can’t really talk about income tax and can’t get into an auction on public services. In my view it will be just enough to make the party faithful row in behind their leader. The other things people will remember at Election Day are no ID cards, a limit to immigration (carefully phrased without xenophobia by Cameron, far better than the Tories usually manage) and a Referendum on the European Constitution. This, with The Sun (SEE THIS) on their side just might be enough to stop Gordon calling an election. I still think he should but we shall see.
I don’t really recall this era of statesmen, flawed or otherwise (it certainly didn’t include Blair, who used to say whatever his audience wanted to hear, sometimes turning 180 degrees within 24 hours if the audience was different, and all irrespective of what he in any case intended to do).
When I used to attend party conferences many years ago I saw them as a way of stirring up the faithful, often to Orwellian levels of hysteria. ‘You will hear a lot about consensus politics’ said Margaret Thatcher, ‘I believe there is a consensus when everybody agrees with me’. How we cheered.
Nowadays I look at Party Conferences with the cold eye of a Kremlinologist. So here is my assessment. The first two conferences were about positioning.
Ming Campbell of the Liberal Democrats made a better speech than anybody expected him to, portraying his grey hairs as a positive factor, but this did no more than stave off open rebellion. On occasions the Lib Dems have had some bite, with the extra penny tax to pay for education, proportional representation, the environment, the slitty-eyed sincerity of Paddy Ashdown. Nowadays they just seem to be an alternative party and the more meat the two majors give us the less well they will do. I expect them to lose several seats if the General Election is this year. 4/10 for Ming.
The Labour Conference was about Gordon Brown and nothing else. He didn’t even mention David Cameron and the Conservatives but gave us a tour de force of bluster and jingoism. Much of it had been already used by Bill Clinton but nobody really minded. For those who believe this is a time for strong leadership (and there are many) this will have gone well. Brown finishes his first 100 days and his first conference as leader looking immeasurably strong, his open arms welcoming everyone into the Big Brown Tent (for this is no longer really about Labour new or old). 8/10.
I have just heard David Cameron, in what must be the most important speech of his career and certainly the most important of the Conference Season. He announced at the start that he was speaking without notes (better, surely, to let everyone notice it for themselves?) and to his credit didn’t seem nervous. There were times when I thought he was drifting, and I was scoring him 6/10, but he said ‘at least it’s me’ and it was: a fairly eloquent tour d’horizon of what he is about. I particularly liked his repeated: ‘we can’t succeed unless we understand why Labour has failed.’ Cameron is about supporting the family, individual empowerment and making public services accountable to the people. I’m not sure how this plays in Middle England: I have a feeling it will be acceptable only if people are convinced the traditional state-directed provision of services has broken down. But Cameron is coherent and came across as warm and likeable. I was scoring him 8/10 by the end.
All the Tories have offered in terms of meat is cuts in stamp duty and inheritance tax. To be fair they can’t really talk about income tax and can’t get into an auction on public services. In my view it will be just enough to make the party faithful row in behind their leader. The other things people will remember at Election Day are no ID cards, a limit to immigration (carefully phrased without xenophobia by Cameron, far better than the Tories usually manage) and a Referendum on the European Constitution. This, with The Sun (SEE THIS) on their side just might be enough to stop Gordon calling an election. I still think he should but we shall see.
01 October, 2007
Vinification
We have finally put the wine to bed. After crushing
fermentation - during which the wine bubbles frantically and the fermenting tank is hot - the new wine has to be drawn off the skins and pips which have been floating around in it, and these are then pressed in a traditional wine press to get the maximum colour and flavour out
The pressed skins are then taken to a secret location
boiled up and distilled to make grappa
The wine is strong and dark this year but in smaller quantities than usual. It will now settle for a few months while we get ready for the chestnut festival and the olive picking
Lato-B we reveal all
Further to my post on the Lato-B imbroglio, whilst selflessly seeking out all the news for my readers I do confine myself to the quality press
Corriere della Sera, one of Italy's most serious newspapers, anxious to keep its readership informed..
under the heading 'No al Voyeurismo'
managed to find a couple of snaps..
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