The Last Ditch

Democracy?

Link: MPs reject referendum on EU treaty - Telegraph.

Apparently not.

So, Members of Parliament, are we a democracy or not?

Link: MPs face EU referendum pressure after poll - Telegraph.

The British public is usually so woolly-minded that I doubt it would be 88% in favour of the sun continuing to shine. Rarely has a test of public opinion produced such a dramatic result. We clearly want the government to honour one of the key pledges upon which it was elected and we expect members of Parliament to force it to do so. Given the sophistry of the EU's future pensioners, I fear we may be disappointed.

If the House of Commons does not vote for a referendum on the EU Constitution Lisbon Treaty this week, it will be fully apparent to all but the meanest intellect in what contempt our rulers hold us.

Prodicus: Dear Foreign Secretary,

Link: Prodicus: Dear Foreign Secretary,.

Gentle readers, may I commend you to the linked post by Prodicus? This sort of thing is what the British political blogosphere is for. Though he himself feels he may have gone "a little over the top", I beg to differ.

We have lived to see our country betrayed to an unelected, anti-democratic foreign power. This was done, fraudulently, in breach of a manifesto pledge by the Labour Party. Labour stands alone in its hatred of the British people and all we stand for. Not only would it cheerfully surrender power to foreign rulers,  it has imported and bribed Third World voters by the million to rig elections (sometimes literally) in its favour.

Prodicus has not gone "over the top." Frankly, it is hard to see what, short of political assassination, would be "over the top" in the face of unabashed treason. When you have read what he has to say, hie thee to the Pro Referendum Rally site, naieve though any attempt may be to hold the most mendacious political whores in our history to what passes for their word.

Europe must be united in criminalizing racism, EU lawmakers say

Link: Europe must be united in criminalizing racism, EU lawmakers say - Europe.

Assuming that there has been "...a strong increase in racist acts..." (and leaving aside for a moment who is responsible for most of them) what - properly viewed - is the evil to be addressed by law? Is it the racism, or is it the act?

If someone is attacked, their property damaged or their family's graves desecrated then what does it matter why? It is the evil act that should be illegal, not the evil thought behind it. Of course, the evil act already is illegal. So the "EU lawmakers" are indulging in that filthy vice of lawmakers everywhere; perverting the legislative process to make a political point. They are not proposing necessary laws. They are just yelling "Look at us. We are good people. We are not nasty racists."

I should bloody well hope not, so why don't you just shut up and do something useful?

Boris and the other Turkey

Link: Telegraph newspaper online.

I so rarely disagree with Boris Johnson that I hesitate to do so now, fearing I may be wrong. I would like to think I am. His vision of reconciliation is fine in its Christian idealism. His line on Turkey and the EU is seductive. I fear that both are misguided.

There is certainly an attraction to integrating a leading Muslim nation into a Western club for democracies. But Turkey will never be a beacon of hope for the Muslim world, or for anyone, while those who tell the truth about its history are imprisoned at best and murdered at worst. The legacy of Ataturk may be crumbling. "Militant Islam," aka "Islamism" seems to be growing in strength there. Pace Boris, we should see where that story leads before leaping into bed with his family's former homeland.

nourishing obscurity: Guest blogging the EU

Link: nourishing obscurity: Guest blogging the EU.

James Higham has kindly invited me to be a guest author over at Nourishing Obscurity. I have written a short piece about the EU Commission's proposals for new eurocrimes.

In or out?

Travelling on business this week, I have spent a couple of days in Bucharest. Most of today will be spent, tediously, making my way back to Moscow. It was interesting to talk to Romanian colleagues yesterday about attitudes to the EU. Generally, Romanians are in favour of joining, but apparently there is some reserve. People are concerned about what it means for their society and culture. They are concerned about being a small, relatively poor member of a club run by (and they assume for) the large nations.

They are also a little hurt about the British decision to derogate from the "free movement of labour" provisions of the Treaty of Rome in relation to Romania and Bulgaria when they are first admitted. "You have admitted hundreds of thousands of Poles," one commented, "but Romanians are not acceptable?"

I found it hard to put a case for what the Government is doing. It continues to admit, with no apparent restriction, non-EU immigrants from Muslim countries. These are people who are consistently shown by opinion polls to have aspirations inimical to our culture. Any Romanians who come to Britain as EU citizens will not be looking to import Romanian Law or impose Romanian culture.

We continue to welcome people who despise our culture and our way of life and want to impose their own. They make no effort to fit in, and we make no effort to assimilate them. Yet it never seems to occur to us that the citizens of the recently acceded and soon-to-accede EU states could solve all our labour shortages without posing any threat to our way of life. Most would anyway want to return to their own homes and families - and to their own language and culture - in time.

Already lots of citizens of northern Europe are looking to the New Europe for retirement homes. It sometimes seems the main impact of the EU will be to divide peoples' lives between production in the North and retirement in the South. Is it fair to expect freely to buy a retirement villa in Bulgaria or run a business in Romania, while preventing Romanians and Bulgarians from getting jobs in Britain?

I have seen big changes in Bucharest since I was last here. Everywhere there are signs of gradually-growing prosperity. Yet the image the British seem to have of Romanians remains that of the old lady I snapped on the street this morning. That's sad.