eurealist.co.uk

Several letters to the Times argue that George Osborne should have acknowledged in a recent article that Irelands current prosperity is partly due to its membership of the euro and the amount of funding it receives from the EU.
The Times
Technorati Tags: George Osborne, euro, EU, funding, The Times

No only Joking!
Italy appeals to EU over merger and argues that Europe is dead
The French merger of Suez SA and Gaz de France is said to be causing consternation in Italy. An editorial in the WSJ argues that the French “head-on challenge to the single market calls into question the raison d’etre behind the [...]

Taking the view that the current disengagement (with party politics) is not a “little local difficulty” but rather the result of a profound contempt for formal politics. There is a popular view that our political institutions and politicians are failing, untrustworthy and disconnected from the people they are supposed to represent.

It looks like we are living in a period of rapid, systematic and very consistent dismantlement of democracy. Look at this Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill. It makes ministers into legislators who can introduce new laws without bothering to tell Parliament or anyone. My immediate reaction is why do we need it?

Yesterday I posted some of my initial thoughts on Tony Blairs defence to Blair`s own interpretation of the charges, that both he and Nu-Labour are authoritarian, are intent on savaging British liberties, locking up those who dissent and that they abhor parliamentary or other accountability.
Two newspapers have commented on Blairs original article in the [...]

British officials stressed last night that moves to impose harmonised EU lessons were a ‘non-starter’.” We Wait to see!

Thanks to Dennis Cooper for these two funny letters.
This refers to an article by Bill Jamieson last week: “UK policy chasm: official numbers and the real world”: Link
“Few now believe that the CPI inflation measure bears much relation to the cost of living. Indeed, how could it when the CPI does not include [...]

Any government, that is its own judge of, and determines authoritatively for the people, what are its own powers over the people, is an absolute government of course. It has all the powers that it chooses to exercise. There is no other — or at least no more accurate — definition of a despotism than this. Spooner

This is an interesting local story from Booker, one that I have not heard about until now, perhaps I should read the local paper more often! But it is the twist in the tail which makes it interesting nationally.

Christoper Booker`s Notebook
‘Prejudicial interest’ rules make mockery of democracy
Thanks to a diktat from John [...]

Police bodies reject Welsh merger
Published: 2006/02/23 15:56:56 GMT
All four police authorities in Wales have now rejected plans to merge with the three other forces.
Gwent Police Authority became the latest on Thursday when after a special meeting it said it did not have the information to make a decision.
Home Secretary Charles Clarke [...]

Letters to the Editor
The Times February 23, 2006
Legislative reform Bill grants powers too great for government
Sir, Francis Bennion is right to draw attention in his letter to the failure — of successive governments — to bring forward legislation to implement sensible law reforms recommended by the Law Commission. What needs to be recognised, [...]

legal experts fear the bill will give ministers sweeping powers to amend or even introduce new laws without sufficient scrutiny from MPs.

This from Neil Herron
Burnley Council … formal letter incorporating the Bill of Rights, Magna Carta and the Human Rights Act
As we now begin to introduce the Human Rights perspective NPAS and DPE is looking very vulnerable indeed.
Legal Department
Burnley Borough Council
Town Hall
Burnley
BB11 1JA
Dear Sir/Madam
I am writing with regard concerning a Final Demand from Drakes Bailiffs, dated [...]

Who wants the Abolition of Parliament Bill?
David Howarth
Hardly anyone has noticed, but British democracy is sleepwalking into a sinister world of ministerial power.
LAST WEEK all eyes were on the House of Commons as it debated identity cards, smoking and terrorism. The media reported both what MPs said and how they voted. For one week [...]

On Saturday I checked into Eurealist and found that the blog had become corrupted, no problem I hear you both cry, just reload your back up copy of the template and you will up and running in no time, A wat! Oh yes, I did back up the template some months ago whoops! [...]

 Quite often we are offered academic reports and studies from diverse academic organisations, which carry with them the assurance that these are nothing more than impartial academic discourse.
This must be the case because they were prepared and presented by independent academics, whos only thoughts are to report honestly and fairly on their particular subject. Of [...]

A Comment on my deconstruction of Professor Hazels report on The English Question suggests that there is no linkage between the devolution and EU Regionalisation.
I must agree that this is a much argued contention by those who oddly are recipients of EU largess, who œincidentally also support and promote the devolution process, including the [...]

How I woke up to a nightmare plot to steal centuries of law and liberty
From the Times
By
Daniel Finkelstein
THE POINT IS, I don’t want to seem like a nutter. It’s a very common human emotion, that — not wanting to stand out for thinking something hardly anyone else thinks. Best keep your head down [...]

From the letters page in the Times some voices of concern.
This ID card infringes fundamental freedoms
Sir, Most unusually, you have allowed yourself to be misled by the Government’s spin and misrepresentations concerning the ID Card Bill — principally by swallowing its contention that the privacy concerns of many people in the UK are “in [...]

The English Question
Thanks to the Blog Great Britian not Little England for the link to this report from Publius: The Journal of Federalism by Robert Hazell.
Devolution to Scotland and Wales throws up related questions about the government of
England. Does England need to find its own separate political voice? Does England too need devolution? There [...]