MIGHT SAVING THE EURO LEAD TO WAR ?

As the crisis in the European economies steams on towards it ultimate arrival at the buffers, one wonders more and more at the shocking incompetence of the politicians who have brought us to this dire situation.

Following the second world war, there was a drive to find a mechanism that would make a further major European conflict impossible. The political solution was to create a 'United States of Europe' through a gradual incorporation of more and more European nations into a single political entity. While the Soviet Union endured, this project was limited to the western and southern European states and remained a largely economic entity, with political edges. Since the freeing of the Eastern Europeans from Soviet tyrrany, things have changed dramatically.

Beginning with the reunification of Germany, a process that brought huge pain to the former West Germans, eastern European states have been welcomed into the rapidly expanded European Union. Most of these were hitherto poor nations which had no prospect of competing with their new western friends and so a mechanism had to be found that would resolve this problem. Lo and behold, the Euro became the answer.

If everyone used the same currency under a single set of fiscal and monetary rules then everyone would benefit, was the theory, as well as this approach bringing the ultimate aim of a unified European state much closer. In effect, however, all that was happening was that the newer entrants were replacing Soviet tyrrany with tyrrany of a different sort; some of the other participants in the Euro debacle were also surrendering their own financial autonomy in the hope of receiving a huge boost in their economic performance.

That this was all 'pie in the sky' should have been apparent to anyone with half a brain cell. That an economic union was driven by purely political motives was, itself, daft and never likely to succeed. Trying to force many countries with disparate cultures, histories, economies and aspirations together under one financial regime was idiotic and always doomed to failure. Worst of all, the political kudos involved in this project, and the loss of face involved in its failure, have made it all but impossible for the politicians to consider anything but its continuation, whatever the ultimate costs to their elecorates.

With Greece now tottering on the brink of total financial ruin and threatening to drag the rest of Europe down with it, David Cameron seems to have finally come out with something meaningful; apparently he is urging the leaders of the Euro-zone economies to pull their fingers out and take quick, final and decisive action. He has not, though, expressed a clear view as to what that action should be and it seems unlikely that anyone will take much notice of him anyway. Maintaining the Euro has already cost its member states, and others, a vast amount of money and it's set to cost them vastly more over the next few years, whatever solution is found to the current malaise.The real question is "when will the peoples of the stronger countries finally cry 'Enough !' ?"

That the Euro can, and will, survive, is a certainty. That it will survive in its current form and with its current membership is impossible. Greece will leave or the rules under which the Euro is managed will be changed to accommodate countries at different stages of development; in effect, there will be a Greek Euro separate from the German Euro. Given that the introduction of special rules for Greece would almost certainly precipitate similar and unmanageable demands from other countries such as Portugal, Spain and Ireland, departure has to be the answer even though a Greek exit could easily lead to others leaving the shared currency.

Economically, there is no alternative to Greece leaving the Euro and, probably, several other countries too. Politically, there is huge pressure to maintain the currency bloc at all cost. If the politicians don't 'give', the tensions created by these divergent forces could very easily lead to a total negation of the original intention of the founders of the European Union, that is, the prevention of another pan-European war.

HAGUE BASHES THE MANAGERS - AGAIN.

William Hague, the man who really ought to be Prime Minister, says he wants managers to work harder in order to revitalize the UK economy. Who his comments are directed at is unclear, but I suspect that many managers who already put in vastly excessive hours will be rather put out by these naive remarks.

When I worked for the NHS, which I did for many years, I never restricted my working hours to what my contract said. In the early years, there was. at least, the carrot of overtime payments, though I rarely claimed them. As I progressed through the ranks, overtime became a necessity of the job and was simply expected. By the end, when I had reached the exalted status of Director, it was unusual if I didn't put in at least 60 hours a week and nearer 70 was probably more common; all this while receiving a salary that was a fraction of what could be earned in similar posts in the private sector.

I strongly resent the implication of Mr Hague's remarks that 'managers' do not put in enough hours. Many, perhaps even most, voluntarily work many more hours than their staff and with little or no direct reward. To add to the insult, those who dare to earn a significant salary are now assailed by prohibitive tax rates due to the revised rules for allowances recently introduced by the government. Frankly, why would anyone put themselves out in such an environment ? Their unionised staff rarely put themselves out in similar fashion. In my experience, this can be extended to many senior medical staff who would regularly refuse to work beyond their contracted hours without additional, and sometime exorbitant, additional pay. So much for the 'caring professions' that are so beloved of government.

Mr Hague needs to get off of his high horse and have a look at what actually goes on in the real world, rather than the imaginary one inhabited by politicians. He also needs to stop insulting and alienating the people who would normally be his natural supporters, even though this seems to be current Tory policy.

HUNT SHOT DOWN BY RED MOP.

Recent events including yesterday's appearance at the Leveson Committee by Rebekah Brooks, she of the red mop, have done nothing for the future prospects of Jeremy Hunt, the coalition Government's Secretary of State for Culture.

Hunt has clearly got questions to answer regarding his connections with, and attitude towards, Ms Brooks and her erstwhile colleagues at News International. If this was not enough, Hunt is also another of the rich and provileged kids who dominate our society and seem to believe whole-heartedly in the adage 'do as I say, not as I do'.

As Government members repeatedly decry tax avoidance and, particularly, those who enter into complex schemes and transactions in order to avoid paying tax, Hunt himself has history in this regard. Apparently, in 2010 and shortly before changes in the law would have made him and his business partner liable to a substantial tax bill, they entered into a scheme to be paid a dividend from their company in the form of a building; this was then leased back to their company and they now receive an annual rental. This arrangement apparently produced a saving of around £200,000 for Hunt and his partner.

The above was not illegal and, no doubt, others did the same, but should a member of the Government really be seen to behave in this way when the same Government is so hell-bent on branding all such avoidance measures as anti-social and evil ?

Yet again, a Government minister has been caught, if not with his trousers down, at least with his dirty sticky fingers in the till. The devious, back-handed, dubious, disingenuous and, potentially corrupt, behaviour of far too many politicians is a blight on our society and it's time it stopped. If it was up to me, I'd shoot the lot of them, bar very few.

WHEN RACIAL CRIME ISN'T RACIAL CRIME.

Nine Asian men in the northwest of England are going to be sentenced later today for their roles in the drugging, trafficking, sexual abuse and rape of numerous young white girls over a protraced period of time. One can hope that the sentences handed down will be long and definite and that any of the offenders who can be, will be deported once they are freed.

Since this case became headline news in the last couple of days, a succession of political and other public figures have queued up on radio and television to assure us that the offences were 'not racially motivated' and we should not be misled by the calls of that villain of the extreme right, the BNP, into believing that race played any part in these horrific and disgusting crimes.

Now, if the crimes had been committed by white men against Asian girls, it seems highly likely that they would automatically have been branded as 'race-hate crimes' and it seems highly unlikely that any such interventions by 'the great and the good' would have been made. The offenders' sentences would have been enhanced due to the racist nature of the crimes and the media, particularly the BBC, would have welcomed the wholly justified actions of the court.

How it can be that white crime against coloured, or other, immigrants is almost always considered as 'race hatred', while the opposite is excused from such an epithet in any way possible, is a mystery to me. How many Asians or Blacks have been found guilty of these so-called 'race-hate' crimes ? How many Whites have sufferred the same fate ? I am personally aware of a local case in which a white man with mental health problems attacked another, an Asian, because he thought he was being laughed at; he actually kicked the man a few times in the backside. He was arrested, charged with a racially motivated assault and given a 2 year prison sentence. This man wasn't capable of making a decision based on the colour of his supposed tormentor but it was a simple case of White attacking Coloured, therefore it was 'race-hate'.

As long as the white population of the UK is subjected to such a grossly distorted approach by our legal system, the BNP will win. Keith Vaz and his ilk can bleat all they like but it will make no difference; there is no equality under the law in this country and such situations lead to trouble on the streets, wherever they occur. Of course what happened in Manchester was a racial crime, if any such thing truly exists, and the sooner it's seen as such, the better.

"NO TO AUSTERITY", CRY THE TURKEYS !

It appears that the populations of France and Greece have voted for 'an end to austerity,, which is somewhat akin to turkeys voting for Christmas. This is, perhaps, an analogy which is a little unfair to the turkeys.

The financial woes currently besetting much of the western world are largely a result of the unrestrained supply of credit that was made available to both governments and individuals over many years, but at a vastly accelerating rate in the decade leading up to the crash of 2008. We therefore have far too much money available compared to the real value of the assets which this money is supposedly based on. In short, the people of the western world have been living the high life on a huge mountain of debt, and this had to come to an end.

For anyone to suggest that we should now borrow even more to 'create jobs and growth' is lunacy. What we, France, Greece and all the rest have to recognise is that we are not as well off as we believed; we have to accept that there needs to be a redressing of the balance and we must all accept being poorer than hitherto.

The consequences aren't nice but they are inevitable. One way or another, austerity is the answer and trying to argue otherwise is sticking one's head in the sand. There is only one choice - austerity and hard times now, or a major depression in 5 years time; it seems that Greece and France may be heading for the second option, but let's hope the rest of Europe, including ourselves, doesn't follow them.

ELECTIONS AS BORING AND POINTLESS AS EVER.

I suppose one sign of advancing years is that I can no longer get very excited about election results. Even worse, watching some of the news coverage of yesterday's events, with victorious candidiates behaving as if they'd just won Olympic Gold, and listening to the trite, practised words of senior party officials, almost made me sick.

Mid-term local elections almost always go badly for the party, or parties, in power, and yesterday was no exception. This time it was the turn of the Conservatives and Liberals to take a kicking and for Labour to claim that the people had had enough of this evil coalition and were now moving back to the path of righteousness. That these were local elections of little real significance was, as usual, ignored. The last time the same seats were contested, it was Labour who sufferred a drubbing so, in fact, all that was really happening was a 'rebalancing', to use one of the terms currently in vogue. Perhaps what is most worrying is that local elections are nearly always fought on national issues; listening to some of the comments of ordinary voters made one despair for their understanding of who does what and where responsibilities actually lie.

Given the mess the country is in and the measures being taken by the Government, it's probably a surprise that Labour didn't actually do much better than they eventually did; even dear old Ken failed to dislodge bumbling Boris from the Mayoralty of London, which must have been quite a disappointment to many, though an equally bright spot to others.

What actually happened across the parts of the country where elections were held was that the Conservative vote held up fairly well, while the Liberal vote collapsed. The disillusioned Conservatives either migrated to UKIP or stayed at home (the turnout was abysmally low) while the disillusioned Liberals turned to Labour. Somehow, these left-leaning morons have forgotten that it was Labour, with 'eerie-Ed' Miliband and his creepy side-kick, Ed 'beastie-boy' Balls, who were key players in creating the appalling situation that we now find ourselves in; now, they seem eager to embrace the Miliband/Balls solution to our problems - borrow and spend even more to rid ourselves of past debts. What planet do these idiots live on ?

Today, Labour are celebrating a success that they seem to believe will help to propel Miliband and his friends into Downing Street in 2015. The Conservatives are being fairly pragmatic and the Liberals are probably fearing total meltdown in the near future, though not, of course, expressing any such fears in public. The real situation is that it is still 3 years to the next general election, by when what happened in 2012 will be no more than a distant memory and of no relevance whatsoever. By 2015, things will be very different; the Liberals may well be decimated but Tory voters will turn out and Labour's passed misdemeanours will return to haunt them. The Tories will win a dramatic victory, while Miliband will find himself replaced, quite possibly by Mrs Balls, whom, it is rumoured, has a bigger one than her husband.