The EU Is Uneuropean.

The Prime Minister's speech to the European Parliament last month made headlines, but only because of Daniel Hannan's riposte to it. Something that Gordon Brown actually said is worth considering though:

If you look back to the Renaissance - one of the greatest ages the world has ever seen – we cannot attribute its impact on the world to a single date, or person, or breakthrough. Or the enlightenment - we cannot say with certainty when or by whom or how it was launched, merely that today’s Europe and today’s world couldn’t exist without it.

The Renaissance & Enlightenment are indeed integral to modern Europe's identity. The environment in which they occurred is the opposite of what the European Parliament stands for though. One of the most striking things about the lives of Renaissance and Enlightenment figures is how many of them had to flee their home countries and live part of their lives in exile.

This was only possible because of the political fragmentation of Europe, so people who might be persecuted in France could escape to the Dutch Republic or Venice, someone being persecuted in one German state could move to another. If there had been a 18th Century EU, with a European arrest warrant, the intellectual freedom of that era could not have existed.

The common characteristics of European civilisation only developed because there was no common European power. Concentration of power is a bad thing, even if some good comes out of it in the short term in the long run stagnation will set in. The examples of the Roman Empire and China serve to demonstrate this.

The Romans allowed their better Emperors to centralise a great deal of power, but the same powers that were exercised by Augustus or Marcus Aurelius could just as easily be used by a Nero or a Caligula. The same is true in Europe today- I can think of several positive things that the EU has accomplished, the promotion of free trade, encouraging Eastern Europe to reform, helping to face down Russia's attempt to rig the Ukrainian elections a few years ago and probably various other things- however the same centralisation of powers could just as easily be employed in the service of protectionism, isolationism & appeasement if political fashions change.

Therefore it is important that the European Union does not gain any more powers that lead to it being a European government and much of it's current powers to legislate on matters that should not be transnational (like working hours) should be revoked. Which is why scepticism is the right way to approach the EU.

Inappropriate Campaign Slogans.

If you were an MEP seeking a 5th consecutive term to take your tenure in Strasbourg and Brussels to a quarter of a century what would be a particularly absurd slogan to use? Ulster Unionist MEP Jim Nicholson thinks that- Vote For Change- isn't a call to vote himself out.

Think Of The (Stupid) Children.

Chris Woodhead is claiming that some children are simply 'not very bright'. This is true, in fact some research suggests that up to 50% of children might be of below average intelligence:

"I've taught, and I can still remember trying to interest children who had no interest whatsoever in English. They didn't want to be in the classroom. If I'm honest I didn't want them to be there either because they were disruptive to [other] children.

However bad the problem is now, it is going to get worse in about 5 years, because the cohort starting secondary school this year are going to be forced to remain in education until they are 18, so Sixth Formers will be able to enjoy the disruption and distraction of half a class that doesn't want to be there. It will do wonders for the unemployment statistics though.

Great Moments In Journalism.

I overheard a radio phone in today where they were talking about Millwall football club and the determination of the press to portray their supporters as violent, racist thugs. One of the callers referred to the classic story of the Sun sending a reporter from one of the black newspapers (New Nation?) to a game against Brighton to report on what it was like, the reporter wrote a piece about shocking overt racism with thousands of fans chanting "Sieg Heil" in unison.

It was then pointed out to them that what he actually heard was Brighton fans chanting their club's nickname "Seagulls".

A Nation Mourns.

Like the Kennedy assassination, people will never forget where they were when Jordan and Peter split. If I could set my blog to black for the day I would do it. The world is a slightly darker place than it was yesterday.

Jesus Tortillas & Miracle Toast.

It's understandable that the anti-religious enjoy laughing at supposed appearances of religious icons in food items or random stains. They're missing the woods for trees though, whilst the spectacle of idiots bowing down before a bun that looks like Mother Theresa is amusing, the fact that some people are idiots isn't news. The origins of these supposed miraculous images is far more telling.

Originally the Christian attitude towards religious images was that worshipping images creates by man was sacriligious. This posed a problem because in the areas where the masses had traditionally used statues and icons to express their devotion to their memory. Therefore sometime in the 6th century the church suddenly began discovering images of Jesus created by God himself, who was evidently some kind of Dark Age Banksy, and it wasn't sacriligious to worship images that weren't created by man.

Hence because the Church acknowledged these images 1500 years ago there is a theological precedent fot Jesus bagels today.

MP Not Bent.

My MP, Phillip Hollobone, claims the lowest expenses of any of them, so I'm feeling left out of the "my MP is a crook" club. The interesting thing is that according to "They Work For You" his record is well above average for an MP, by the numbers at least:

Numerology

Please note that numbers do not measure quality. Also, representatives may do other things not currently covered by this site. (More about this)

• Has spoken in 132 debates in the last year — well above average amongst MPs.
• Has received answers to 114 written questions in the last year — above average amongst MPs.
• Is a member of 1 select committee (0 as chair).
• Replied within 2 or 3 weeks to a very high number of messages sent via WriteToThem.com during 2007, according to constituents.
• Has voted in 83% of votes in parliament with this affiliation — well above average amongst MPs. (From Public Whip)
• People have made 11 comments on this MP's speeches — above average amongst MPs.
• This MP's speeches, in Hansard, are readable by an average 18–19 year old, going by the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level score.
• 131 people are tracking whenever this MP speaks — email me whenever Philip Hollobone speaks.
• Has used three-word alliterative phrases (e.g. "she sells seashells") 214 times in debates — above average amongst MPs. (Why is this here?)

His performance appears to outstrip that of MPs with far more extravagent claims, such as Phil Hope who represents the neighbouring constituency.

This suggest to me that vast armies of staff are unnecessary for MPs to do their jobs well.

Update: Captain FF is compiling a list of MPs whose snouts aren't in the trough. It's dismayingly small at present.

Quote Of The Day.

Harriet Harmen a few months back:

"The prime minister has said that it is not acceptable and therefore it will not be accepted," she added.

"And it might be enforceable in a court of law, this contract, but it is not enforceable in the court of public opinion and that is where the government steps in."

The court of public opinion doesn't apply to MPs expenses, just in case you are wondering.

Saving The Newspapers.

I don't know whether Kindle will be saviour of newspapers, in its current form I don't think it will be. The problem for newspapers is that we web users are now used to reading articles from several different newspapers at zero cost ( I reckon I've looked at about 20 - 30 newspapers in the last week), so we aren't willing to revert to paying a significant sum to read just one paper.

The Kindle solution is to offer subscriptions to papers, but that restricts readers to one newspaper. Some newspapers have tried to charge for web articles before but usually the price has been ridiculously high- The Independent used to charge about £1 per article which was more than the whole dead tree publication. Who wants to pay that much?

A traditional newspaper costs 40p to £1.50 and contains dozens to hundreds of articles, so therefore the value of each article is usually pennies or fractions of pennies. Therefore if the newspapers want to start charging for articles in a way that doesn't cause a complete collapse in readership they need to create a system of micro charging, in which users can create an account put some money on it and then browse the web with each publication getting a very small fee per article read, although cumulatively the amount spent per user will be pretty similar to what is currently spent on physical newspapers. The technology exists to do this, google ads use a similar system where each ad clicks generates a few fractions of a cent, so it is feasible.

Video Of The Day

Via

Britain's "Least Wanted".

Milton Friedman makes the point in Capitalism & Freedom that if instead of a presumption to free speech, a society chose to prohibit or allow free speech depending on the particular view being advocated, then it is likely that most minority viewpoints could be outlawed. Yet by grouping all minority viewpoints together you ensure that most people sympathise with at least sum of those viewpoints and don't want their free speech to be curtailed, therefore they support free speech in general.

This being the case it really is a very good thing that the government has released it's list of 'Britain's least wanted', a bewilderingly diverse list that includes everyone from Islamists to US talk show hosts. The criteria for banning someone is so arbitary that it could easily be used to simply ban anyone the government of the day disapproves of.

They really couldn't have done more to create opposition to these powers they have acquired.

There is a strong case for banning people who advocate violence but beyond that what someone is likely to say is no reason for barring them from this country.

Tastelessness

Still less tacky than Max Clifford.

Department Of Made Up Statistics.

According to the Daily Express each illegal immigrant is to cost £1 million. Now there are an estimated 800000 illegal immigrants in the UK so according to "The World's Greatest Newspaper", they should be costing us £800 000 000 000 . £800 Billion is a lot of money.

I'm going out on a limb here and guessing they haven't entirely thought through the number they made up.

Happy Thatcher Day!

Happy Thatcher Day to you all. Thirty years ago today Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister , so it's awfully nice of the government to give us a bank holiday to celebrate this great event. I think she was great but even opponents of hers would acknowledge that she got to number 10 through her own efforts, rather than because someone opened the door for her.

So when white liberal* Michael Tomasky writes a laudatory article about how "brave" white liberals (narcissist anyone?) introduced affirmative action which then allowed women and minorities to rise up in society one has to question whether this is true.

In fact seeing as we are constantly told that the women in America aren't doing as well as those in Europe, where Affirmative Action doesn't occur on such a widespread basis, it is hard to reconcile the facts with the tribute he gives to his own courage.

The changes with respect to ethnic minorities aren't as easy to compare with other countries because the US ethnic issues are pretty much unique, but it is true that the racial gaps were closing more quickly in the three decades prior to AA than in the three subsequent decades.

Tomasky is writing about this because of a current case before the Supreme Court where white firefighters were denied promotion because of their race, firefighters are popular so rather than support this discrimination he proposes that class should become a factor in AA. Therefore affirmative action will cover blacks, women, Hispanics, working class whites.... already this includes more than 75% of the US population!

Polly For Laureate.

I don't know much about poetry but I know what I like- none of it. Some people might see this as proof of what a heathen I am, but I say that poetry is only really popular in preliterate societies where long stories have to be put into a rhythmic pattern in order to be memorised and retold. Once you've learnt to read you can write things down and refer back to what you have written at any point so lose the need to put the words into poems.

Carol Anne Duffy has been appointed as the new Poet Laureate, but the real purpose of court poets throughout the ages has been as an official sycophant praising powers of the day & Duffy doesn't appear to be willing to do that.

Therefore I propose that either Polly Toynbee* or David Aaronovitch should replace Duffy immediately. They might not technically be poets but as I explained poetry is basically prose for the illiterate**, the real talent is churning out several hundred words of ecstatic approval for whatever New Labour do.

* Polly went off the reservation this week and attacked her Viking, Gordon Brown, but that was probably out of disappointment with being overlooked.

** I could also explain my theory that theatre is television for those without electricity & that painting is an inferior precursor of photography.

Quote Of The Day.

Kevin McKenna on the workings of the Banning Chamber a.k.a. the Numptydrome* a.k.a. the Scottish Parliament:

After that, it became a feeding frenzy as MSPs and councillors realised how easy it was to ban things. Soon there was a bill to ban fur farming. And only after the legislation was passed was it discovered that, er ... there were no fur farms in Scotland.

* I didn't coin the term "Numptydrome" but I can't recall where I saw it so can't credit the creator.

Foreign Soldiers & UK Residence Question.

It seems right that the Gurkhas should be allowed to settle in the UK seeing as they've served the country well.

I'm just wondering though, how does the position of the Gurkha's compare to that of other foreign soldiers who serve in the British Army, although not in different regiments? Commonwealth and Irish citizens are eligible to serve and according to Wikipedia there are 6000 soldiers from outside the UK currently serving in the army including 1900 Fijians, 600 Jamaicans and a similar number of Ghanaians. Are they eligible to reside in the UK once they've completed their service?

Update: In the comments Tim Worstall says that they are allowed to become residents after 4 years of service, which makes the treatment of the Gurkhas seem even stranger.

MPs 2nd Jobs.

I watched Question Time* for the first time in months last night, the panellists started talking about MPs with second jobs, with a lot of them thinking that it is a very bad thing to have one. Hilary Benn stated that he personally ddn't have a second job as an MP and never had.

This is obviously untrue seeing as he is the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food & Rural Affairs as well as being the MP for Leeds Central.

Anyone who does think that being an MP is a full time job that cannot be supplemented by outside earnings really should start by demanding that the executive is separated from the legislature because the biggest employer of MPs is the government of the day. Being a minister is a more direct conflict of interest with being an MP than almost any other role.

I don't personally think that an MP's job is that hard to do if they restrict themselves to their core function of scrutinising legislation rather than acting as social workers to their contituents in order to get re-elected.


* Frank Skinner is one of the few comedians on the show who didn't make a fool of himself. Although I thought his remark that he had always been a Labour supporter because he thought that it was the party that Jesus would support was odd. Surely with the beard and the sandals Jesus would have been a Lib Dem.