The Delusions of the Little Known 8 Nov 2012 2:21 AM (12 years ago)
When those who are elected to that far away place, the European Parliament, time rests heavily on their hands. They twiddle their fingers and try to find ways to become famous on their own parent's breakfast table.
One way to do this is to pretend that people care, another is to write articles for magazines that nobody would ever pay to read. Another is to send press releases that nobody will ever notice.
Something like this,
Important statement from Reginald Tufton-Morrison Esq OBE MEP
United Kingdom ; 7th Nov 2012- One of the most outspoken British MEPS, and staunch eurosceptic, Reginald Tufton-Morrison Esq OBE ME has spoken out against plans for the European Union to be given greater powers to dictate the administration of the welfare state in each of the member countries...The Press release would then include self serving quote about something that wouldn't interest his mistress, or his press officer if they both weren't being paid.
About Reginald Tufton-Morrison Esq OBE Reginald Tufton Morrison Esq OBE MEP is a Conservative MEP from the UK who represents Ruralshire. In his long and illustrious career, he has held many noteworthy positions at the highest levels of the British Government and was also Special Adviser to Sir Harry Fortesque who was the Secretary of State for Paperclips during the great Administrative crisis of 1984. Reginald is a vocal critic of the European Union, which he regards as being anti-democratic, economically unworkable and destructive of the historic British identity....
It would then sign off...
About MEP Reginald Tufton-Morrison Esq OBE
Reginald Tufton Morrison Esq OBE is one of the most experienced British MEPS. He is a Conservative MEP and represents Ruralshire. He was first elected to the European Parliament in June 2009, has also been a ministerial advisor and has served at the highest levels of the British Government. He is firmly committed to common sense policies that better the lives of all the people of Britain. He received the Order of the British Empire, from Her Majesty the Queen for services to British Administrative Services in 2004. He is descended on the distaff side from the Tuftons, who came to the UK from the Island of Texel in the 16th Century, and is living proof of the way that immigrants can go on to great things.
Or instead you could read a real one, like this from UKIP turncoat Davd Cambell Bannerman...
Nice balanced stuff from the European Parliament 19 Jul 2012 3:27 AM (12 years ago)
We get it, the European Parliament, read the European institutions think that Britain needs to pay them more money.
And of course this is what Martin Schulz, the German socialist president of the European Parliament thinks,
'If Cameron is prepared to give up the British rebate, then we can discuss the reduction of the EU budget'.
Thing is with Cameron's positive statement of his desire to walk naked into the negotiating room, he has signaled that he is happy to do so.
So what is a Non-paper? 21 Jun 2012 12:57 AM (12 years ago)
It seems to be a reasonable question to ask, so Stuart Agnew has done so.
When is a paper a non-paper? When is a paper a non-paper (e.g. 20120326 Non paper_OTF SI.doc)? Does the Commission understand that, in English at least, this is a linguistic absurdity? (We could perhaps call it an ‘antimoron’ if that is the opposite of an oxymoron.) What is the status of such ‘non-papers’ in law, especially if cited in court?And the answer is err... revealing,
Answer given by Mr Barroso on behalf of the Commission
Within the Commission, there is no specific rule governing the use of the term ‘non-paper’ in the title of a document. In practice, a document named in this way is generally a technical contribution submitted as a basis for discussion within the institutions of the Union, in international organisations or in negotiations with third countries. It is not an official document of the institution. The use of ‘non-papers’ is a common practice in other institutions and states. Such documents have no legal value.So a non-paper provides plausible deniability.
Nationwide: The Euro bank? 19 Jun 2012 5:21 AM (12 years ago)
I wonder if the financial fundamentals of the Nationwide bank are secure. Because otherwise, why would they be so blatantly sucking up to the European Commission.
Choosing your evidence 19 Jun 2012 5:11 AM (12 years ago)
The Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Commons is deliberating the Future of the European Union. As such it is inviting various people to give evidence.
Look who put stuff in,
The Committee has received written evidence from the Liberal Democrat parliamentary party committee on international affairs, Liberal Democrat MEPs, and Nigel Farage MEP on behalf of the UK Independence Party; Jean-Claude Piris, former legal adviser to the European Council and EU Council; thinktanks and campaigning organisations including Open Europe and the European Movement; a number of leading academics and EU specialists; and several senior former UK diplomats and EU officials, as well as the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO).And who are they calling for evidence?
The Committee will take oral evidence on 26 June from Sir Howard Davies, former Director of the London School of Economics, Chairman of the Financial Services Authority, Deputy Governor of the Bank of England and Director-General of the CBI; and on 10 July from Charles Grant, Director of the Centre for European Reform, Mats Persson, Director of Open Europe, and Michiel van Hulten, the Dutch former MEP who has called for the replacement of the current EU with a two-layered structure. The Committee is likely to take further evidence after the summer recess.Now what is missing from this selection of the great and the good (Not sure in which class I put you Michiel)?
Now lets think. Pro-EU/Eurozone etc
Howard Davies, Michiel van Hulten, Charles Grant, and after last week's report from Open Europe, Mats Persson.
Yes I know there are subtle difference between them, but they all subscribe to the European Elite's position on the future of Europe, and support the current Government line.
Now let's have a look, who is missing?
Oh yes, Nigel Farage, the only one whose position chimes with a majority view in the United Kingdom, that we want a referendum, and we want out of the EU.
I wonder why they haven't called him?
Cathy Ashton in traditional 'Headless Chicken' routine 19 Jun 2012 3:14 AM (12 years ago)
And she is the best paid female politician in the world... God help us
Enoch Powell: First Poems : L) Mother, with longing ever new 16 Jun 2012 3:15 AM (12 years ago)
L) Mother, with longing ever new
Mother with longing ever new
And joy too great for telling
I turn again to rest in you
My earliest dwelling.
Enoch Powell: First Poems : XLIX) When I am gone, remember me 16 Jun 2012 3:00 AM (12 years ago)
XLIX) When I am gone, remember me
When I am gone, remember me,
Not often. But when in the east
Grey light is growing, and the mind
With fears and hope is clouded least.
Then in the hour that I love best,
And where I still reflected find,
All that I ever sought to be,
I will return to you as one
New risen from the grave, as clear
As now you see me and as dear
As when I slept beneath your breast
Before I saw the sun.
Enoch Powell: First Poems: XLVIII) Sharp rises on the cloudless blue 16 Jun 2012 2:45 AM (12 years ago)
XLVIII) Sharp rises on the cloudless blue
Sharp rises on the cloudless blue
The knife-edge of the hills,
And boundless sunlight clear and true
The vale beneath them fills.
As clear as light, sharp as a knife
A truth springs in my breast:
There are but two things, death and life,
And death of these is best.
Enoch Powell: First Poems: XLVII) Oh sweet it is to see the sky 16 Jun 2012 2:30 AM (12 years ago)
XLVII) Oh sweet it is to see the sky
Oh sweet it is to see the sky
Behind the yellow gorse,
And sweet it is to hear the cry
Of swallows in their course,
And sweet upon the windy lea
To shout and leap and run;
But this were sweeter far to me,
Neither to feel nor move nor be
Nor ever see the sun.
Enoch Powell: First Poems: XLVI) To J.R. H. 16 Jun 2012 2:15 AM (12 years ago)
XLVI) To J.R. H.
Master, whose blinded sight
Is eager still;
Master, whose love of light
Age cannot kill;
Time was that I would pray
To have for mine
After as fair a day
Sunset like thine.
But every passing year
That turned a page
Has taught me how to fear
A barren age,
And now I seek to die
Long, long ere then,
And being dead to lie
With the young men.
Enoch Powell: First Post: XLV) With twinkling eye the cloudless sky 16 Jun 2012 2:00 AM (12 years ago)
XLV) With twinkling eye the cloudless sky
With twinkling eye the cloudless sky
Looks through the sombre larch,
And rotting mould is turned to gold
By suns of March.
Now tame and wild are all with child;
With vital hope and fire
The world is rife; yet not for life
Is my desire.
But first to close the eyes of those
When brought me to the light,
And then before my youth is o’er
To die in fight.
Enoch Powell: First Poems: XLIV) To-night along the lime-trees walk 16 Jun 2012 1:45 AM (12 years ago)
XLIV) To-night along the lime-trees walk
To-night along the lime-trees walk
The moveless are is mild,
And quietly wife and husband talk,
As they watch their first-born child.
To-night the young men come from play
With half a serious air,
And lovers in the darkening way
A look more wistful wear.
To-night on years I shall not see
My thought more warmly runs
Clearer tonight is born to me
The murmur of the guns.
Enoch Powell: First Poems: XLIII) The year revolves, the swifts return 16 Jun 2012 1:30 AM (12 years ago)
XLIII) The year revolves, the swifts return
The year revolves, the swifts return,
The fields are white with may;
To light the summer on its way
The chestnut candles burn.
But bursting bud and lengthening day
To me are but a sign
Of one that took his youth and mine
And lost them far away.
Enoch Powell: First Poems: XLII) The trees that now are scattering 16 Jun 2012 1:15 AM (12 years ago)
XLII) The trees that now are scattering
The trees that now are scattering
Their bloom as thick as snow,
Will stand again another spring
In blossom clad;
To you that were a fairer thing
Than any trees that blow,
The years again will never bring
The bloom you had.
Enoch Powell: First Poems : XLI) The month the orchards bloom again 16 Jun 2012 1:00 AM (12 years ago)
XLI) The month the orchards bloom again
The month that orchards bloom again,
Men greet the summer drawing on,
Yet secretly they count in vain
Their summers that have gone.
And so your coming makes me glad,
With youthful grace that holds the eye,
And yet my heart within is sad
For youth of mine gone by.
Enoch Powell: First Poems: XL) The lights are growing in the west 16 Jun 2012 12:45 AM (12 years ago)
XL) The lights are growing in the west
The lights are growing in the west,
Nor yet the east is black;
The sun goes slower down to rest
And brings the summer back.
I hate the growing light of spring,
I hate the lingering sun,
I hate the sights that only bring
Regret for summers done.
Day in, day out, the sunset sky
Renews the grinding pain
Of springs and summers gone that i
Can never live again;
And when the sun below the sea
The clouds with crimson dyes,
I shrink and turn; for there I see
My life that bleeding lies.
Enoch Powell: First Poems: XXXIX) The Wheels 16 Jun 2012 12:30 AM (12 years ago)
XXXIX) The Wheels
It is not only when I go
On journeys, that I feel
The steel wheels grind and pound below
Along the rails of steel.
Their voices, faint or louder,
I hear them night and day;
They pound my life to powder, they grind my years away.
Enoch Powell: First Poems: XXXVIII) The sky is white from east to west 16 Jun 2012 12:15 AM (12 years ago)
XXXVIII) The sky is white from east to west
The sky is white from east to west,
And bright the day will break;
It lies to me that life is best,
And hearing I awake.
And so from east t o west the sky
Will whiten as before
And lie again the selfsame lie,
The day I wake no more.
Enoch Powell: First Poems: XXXVII) The Castaways 16 Jun 2012 12:00 AM (12 years ago)
XXXVII) The Castaways
Oh, glad rang every Falmouth bell
That far-off Sabbath morn,
And golden shone the summer sun
On old Pendennis head,
And sorrowful at heart was none
But light our vessel sped,
When we to England bade farewell
And sailed for the southern Horn.
And still the bells of Falmouth ring
Loud in our hearts to-day,
And golden still Pendennis crest
Before us sunlit lies;
But sorrow now is at our breast
And tears before our eyes:
For us there is no home-coming,
But lost we are for aye.
Enoch Powell: First Poems: XXXVI) The distant hills, that through the burning day 15 Jun 2012 11:45 PM (12 years ago)
XXXVI) The distant hills, that through the burning day
The distant hills, that through the burning day
Beyond the vapours of the Lombard plain,
Unreal as the setting of a play,
Ran ever east as eastward ran the train,
The hills are darkening now, but points of light,
Clustering or singly, village, farm or town,
Take up the race instead and through the night
Fly with us to the Adriatic down,
Where in the silence of her waters lone,
Venice is waiting, dreaded and unknown.
Enoch Powell: First Poems: XXXV) How often shall I see them lighten 15 Jun 2012 11:30 PM (12 years ago)
XXXV) How often shall I see them lighten
How often shall I see them lighten.
The April evening skies?
How often will the hedgerows whiten
Again before my eyes?
How often seeing shall I languish
For beauty not my own?
How often feel the long-drawn anguish
Of innocence outgrown?
How many springs, before my sighing
Is hushed, and healed my sore,
And I in wintry dark am lying?
How many summers more?
Enoch Powell : First Poems: XXXIV) I dreamt I lay upon a grassy place 15 Jun 2012 11:15 PM (12 years ago)
XXXIV) I dreamt I lay upon a grassy place;
And when I felt the noonday overhead,
That gently burnt and bit my hands and face,
I thought at last, Then surely I am dead
And here I lie and slumber all the years.
But someone spoke, and I awoke, in tears.
Enoch Powell: First Poems : XXXIII) My son, with grief to old for tears 15 Jun 2012 11:00 PM (12 years ago)
XXXIII) My son, with grief to old for tears
My son, with grief too old for tears
I stroke your golden head,
Remembering the many years
My father has been dead.