More boredom but firstly an erratum appeared in last months drivel.
Apparently I mistook Michael Gambon for King George V when he was really playing Edward VII. Well, you see one King in a beard and you've seen them all. Apologies to those who spotted this. Now for the real rubbish:-
(1) Firstly the goat that spins a spiders web - Frankenscience of the worst sort.....
This is an article I saw in a recent issue of The Evening Standard - whatever will they think of next (Muppets in Government probably!)
(2) Gibraltar
Not content with buggering up the countryside and the stock markets our "Government" has turned its beady little eye on Gibraltar. Since Spain signed its rights away over Gibraltar in perpetuity by agreeing to the Treaty of Utrecht in the opening years of the 18th Century (1704 I think), Britain has reigned supreme over Gibraltar. Recently, the people of Gibraltar showed their overwhelming desire to remain British but turning out en masse to greet Jack Straw when he visited there. Apparently 98% of the population turned out with Union Jacks fluttering in the breeze. Pachydermal to the end, our Government are insisting on giving Spain joint sovereignty over the rock. This is the same Spain that has just sent troops to rest back control of an island of the coast of Morocco.
It just isn't good enough. If you are at all worried about the abrogation of the rights of people to decide their own fate then please sign the register . Gibraltar needs our support - please give it to them.
(3) Murky ponds
Have you got a problem with murky ponds like I have?
I have tried in vain for the last year to grow a covering of lillies on my pond to give the poor fish some shade and protection from the herons. All this has been in vain. the pond is too murky, the gunge clogs up the pump which prevents the water from being oxygenated, which causes the algae to multiply which means it is murky, which means the plants won't grow, the pond doesn't clear and so on.
I recently saw an interesting advert in the NFU magazine for something
called Aquaplancton check the link out and look at what this wonderful stuff is. It has been in my pond now for three weeks. the pond has gone from being dark green to a sort of milky lime colour. Apparently this is all in order because in about 4 weeks time the plankton will have fallen to the bottom of the pond, having digested most of the algae en route. This should give me a crystal clear pond which will allow the plants to grow at long last. I will let you know how things progress.
(4) Shotgun Cartridges.
I am all in favour of giving money to worthy causes, particularly if I get to go shooting into the bargain. Recently the Countryside Alliance
advertised an interesting little scheme - Penny for a shot. If you purchase the cartridges mentioned in the advert, 1p for every cartridge sold goes direct to the CA to fund their battle against the forces of darkness who are trying to stamp out foxhunting in the UK.
(There should be some available at next
weeks Game Fair at Romsey. I will be on the CA coaching line
giving shooting lessons if anyone wants to check it out. DT) Definitely
worth a look at for anyone who shoots because if hunting is banned you can put money on it that our "Government" will put shooting in the frame next. Fishing will come after that too! (5) Giant Hogweed.
I never knew that this plant was a problem but apparently it is. According to an
official
website
it is an offence to allow this pernicious weed to grow in the wild (perhaps
we should have a word with God then . DT). If you do have it, perhaps you should dig it up. If you can't bring yourself to do that then at least make sure you nip the seed capsules off before the spores are carried away on the
breeze (alternatively leave it alone, it's not going to leap out and
bite you! DT).6) And now for something completely different....
While at the South of England Show I chanced upon an interesting little stall in the far South East corner of the showground. This stall was manned by what looked like a typical cross section of "Blue-rinse" Middle England. The stall was taking signatures for a petition against further British assimilation into Europe, particularly as regards Britain joining the Euro. I engaged the fogeys in conversation in an attempt to see exactly how much they knew. I must say that I was very impressed with the depth and breadth of their argument. This is in sharp contrast to the pro-single currency people I have spoken to, who seem happy to wax lyrical about the "convenience" of no exchange rate for holiday makers or businessmen and then abruptly run out of steam when it comes to any weightier arguments.
The Save the pounders have produced a series of very informative leaflets setting out their stance clearly, simply and -dare I say it- logically. Personally, I can't see any benefit whatsoever to joining the Euro Club, a view I have had since I learnt how Britain was betrayed by Edward Heath, his heirs and their successors. Taking an objective stance for once, however, reveals a few interesting
facts about both sides of the argument....
On the Pro Euro side we have the likes of Messrs. Blair and company. Their arguments are as I have eluded to above. They also have this rather flimsy mission statement " We will join the single currency if it is in Britain's interests to join". That is a fine and commendable statement as far as it goes (yeah, right...). The only problem, however, is that no-one in our esteemed "Government" has actually got the intellectual power (or the backbone) to stand by that statement and explain it clearly in terms that can be understood by a prole like me. This does rather make me wonder what it is they are trying to hide behind their wall of veneer-thin spin. Of course, they say that being in a single currency would help holidaymakers (especially if they have to actually pay for their holiday, eh Mr. Blair?) because they wouldn't have to worry about the complicated business of foreign exchange. I believe that this is deeply offensive to the intelligence of the average tourist who is probably only going to their chosen destination because the foreign exchange rate for the £ makes it an attractive choice. Then of course, you have Johnny Businessman who might wish to conduct his affairs and not worry about what exchange rate movements are going to do to him. Sound motives indeed, but is it really a sound policy to effectively lock yourself into an exceptionally disadvantageous exchange rate in perpetuity, WHICH IS EXACTLY WHAT WILL HAPPEN UNDER THE EURO. Far better (and dare I say it, cheaper) would be to enter a managed foreign exchange programme with an international bank. That, in a nutshell appears to be the "pro" Euro case. I don't personally believe that there is an economic case for Britain to join the single currency and when statesmen like Sir Edward George, the Governor of The Bank of England start saying that the single currency project is political and not economic then my doubts only multiply.
I think it is a highly dangerous game to play around with a nations stability and prosperity in the name of politics and I can't see any good coming out of it.
On the side of the keepers of the £ there are a few persuasive arguments against ditching our national currency. Very briefly these are as follows:-
On our Sovereignty Britain would lose even more of its law-making powers - witness The Nice Treaty and the imposition of Corpus Juris instead of habeas corpus. I have not met anyone who has argued that corpus juris is superior to habeas corpus. Does anyone care to have a go? Look at some of the wonderful laws Europe has introduced recently, for example it is now a criminal offence for market traders to sell items in pounds and ounces! Indeed motorists would risk having to compensate errant cyclists who were guilty of causing Road Traffic Accidents according to The Times last week.
Nothing I have heard from the grandees in Brussels (or anywhere else in Europe for that matter!) gives me any comfort over the success of the Euro. Many Euro politicians have said - rather precipitatively in my opinion - that now the single currency is in play there must be a drive for a single set of laws and one taxation basis across the whole of the EU. Excuse my ignorance, but when you have a single currency, a single legal system and a single tax regime then you have a de facto single country. Do you want to be part of that? I certainly don't! Becoming a single European country (even if Blair wasn't part of the Government) would go against all the provisions of Magna Carta and the 17th Century Bill of Rights. These are two ancient documents which are fully valid in law even today. They have served us well in the past and it would be criminal, even treasonous to do away with them now (so maybe that's why Blair & Co. revoked the death penalty for treason immediately upon getting into power, but that's for another day,....).
With the House of Lords now all but emasculated, these documents, along with HM the Q are amongst the few safeguards for the liberty of our country and its people.
That idiot Blunkett has paved the way for a European -wide arrest warrant, which would introduce corpus juris into our legal system instead of habeas Curpus (as mentioned above). This is something I find particularly distasteful. Indeed, only this week the Double Jeopardy rule was mentioned whereby suspects can be tried repeatedly until a guilty verdict is reached. It is not justice it is a bloody sham which would lead to the complete erosion of all the safeguards within our ( admittedly flawed but ultimately workable) legal system. I hesitate to mention the War but a good friend of mine, Greg Lance-Watkins has trawled up a rather worrying document. The scheme it alludes to was conceived by a group of German Generals during the last war. I won't trouble you with its details here but follow this link to find out where the roots of the New Europe truly lie. John Prescott might like to pretend that Regionalisation was his brainwave (an impossibility the sceptics would say!) but the roots of the plan have slightly more sinister origins than that. Indeed if you access the link above, you will eventually see an amusing (and accurate) depiction of what the New Labour logo really stands for!
The members of our armed forces would be under the European cosh too. Plans are already afoot for a single European Army whereby our troops would be forced to fight for foreign countries in wars that would not necessarily be in Britain's interests and could even be against our hitherto allies.
On the economic side of things, Britain would have to surrender its Gold reserves to The European Central Bank, who would force Britain into an economic straightjacket for "the greater good of Europe" whatever that means. The Bank of England wouldn't even be able to set interest rates in a manner that suited Britain, this would all be done in Germany for the greater good of the Franco-German axis. Ah, but yes, say the pundits - we would soon re-align our economy with Europe and setting interest rates for the whole of Europe would lead to a "smoothening" of all the economies and would, on balance, be fine. Thats a bit like saying that if I put a foot in a bucket of ice at 0 degrees celsius and a foot in a bucket of boiling water then "on balance" I am fine.
Indeed, membership of the prestigious European straightjacket would mean that if Britain could not abide by the economic rules set by Europe then we would effectively lose control of our economy. Sounds implausible, doesn't it? Well this is exactly what is happening in Portugal today - they lost control of their budgets two weeks ago.
What exactly has Europe done for you? All I can see is that it has wrapped us up in reams of red tape and petty regulations, designed to keep Belgian bureaucrats on the Brussels Gravy Train in a job. I remember the good old days when we could all buy "Duty Free" when we went abroad. That was taken away two years ago. Strange how the MEPS who voted to kill this market off also voted to keep their own, limitless, supply of Duty Free open via the "official" shop in Brussels. The message is clear here, if you aren't in the in crowd you don't count.
As far as I am concerned, this business of giving Spain Gibraltar back and trying to get Britain into the Euro has got nothing to do with Britain's best interests, but has got everything to do with Tony Blair's personal ambition to be The First President of Europe, with jobs for all his boys. If we surrender control of our economy, our sovereignty (even if it is "pooled" to use that facetious sound bite) and our armed forces to Europe then we won't have a country left and I don't actually think that we could count ourselves as worthy heirs to all the millions of people who perished trying to prevent a single super state in the last two Wars. they will certainly have died in vain and we will be paying them the biggest insult by letting Britain get dragged any further into the European Mire.
Honestly, its enough to make you want to vote Tory (only joking).
NB:-all the above facts have come from verifiable newspapers and magazines.
(7) LPG fuel for cars.
I am taking my charabanc into Sussex Autogas next week to convert it to run on LPG. This will cut my running costs in half and possibly more. I will give you a full update next month.
(8) March for Liberty & Livelihood - totalitarians may like to switch off now.
Are you going on the Big March in September in London? If you are a foxhunter, a shooting enthusiast, someone who fishes, if you work in any of these industries or you are involved in the supply chain to these industries then you ought to be there. Even if you don't hold any particular brief for the activities mentioned above but you are concerned about the attempts of Tony Blair & Co to outlaw a pastime based on quack science, dodgy politics and even dodgier pre-election bungs then please feel free to come along. the only way this government will sit up and take notice is if enough people turn out and tell them they are wrong. For more information on the March, click this Link. For stickers, banners, posters etc. please call me or e-mail me. If you own any land fronting a major road and would like to have a banner displayed then get in touch - I see Norman Bryant was quick off the mark in Copsale this week - he is sporting a nice 4'X3' poster advertising the March.
If you would like to come on the March but are unable to, due to infirmity, absence or work commitments then please come and see me - I will ensure that your voice is heard too!
Coming next month
The great LPG Conversion saga .....
Fun in Portugal ......
Doing it with Dogs (no, you didn't just misread that).......
And anything else I can think of!
Simon McClean 18thst July 2002
last months MR's