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Whilst I could never understand the economic rationale behind setting up the Eurozone which was always a total nonsense to me, the political case was obvious for those who believed in a “United States of Europe”, another nonsense if ever there was one. But whilst I have no love for either, I certainly wish them no harm because the UK is outside the Eurozone and hopefully in due course we shall be outside of the EU too.

The Media is full of stories about the economic crisis in Greece which is in the Euro but in deep shit because of the way it ran its budget therefore the question is: “Will the richer Eurozone countries bail Greece out ? Is this the first test for the Euro and will the currency fail if they can’t or don’t do so ?” To be honest the real problem has nothing to do with this in any case in my opinion…

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To my mind, the most disturbing feature of the MPs “Expenses Scandal” has been the obsequious behaviour of the Media in being unprepared to tackle the real issues involved head on, like politicians themselves, they appear too scared of the “public outrage”.

This public outrage I suspect, has as much to do with with the pomposity of the Labour Government and in particular one Gordon Brown who it is now clear, made a total horlicks of the UK economy whilst Chancellor whilst boasting that he had abolished Boom and Bust. In addition, this Parliament has effectively been dead since sometime during 2008, there should have been a 2009 election and political clear out of Westminster then.

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The following is a totally daft tale but sadly, true and concerns BT the so called telecommunications company who have designed a system to ensure that as a customer, you will never ever be allowed to ‘disturb a manager’ with a question or a complaint

On my return from living and working in the States I rented a flat in Bedfont, near Heathrow Airport and at the time BT launched ‘broadband’ which was technically fine except that they wanted you to pay for it monthly by Credit Card for some bizarre reason.

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In common with most of the British Press reacting to the Pope visiting the UK in September and in his letter to the British Bishops, expressing his fears over British anti-discrimination laws that have already led to Catholic Adoption Agencies closing down or severing their links with the Catholic Church.

Of course and even in the Independent, the Anti-Catholic, anti-Jewish vote were much in evidence, the Pro-Faggot Lobby was out in force and just for the total intolerance and bigotry, the  Readers comments are worth a browse:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/anger-after-pope-slams-unjust-uk-equality-laws-1886589.html

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Early last Saturday morning I called the Ambulance and my Mother was taken into Weston Hospital. It was an “odd call” in the sense that there was not any one specific ailment to point to like say a heart attack. Possibly she had Flu, certainly a leg infection that was very painful plus she has the most awful pressure sore on her bottom. In fact it turned out that she had three separate infections but none responded to treatment.

I visited her and spoke to her on Sunday morning when she was a gibberish truth to tell but as I looked at her lying in her bed, I was taken straight back to a Hospital in Wandsworth in the late 1970’s where her Mother was just prior to her death, exact same look. When I visited again later that afternoon, she was very deeply asleep although she was apparently pretty sparky that evening when my eldest Son, his wife and my Granddaughter visited her.

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We all like a clearly defined villain, someone we can all hate without fear of contradiction that we as individuals have made a mistake. There have been two stories in the past year running in the UK that have both these elements: MP’s Expenses and Banker’s Bonuses.

In both cases I believe that the “Perceived Wisdom”is totally wrong, worse a “cover up” and President Obama’s threats to limit American Banks in both size and scope, probably foolish and his message is more ‘politically populist’ than the sound of common sense. The reality behind both of these stories is something called complacency…

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The loss yesterday of the US Senate Seat held by Edward Kennedy for almost 50 years to the Republican Scott Brown is seen as a blow to the Obama Presidency on his first anniversary of becoming President. This can be seen as a great snub to his plans for Health Care Reform and so on but in a sense, this is an inevitable step along the way.

Rather like the marriage of Prince Charles to Lady Diana Spencer all those years ago, the “expectations” of an Obama Presidency – “Yes We Can.” far exceeded any reality on delivery in a recession. In this though lies some serious food for thought for David Cameron and his Team as they prepare for Government…

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Although obviously a Labour supporter, a regular contributor to the Independent is John Rentoul who often writes very interesting articles that concentrate on trying to analyse the issues rather than trotting out left wing propaganda, he is always worth reading.

His article in Sunday’s edition is very well worth a read: “How many years out in the cold?” Sub heading; “Labour is likely to lose the general election. Its main concern now is damage limitation “ http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/john-rentoul/john-rentoul-how-many-years-out-in-the-cold-1870275.html

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Howard Jacobson wrote an interesting article in the Independent: “Civil liberties or civil protection – which is the more important?”

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/howard-jacobson/howard-jacobson-civil-liberties-or-civil-protection-ndash-which-is-the-more-important-1869544.html

The majority of people who mailed in were hostile to his stance but my own feeling was that neither ’side’ was approaching the problems sensibly either.

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There was an Editorial in the Independent today that whilst calling for a Defence Review ended with saying that “obviously” we should cooperate with Europe more on Defence. It amazes me that supposedly intelligent people can’t grasp basic facts and realise that they are looking down the wrong end of the ruddy telescope.

It is not just about Defence, it is about every aspect of major Government spending and Health is a good example. The Labour reforms in funding of the NHS were first trialled in Scotland, much of the additional funding ended up being spent on increased wages not improved outcomes.

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