Monday Moan 46

Eurolather

There is something entirely predictable and sad about the lather the Conservatives have got themselves into over Europe.  It doesn’t take much for the usual bunch of noisy nobodies to mount their soapboxes and start ranting about the iniquities of Europe and how the UK should cut itself off from the rest of the continent – sailing off (back) into a Golden Age where Britannia rules the waves.

Onto the roundabout again.  No doubt the surge of ‘support’ for UKIP in the local elections last week has spooked some Conservatives. But for the Eurosceptics (or, more accurately, the anti-Europeans) this is just a convenient excuse to play their anti-European loop yet again.

As well as the usual suspects (why do they always wheel out John Redwood, largely considered to be just the right side of mad?), Lord Lawson, no less, thinks we should leave the EU.  The addition of Lord Lawson to the anti-European numbers shows that we should all take this seriously, apparently. But hang on a minute, could this be the same Lord Lawson who now lives in France and who was mercilessly mocked by nearly everyone a few years ago when he declared that global warming was a myth?

And then there is Lord Lamont – you remember, the chap who used to be Norman Lamont, veteran Eurosceptic, Chancellor of the Exchequer during the ERM debacle in the early 1990s (whose advisor was one David Cameron), all round figure of fun.

Don’t you hope that just occasionally our politicians can pull themselves together and do something worthwhile?

 

The Queen’s Speech

In the days when I was a working man I used to look forward to the Queen’s Speech – it was a big deal for me to provide quick analysis for my employers of the speech and the legislation proposed and its likely impact on us.

Last week’s Queen’s Speech outlined the legislative programme for the next year. It contained about the same number of proposals as usual, some of them were quite important, some were of less importance.  But what struck me most was how little impact the event had on the vast majority of people – not a topic of conversation in social circles, not headline news in the media other than for the subsequent coverage of Tory MPs wanting to know why it didn’t include anything on a referendum on Europe.

Now I know why my friends looked at me with a mixture of incomprehension and pity when I used to tell them I had a big day ahead with the Queen’s Speech.  What matters in life all depends on your perspective. 

 

 

Another endless loop to be debated again

Must be the week for endless loops.  This time it’s whether or not London needs another airport or, more accurately, whether or not London’s airport capacity needs to be increased to cope with demand and, if so, how this should be done.

Cue the debate on expanding Heathrow or perhaps Stansted, or whether we should build an entirely new airport in the Thames as Boris Johnson keeps promoting.

The question of airport capacity has been discussed for as long as I can remember and, no doubt, will be discussed long after I can remember anything.  It’s an industry that keeps a lot of people employed, one way or another. But it costs us all a lot of money – in the end we pay for the indecision and for the inevitable (and hugely expensive) public inquiries and all that they entail.  The beauty for those engaged in this is that there can never be a resolution to the issue – even if another runway or airport is built, it won’t be long before the debate about expansion starts again.

That’s why so many of the public simply switch off when the topic comes up.

Where’s Ed?

Still no sightings.  Anybody know where he is?