The EU, rebels-and why we'll be hearing plenty more about Europe

A blog was a good way to fill that time while you waited to see the list of rebels, good call.



As for the answer, surprisingly coming from me, it is a good job that vote was supported by everyone else in the House because we are all in enough financial mess without finding we will end up with even less of a say in this whole European debacle. We need to stick up for ourselves from within the EU, not distract the country with an expensive referendum that would take the focus away from all that is going on. Trouble is "Up yours Sarkozy" doesn't have a great ring to it.

I read it too! I just have no comment!

Chris as much as i have enjoyed your Blog piece, i am afraid i will have to go of topic, you can blame Nigel for that, he said nearly 2 Weeks ago that he will publish a new blog, that will accept comments regarding the Cuts, this has not materialised, the cynic in me says it never will.



Anyway the Guardian are reporting tonight that from next season BBC Radio 5 Live to axe second commentators:



The BBC is to end the historic mismatch between its TV and radio football coverage by axing the second commentator's role on Radio 5 Live.



It has long been a quirk of the BBC that it sends two commentators to cover a game on Radio 5 Live but only one when it is being broadcast on TV.



The changes will begin next season and all live matches will have a single commentator by the 2014 season as part of plans to save almost £5m from Radio 5 Live's budget.



Radio 5 Live insiders described the use of two commentators as an "anachronism". But it remains to be seen how the change will be greeted by the station's lineup of big name commentators including Alan Green, John Murray and Conor McNamara.



https://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/oct/25/bbc-radio-5-live-commentator



I think this is quite sad news, for me the 2 Commentators have always bought a balance to the debate, and the Chemistry between the 2, had added an extra dimension to the Game,Alan Green and Mike Ingham commenating on the England Games has always been worth a Listen.



Nigel, could you explain in a bit more detail what the 5live insiders are talking about when descring the use of two commentators as an "anachronism".



Again apologozies to Chris for going of topic, but i feel this is big news for 5live Sport fans, and deserving of a seprate blog post, but Nigel knows best and so far he is refusing to let us post comments on the cuts on a relevant blog.

I would like to praise Fedster for keeping us informed about Delivering Quality First at 5 live. I think, Fedster, that you will get your reply from 5 live, when they have finally moved to Salford. 5 live is in the process of moving. Drive has moved, but there are other programmes to move.



I should like to comment about Europe. When Britain joined the EU, Denmark and Ireland joined too. Denmark was glad that Britain joined because she had a slightly sceptical view of the EU as had Britain.



It will be interesting to see how Denmark has got on with the EU. Denmark has not joined the euro. British people voted by a majority to stay in EU, in 1975, and we are told by some people that the EU has changed, become a threat to freedom etc. If this is so, if the EU has become like this, then Denmark will have noticed.



Therefore let us see what Denmark's viewpoint is now. Here is a web page. It shows that Denmark is taking the EU presidency from January 2012. It shows that Denmark is thinking of trying to reduce the excessive rebates that Britain and other countries are receiving. It also notes that Denmark makes the highest contribution per capita to the EU of all the member countries. However Denmark is carrying on. She is not thinking of leaving the EU. In fact a survey of 2009 showed Danes as the most contented people. Anyway here is the web page reference for Denmark and its relation with the EU.

https://www.euractiv.com/priorities/denmark-readies-low-profile-eu-presidency-new

Here is the web page reference

https://www.euractiv.com/priorities/denmark-readies-low-profile-eu-presidency-new-507964

Here goes again for that web page reference

https://www.euractiv.com/priorities/denmark-readies-low-profile-eu-presidency-news-50764



This should be right now.

No it ain't. However, google Denmark and the EU and you'll see it

On Wednesday 'Parliamentary Democracy' resoundingly declared that a Referendum on EU membership was unnecessary! However democracy would be far better served if there were more domestic referendum's on most key issues not just membership of the EU!



Membership of the EU has always been an anathema for mainstream British politicians especially those in the Tory Party because it contradicts their party's central ideology of national states freely trading and competing independently with each other in relative harmony. Yet it was a Tory government who took us into what was then the EEC in 1972 and it was Thatcher's Tory government that signed up to the Maastricht treaty in 1984 because this cosy ideal doesn't work out in practice! The Tory position quite simply is they'll bluster about being in the EU and the need for a referendum to promote nationalistic sentiments but when it comes to the crunch they'll either vacillate or blow out completely from withdrawing because they know that UK economic growth has plummeted for years and if anything the EU has provided British capitalism with a kind of springboard welfare state!



Realistically the EU is a massive 'business park' where member countries are enterprise zones which, similar to industries and firms during economic downturns have to bail out or buy out each other out to prop up the whole system! Consequently the crisis is not about the single currency 'Eurozone' but a wider banking monetary problem caused by low economic growth which exposed weaker national enterprise zones like Greece and Portugal to defaulting on their debts. If it was really about the single currency then why has the USA government and it's 'single dollar' got the same economic problems and moreover why is the sterling exchange rate lower than the Euro?



The real concern of UK right wing Eurosceptics and the likes of UKIP (who are really glorified Tories) is they don't want the weakness of the UK's low growth capitalist system to be integrated and exposed in a wider capitalist organisation like Europe! This is why they use our membership as a massive scapegoat for their own failed neoliberal ideology which demands public spending cuts on one hand while on the other the lunacy of such policies like quantitative easing (printing money) to supposedly stimulate the private sector into creating economic growth!



Yet one doesn't have to be a fan of capitalism or of the EU to realise their argument is utterly flawed! If for example we in the UK are supposed to be losing our powers to Brussels as t

(cont0: as the Eurosceptic maintain, why don't they advocate referendums on issues like bailing out the financial system and capitalism generally; membership of NATO, what conflicts we get involved in etc?



The truth is, despite the scare storiesd nobody has any real powers anywhere whether inside Europe or out because the real power is capitalism unless of course its politically challenged with more than tents outside St Pauls cathedral!

@ Nick Vinehill It does not seem to me that the present day represents a time of powerful capitalism. The banks and financial institutions could n't handle the situation, and had to be bailed out by the government. Compare this with what you could hear from capitalists in some previous times when they call for business to be free from government interference.



"When the going gets tough, the tough get going" is a business slogan. Now it's "when the going gets tough, business can turn to the government for help". We have a mixed economy, the state and private enterprise are both important.



The mid to late nineteenth century was a time for capitalism "red in tooth and claw". The Victorian era, and in the USA, the age of the "Robber Barons", such as Rockefeller. However the US government broke up Rockefeller's monopolistic organisation Standard Oil.



There is a business slogan "there is no such thing as a free lunch" or you can't get something for nothing. In the world of science, there is a law called the conservation of energy, in other words you can only get out of a system what you put in.



However in the world of economics it is different. we do get something for nothing. We receive a supply of energy from the sun. The sun causes crops to grow, coal and oil deposits to form, causes the tides and the earth to turn etc. Each day we receive this energy, and it's free.