William Hague has raised doubts about the future of the euro, saying it was impossible to know whether the currency would collapse. However, he said he "hoped" that the euro would survive, but added: "Who knows?" So, the Wondrous Willie hopes the euro will survive, does he? And why would that be?

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Loans to Ireland from UK banks now supported by the taxpayer?

Don't be Hague, ask for vague, perhaps?

The Rt Hon William Vague MP (Muddled Prat?)

Sadly for the nation Mr Vague's undoubted talent for public speaking whilst in opposition is in inverse proportion to his abilities in government. The little twat is as thick as shit.

Hague is also an arch-traitor. During the election of 2001, he warned of Britain becoming a "foreign land" and was proven right yet he renounced everything he stood for and became one of the traitors who would give away our sovereignty and our country.

What was done can be undone, if Parliament was so minded.

Years ago I had high hopes & great expectations of/for this little Yorkshireman(?), shared by most folk with a loathing of Labour & other Socialist bottom-feeders....I wrongly saw a brilliant future for a patriot; Yorkshiremen are mostly the template for that virtue.
An excellent orator with a great sense of ironic humour....in no way exuding the foolishness that now characterises him.
What happened?
The baseball cap? Lots of politicos wear stupid headgear for a photoshoot, man of the people etc. The incredibly unwise association wth an employee? Of that, many stand equally guilty. When & where did this reverse Damascene morph happen?
I feel like someone who has inherited a lovely shiny Roller only to discover a Trabi engine under the bonnet.

As I recall Hague was the author of the "In Europe but not ruled by Europe" slogan that was part of the cynical campaign to convince voters to vote Tory on the false prospectus that they were somehow Eurosceptic.

My view of Hague changed from being that he was a waste of time to a totally compromised mouthpiece at the last Euro Elections when he went through all sorts of contortions to avoid saying what would happen if the 2nd Irish referendum accepted the LT. It was obvious the answer was "nothing" and he was going through these acrobatics to avoid saying so and keeping the hope alive in the faithful that the answer was "something". This was just an attempt at a skillful form of lying.

Back before the election a lot of Tories were saying that he didn't appear to take his shadow brief very seriously and was more interested in making money on the side. It's pretty clear that he lost his way long ago and I doubt he's long to remain in politics. He must be pretty fed up with it.

This has absolutely nothing to do with it, although politicians would like us to believe that is the reason - 'It's in our interests to 'loan' Ireland this money as our banks are so exposed there'. Such a bare faced lie could only come from a politician.

Yes, we are exposed (via our nationalised banks) to £140bn of debt, but then other EU countries are also exposed. What is an extra £80bn of EU loans really going to achieve? Ireland will still be spending more than she is taking in in tax revenues, this will simply keep the wolf from the door for another year.

I fully believe that these 'loans' are a stop gap measure until the EU can step in and take control of Ireland's taxing and spending. Whether this is done on a country by country basis or part of a general treaty (although ti will be done as an amendment to an existing treaty to save any democratic principles getting involved) we will have to wait and see.

That our government is tacitly supporting such a plan by acceding to the demands of the EU over this tells us far more about their attitude to the EU than their desire to 'save Ireland'.

If our politicians really wanted to get Ireland out of this mess they would be pushing for Eire to come out of the Euro zone and back into her own currency, that is the only sensible way forward. I have nothing against Ireland and would love to see that country come out of this well but I fear that while she is locked into the Euro and the EU that things can only get worse.

These loans force more dependency and control. Rather like offering an alcoholic another bottle of whisky, but only if they agree to do certain things. I don't see them helping to pay off the debt nor is that the intention.

I bet that the jolly jape with low rates of Corporation Tax is going to be called to a halt pretty quick, which is going to suit some but make the Irish even less able to cope with the debt. Then they'll really have to do what they are told.

There is no doubt that any EU loan will come with a contract attached that the Irish will have to sign giving up the low business tax and probably their freedom to run their own finances. That is step one, which will be judged a huge success which must therefore be applied to all other Countries, including the UK. What will Cam and Vague do then poor things......continue to lie whilst we get stuffed. It won't leave much room for "sovereignty" then, will it?

The loans are just papering over the chasms, they are no longer mere cracks and this is all that the colleagues have left apart from Total Control.

What has also changed in recent days, is that the talk of a collapse is now mainstream, which is also forceing the elites to discuss in the MSM the reasons. However once the reasons are exposed, then the next step of their master plan, Total Control as an answer to the problem, looks even more stupid or as much sense as giveing a pyromaniac lodger a blow torch and canceling your home insurance.

So the colleagues now face a very difficult choice, ram through Total Control in defiance of all common sense, logic and popular support, or fail......by the way Total Control would not just be for the naughty ones, Germany would also have to agree to lose all economic dependence and pool it's wealth/productive capability with all the PIIGS etc

I ask the question again - why dont we default ?

As far as I can see the banks are not loaning . They are in fact calling in on overdrafts .

So if we all default , we have more money to spend, and businesses wont go under trying to service loans/overdrafts.

Most of us dont have pension schemes , or if we do they are totally inadequate . Therefore we dont need to keep the banks propped up for our old age , we need the money now. What the government isnt throwing into the banks it could dole out in OAPs.

IMHO, there's much to be said for defaulting.

In the case of the Irish debt and UK banks, we have had banks lending on the unrealistic assumption that inflated property prices would continue to rise, further inflating already inflated prices. If the Irish had chosen to default, it wouldn't mean that the £140 billion was forgotten, it would mean that the some significant proportion of the £140 billion was recovered rather than entirely unrealistic investments succeeding through subsidy. The bail-out merely means that unwise investment has a safety net pushed under it and the UK and Irish tax payers are forced to underwrite private investments which were unsound. The tax payer being the lender of last resort and the fall guy.

It's not clear that UK pension funds are overly invested in the Irish debt anyway.

The real reason that the default didn't go ahead is that it would help cause the Euro to unravel and the bail-out furthers the ends of the EU.