The British EU contribution increased from £5.3billion in 2009 to £9.2 billion last year says Robert Winnett in The Daily Telegraph - yet another of these dozy hacks who can't get his minuscule brain round the labyrinth of the EU budget.

Winnett cites the Office for National Statistics but, as you would expect, it is playing games by citing the net contribution,. The figure of significance, though, is the amount we pay out, or the gross contribution – as Myrtle the Judas goat keeps telling us.

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Some good news at last
http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2011/03/28/ ... overnment/

When Moody’s downgraded the debt of 30 Spanish banks last Thursday, it left untouched the ratings of the country’s three largest banks. The ratings agency said its reasons for the downgrading included higher pressure on Spanish sovereign debt and ‘many weak banks’.

Now the 3rd largest Spanish savings bank Banco Base says it has asked for €1.45 billion in state funds to meet ‘new local capital requirements’. It is a further sign that some troubled cajas are struggling to attract much-needed private capital….and vindication of the Slog’s view that consolidation of the cajas will only lead to bigger (not fewer) problems.