RAENORTH wrote:
The europhile to whom you refer...
Oh! Given the Churchill quotation he selected, I'm surprised he's a europhile but I wouldn't know William Shaw from Adam. It strikes me he shot himself in the foot then. Or have I got the wrong end of the stick?
As for Churchill expressing a wish to "
build a kind of United States of Europe" and the rest of what he said in that direction I treat it in the same way I do Rutherford's dismissal of the use of the energy bound up in the atom. I don't require perfection from my heroes. It was OK for WSC to want to "
dwell among mine own people" but the Germans and French wouldn't feel the same? He was obviously having a 'fluffy' moment.
But maybe he had a loose federation in mind? On the other hand he must have been aware of even the US Federal Government's centralising tendencies. With those fleeting thoughts and contradictions buzzing around in my head I gave up with that part of his dream, a united Europe, which is of no interest to me anyway. My attention was attracted only by his desire to have his
dwelling properly sited.
Similarly with Norman Tebbit. Given his position, I wondered if that is as far as he can 'reasonably' go — UK out, but fluffy best wishes to our neighbours. By his position, I mean that maybe within the current tory set-up he's angling for the 100lb fish of UK withdrawal with a 2lb line. There seems little point in him blowing whatever influence he has in his party by giving the europhiliacs the opportunity to brand him as being beyond the pale, a relic, an anachronism from the days of old from which we have all now "
moved on". (Christ, how I detest that mealy-mouthed expression.)
One thing that struck me as odd was that these statements
Norman Tebbit wrote:
The retreat of countries within the eurozone into unilateral protectionism to save their own banks has illuminated the fatal weakness of the euro. It is a currency with 15 finance ministers - and no currency can survive in the long term without not only a single central bank, but a single Treasury, a single finance minister and a single tax system.
...
The financial crisis has exposed that the present system of monetary union without political union is unsustainable...
were not followed immediately by: "
However, all this was plain textbook stuff right at the outset. This should be a surprise to no one. But the fact that it appears to be a surprise to some (most?) simply demonstrates the success the europhiles had in keeping the public distracted with mundane transactional considerations and similar froth while keeping them thoroughly misinformed on the all-important fundamentals with the deliberate intention of using the euro as a Trojan Horse to force a one-government Europe. Bastards. I hope it phcking kills them now." But toned down a bit maybe.
One gets the impression from him that people are waking up to it only now*. THAT is very misleading. But again, for a man in his position, is it as far as he can 'reasonably' go?
What would I do in his position? I cannot say I wouldn't do the same.
* P.S. Unlikely—but one never knows—perhaps he's only just woken up to it himself?
