Long and tedious discussions from political hacks have been devoted to Gordon Brown's "controversial" plans to part-privatise the Royal Mail. Not least has been the oft' posed question, "why is he putting himself out on a limb like this, when it is so unpopular?"

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Viewing this from Canada, I can state that Cameron is a fool.

1. He buys the global warming mantra of the left-greens.
2. He supports his enemy in a political situation.

But we are already open to competition. We did it years ago.
Its the rest of Europe that must open up its markets.

An EU dimension was mentioned on Skynews around about 6pm (I think) 24th Feb, firstly Mandelson came on saying what you would expect him to say then one of the sky regulars came on and blamed the EU for forcing the opening up of the market for the lack of profitability of the Royal Mail, although I don't think he mentioned the Directive you are talking about.
I searched for a reference on the skynews website but couldn't find it there.

Royal Mail should be privatized...along with the BBC and any other crown corporation.

..and the Royal Mail should be privatised because....???????

The Green Tosser continues to confirm that he is bought and paid for by the EUWhores.

Ps

As the only way Gordon the Moron McSnot has any chance of winning, is by rigging the Postal vote, maybe pissing off all those posties ain't too smart.

Nothing on the BBC PM programme about the EU in all this.
Then again, you did say they do ommision censorship.

Glad I`m not paying for them.

My wife returned last night from a week long sojourn in the UK (Norwich & Oxford specifically). Given that I'm a political junkie she paid attention to the various conversations between all the people she met when the topics turned political.

There seemed to her to be an almost unanimous outcry about the gov't. sticking their noses into everything and anything. But, when she asked what the EU had to do with any of that she was met with a blank stare, a shrug and an off-hand dismissal aobut how the EU is not really relevant.

My wife asked me if I thought that this attitude was prevalent because the UK is not in the Euro. That's a good question, isn't it?

In any case, the mountain you folks have to climb makes Everest look like a minor foot hill.

Surely you've been following this site long enough for that to come as no surprise.

The answer is the conjurer's trick of distracting attention from the real cause to something which is easily imagined to be the cause. In this case the fiendishly clever process of hollowing out. The Westminster government stays in place and everyone directs their hopes and ire toward it. The EU is some vague thing over there which could definitely do with 'reform' but doesn't touch everyday affairs. There's a very low turnout for Euro elections and it's a rather boring subject when the perceived real reasons for these irksome things lie with Westminster. Westminster (the main political parties and Civil Service) are enthusiastically signed up to the EU so the EU isn't really a foreign power imposing horrors. Westminster rather enjoys being hollowed out, because it allows them to play and not exercise responsibility.

People who point out the way the trick is being done have been successfully marginalised.

Cracks are appearing in that people are asking why the government does this daft thing, or doesn't stop that daft thing and the only answer is that they can't because it comes from the EU. Do the sensible thing and be left with the option of paying fines or leaving the EU. Leaving the EU is seen as too radical and politicians don't want the work or the responsibility especially when there are pressing local things to seem to be taking action over. Don't forget the corrupting influence of the EU with its grants, salaries and pensions and initiatives which require Civil Service empires to be built up - all done with our money which makes it more galling.

As I don't think the EU is stable so I don't see the problem as being having a mountain to climb, it's more a problem of resisting climbing a dangerously unstable pile of rubbish which is going to come crashing down.

I'm convinced we'd have worse problems if we had joined the Euro, but the answer might have been more Europe. Not joining the Euro was part of resisting climbing. Of course, anyone with any sense would go nowhere near a dangerous structure, but these things have a fatal fascination for some.

Comet,

as you say I have been reading this blog for way to long for it to come as a surprise. What I found interesting was the idea that if the UK was "in" the Euro the populace would, more likely, be directing their frustration / annoyance towards Brussels rather than London.

I've always felt that being out of the Euro was an attempt to retain some ability to maintain a certain amount of control or sovereignty which would be a fine thing. BUT, the issue is "how do you get the are asking why the government does this daft thing, or doesn't stop that daft thing to understand that the only answer is that they can't because it comes from the EU? That's the mountain I was talking about. What sales pitch will wake up the audience and direct their ire at the proper target? Would this be so hard if you were in the Euro?

It seems to me as if it is closer to the slaves not wanting to recognise their chains ... pretending the shackles are bracelets. And, after all, everyone so much likes sitting on wooden benches and rowing to the beat of a drum.

Quite likely, but we'd be even less able to get free with the problem of reestablishing an independent currency to add to the already considerable problems of getting out.



As I recall, the campaign to stay out of the Euro was visceral "Save the Pound" rather than economic or rational. We probably have the most pro EU establishment and the least enthusiastic populace, but opposition to The Project has always been fragmented. What I see, particularly in the current economic circumstances, is that things which were shrugged off when times were good, such as expensive and useless refuse collection, are becoming irksome and the dots are being joined which lead back to the EU. It's not much of a barometer, but if you check the responses to on-line newspaper articles, there's an increasing number of people who've joined the dots. The EU itself may soon be going through problems with the stability of the Euro and the PIGS. Patience is wearing thin with political nest featherers.

We have three main parties, all with similar lines on the EU, so people feel disenfranchised on this issue and all lthat flows from it. I think that eventually, they'll have to change their tune when it becomes clear that the EU can't be afforded and is causing rage rather than vague annoyance. Either that or they'll start to see serious support given to the BNP, which does address questions they'd rather avoid and does offer answers.

Alan C makes a good point.

It probably has much to do with how effective the "swivel eyed" slur has been painted on to any sceptic. People now instinctively shy away from the subject, for fear of being accused etc.

One only has to see how the Al-Beeb almost shrug and roll their eyes whenever the EU connection is made, effectively implying here we go again, who let the nutter out.