The mainstream news outlets in Britain are abuzz tonight following today’s statement from Chancellor Gordon Brown that now is not the right time for Britain to abandon sterling and adopt the Euro. Dressed up in the mawkish tinsel of lovey-dovey Euro-warmth, Mr.Brown told the nation that, with great reluctance, he must rule out adoption of the Euro because his ‘economic tests’ have not been met.
Cue shrugs, eyeball-rolls and ‘whaddaygonnado?’ sighs from Mr.Brown and a chorus of booing, hissing, spitting and puppy-kicking from an assembled throng of federasts in both Parliament and the nations newsrooms. It is all a pantomime, of course. Blair and the rest of the executive want to the Euro with the kind of slavering intensity with which an alcoholic needs a shot of gin. The so-called ‘economic tests’ that must be met beforehand are purely a fig-leaf to mask the fact that they cannot convince an increasingly skeptical and surly British public to go along with them. The very nano-second the government thinks it can win a referendum on the issue the ‘economic tests’ will have miraculously been met.
But let no-one be fooled into thinking that Euro-geddon has been postponed. Beneath the blizzard of high-falutin’ fiscal gobbledegook being whipped up by the ‘meeja’ talking heads, an even more sinister tentacle of the Belgian Empire is slowly and quietly coiling around us. Some thanks are due to the Daily Telegraph for the timely publication of two articles about the colossal danger to liberty in this country posed by the Europe-wide Arrest Warrant, a legal instrument designed to ‘harmonise’ justice within the EU but which will, in fact, strip British citizens of every single one of their time-honoured protections:
When the warrant comes into force next year court hearings will be a formality and the requesting country will not have to present evidence of a well-founded case. Nor will the accused be allowed to argue that he will not get a fair trial. It has been a long-standing principle in English law that extradition would not be allowed to a jurisdiction where the procedures were considered unjust.
The Government says that because the rest of the EU has signed up to the European Convention of Human Rights, their judicial systems can be considered fair. But most other EU countries do not have habeas corpus or trial by jury and, as in Ms Daniels’s experience, can reactivate a legal case years after it was apparently brought to an end.
From next year, any prosecutor in Europe can issue a warrant for the arrest of any British citizen on mere suspicion of having done something which is not even a crime in Britain. Said citizen will then be subject to arrest by British authorities and then sent to the said prosecutors country where they can be held without trial almost indefinitely while the prosecutor investigates the alleged crime.
Yet speaking out against this monstrosity is almost unknown here. Like everything else about this rotten project, HMG has assured everyone that it is merely a ‘procedural tidying-up exercise’ while assiduously avoiding any discussion of the terrible track record of Europe’s ‘justice’ system.
The Telegraph goes a stage further and offers a case study:
Teresa Daniels, from Aylesbury, Bucks, was arrested by Scotland Yard detectives last week on an international extradition warrant linked to a conviction for drug trafficking imposed in Spain six years ago.
Miss Daniels, 30, had thought that the case was closed. But she was “absolutely staggered” when three police officers arrived at her mother’s home last week to arrest her.
Miss Daniels account of her original trial is equally scarey:
“I could not speak Spanish and no interpreter was present. I was asked just five questions and was in court for only 90 minutes. I assumed I was there as a witness against Antonio, not as a defendant.”
Fortunately for Miss Daniels, the EU Arrest Warrant does not come into force until next year so a British Court can still block the extradition if they think it is unjust or unfair. But not for long:
“If the European Arrest Warrant had been in place, Teresa would already have been put on a plane to Madrid. This is the danger we are fighting against. Yes, the extradition procedures need speeding up, especially to deal with terrorist cases. But we are going too far, too fast.”
“Terrorist cases”, my foot! The EU criminal code sets out all manner of vague ‘crimes’ which European prosecutors can pursue, including ‘xenophobia’ and ‘racism’ and other such terms drawn so widely and so ill-defined that, in effect, justice is at the subjective caprice of any European poobah with an official stamp.
Next year will mark the end of a thousand years of common law protections, Habeas Corpus and trial by jury and the strongest thing any member of our own political classes can say in opposition is ‘We are going too far, too fast’.
I keep thinking of the 350,000 or so British and Commonwealth citizens who sacrificed their lives in World War II. If only they could have known just how wickedly the freedom they died defending was going to be betrayed, they would have stayed in bed.
I’d post a comment but I’m too busy going through past comments to make sure that there’s nothing that can be taken down and used against in evidence against me! =0
The concept of the Europen Arrest Warrant is truly disturbing but what I find even more disturbing is that a large section of the mainstream media and many people I personally know (who I, perhaps foolishly, credit with having common sense and being of above-average intelligence) genuinely believe that dramatic changes like this are all just part of a “tidying up exercise”.
How can large sections of the British public be so naieve… ah yes… the education system and the likes of the BBC… to highlight just two excuses that ignorant Brits might try using in 10 years’ time when they’re looking back and beginning to wonder how they could possibly have spent so much time sat watching “Big Brother” whilst tyranny (and the real “Big Brother”) descended on and crippled a once great nation of civilised freedom lovers.
David Carr
I keep thinking of the 350,000 or so British and Commonwealth citizens who sacrificed their lives in World War II. If only they could have known just how wickedly the freedom they died defending was going to be betrayed, they would have stayed in bed.
I keep thinking the same thing myself – such a betrayal.
European countries don’t respect habeas corpus or trial by jury? What kind of barbarians have you entangled yourselves with?
Perry, David, Gabriel, Johnathan, I can hide a couple of y’all in my attic (if you don’t mind the lack of air conditioning) and I can spare a .357 or two. 🙂
So what’s going to happen is Errol Flynn will walk in with David Niven and they will shoot Tone (Basil Rathbone) and Gordo (Claude Raines) and then join arms as they walk into the Mesopotamian desert looking for Tommy Franks (George Clooney).
Oh… it’s going to be a tragedy?…never mind.
I think uou totally misundestood the speech – Brown presented so much contrived guff while the PM nodded beside him that i think its probably true that both have given up on joining the euro; but not the consitution.
I think uou totally misundestood the speech – Brown presented so much contrived guff while the PM nodded beside him that i think its probably true that both have given up on joining the euro; but not the consitution.
I am starting to get really disturbed. When you combine the British slide into the EU – including the seemingly unnoticed loss of freedoms, with the oncoming revolution in France (and serious problems for the other EU countries that France pulls down with it) and I am again starting to forsee the possibility of a cold or even a hot (nuclear) war between the US and the EU. Of having to rescue Britian from the EU (i.e. getting involved in the inevitable EU civil war).
The “axis of weasels” thing was funny, in a nasty sort of way – but this is getting serious. I simply can’t understand why the administration is still supporting the formation of the EU – we should be exorting Britian to run in the other direction as fast as possible.
Whilst the European Arrest Warrant is a clear and present danger, I suspect that it may become subject to judicial review. If a case was found that the lack of evidence presented within the domestic court system contravenes the European Charter on Human Rights then this may mitigate some of the worst effects.
Just one more “step” down the road to disaster involving the EU…
I knew there were various details that were scaring me with this EU formation but it’s even more than I could have imagined. (it’s probably been mentioned before and I’ve missed it… but this is getting SCARY!)
Philip – Why say that what you quote “may mitigate some of the worst effects”? It is this reasoned, compromising attitude that has got us into this situation. Tony Idiot going to Brussels and saying he’s going to “get the best deal for Britain”. Why do we want “the best deal” when it would be a better deal not to have any truck, other than free trade, with the corrupt, undemocratic and decadent continent of Europe? Sitting around and saying, “Well, it may not be too bad …” is not going to get the business done. Europe is dangerous to the health and so are slavverinng, ego-driven British politicians who wish to entange Britain further in this dog’s breakfast to further their personal agendas.
Simple solution – we leave. Folk who really love the EU can go and live there.
Next problem – how do we leave?
Libery Belle writes:
“Europe is dangerous to the health and so are slavverinng, ego-driven British politicians who wish to entange Britain further in this dog’s breakfast to further their personal agendas.”
Hurrah! Every single word of that is the truth – well said, Ms. Belle!
What was so distressing yesterday was seeing the usual sad procession of venal imbeciles hungry for their thirty seconds on television, telling us how their widget-making business was absolutely dependent on Britain joining the EU – and using the exact obverse of the exchange rate argument these fools were using two years ago.
Don’t get me wrong, widget-making is a fine thing and I have been lamenting the lingering death of manufacturing industry in this country for over 20 years. But, when one of these prize chumps forgot his script and started talking about the export of manufacturing to China and the Far East, the cat wasn’t so much out of the bag as halfway up his arm, yowling and clawing as it made its way for his throat.
Britain is a net importer of Euro-rubbish (pace the Germans, for the most part). Are we really to believe that the French Government will ban the occasional packet of crisps we sell them in exchange for all those ghastly Renaults? That Fiat (while it remains in business) will cease its promotional work on behalf of members of the vehicle breakdown trade? The Europhiles insult our intelligence with this nonsense.
And yet it is the only argument you hear. Stuck in the car as the story unfolded yesterday, I listened to the coverage on BBC Radio 5 ‘not quite dead yet’. The ratio of pro to anti commentators was off the scale and I heard not a single person advance an argument based on political autonomy, history, freedom or any other than a barely coherent corner shopkeeper’s understanding of the narrowest economic issues.
Lifelong opponent of capital punishment I may well be, but I’m seriously wondering whether the gallows tree should reinstated for crimes of treason…
If I were an Englishman, I’d go campaigning in the streets. Blogging and talking in cafes isn’t gonna do it. With conservatives being in the sad shape, isn’t there a HUGE demand for a eurosceptic political campaign?
I’m really waiting for the moment Tony will say “Let’s drive our cars like other civilised nations do, in the right lane”, and there you have it.
PS could someone point me to legal resources regarding the habeas corpus? As a continental European, I am unsure what that really means, and it seems somewhat important to you …
G Cooper, I don’t think France allows us to sell an occasional packet of crisps there now anyway. Before a couple of months ago, I’d never seen a British product for sale in France, except tea. Now that summer’s coming in and floods of British tourists are pouring off Ryanair, my local supermarket is stocking Marmite for the first time ever. In the tiniest, thimble-sized jar. Price: 4.79 euros – clearly targetted at holidaymakers. I saw a Rover the other day and it was so remarkable to see a British car, it caught my eye. I asked the supermarket, which stocks around 60 kinds of cheese including, inexplicably, Edam, why they didn’t carry Cheddar and they looked at me as though I might be dangerous and have to be contained. Britain is already being shafted by the EU. Why stand in line hemhorraging while it gets worse?
Oh, and while I’m at it, yesterday was another public holiday in France (after three last month). Today there is a strike of the education sectors plus six other huge sectors, including the railways. (I didn’t have time to note them all down.) Anyway, the schools will be open again tomorrow. But closed again for another strike on Thursday. Wednesday is a school half day. So French student’s academic week shapes up as follows: Monday, public holiday. Tuesday, strike. Wednesday, half day. Thursday, strike. Friday, entire day at school (not counting the two-hour lunch break). Saturday, half day. The farmers are scheduled, again (they already had a strike last week) for this week as well. Why on earth do we want to be associated with these people?
I think we need to remind people in Britain what the Magna Carta grants them while they still have it. Ignorance is the europad’s anaesthetic of choice.
Blogging and talking in cafes isn’t gonna do it.
Pamphleteering and talking in cafes gave us the American Revolution. It came to fighting in the end, but first they spent decades shouting, pounding on tables and boring the bejesus out of their less politically minded neighbors.
Britain: No Go On the Euro?
Economics and the Iraq war are turning Britain Inc. against joining
John R. Pilling recalls a recent meeting of the Confederation of British Industry, one of the country’s most influential business groups, in Birmingham. “Almost all those around the table were against joining the euro,” he says. “Three years ago, you would have had a very different view.” …
The Telegraph right now is carrying a story on its front page that Gordon Brown and Tony Blair are to prepare a strong case for joining the euro. This is one day after Gordon Brown stood up in Parliament and said there was no case for Britain joining the euro at present. I can’t decide whether it’s more Abbott & Costello, Morecamb & Wise or Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis.
Blair, ever the original thinker, said, with all the surprised wonder of someone who has just minted a smart new phrase, that Britain should play its role “at the heart of Europe”.
After 30 years, no one has yet explained to the British people why being at the heart of a sceptic tank is such a privileged position.
Tomas Kohl –
Maybe this will help with the definition/meaning of habeas corpus.
More information, if needed, can, of course, be found the same way I found this article, by using Google (advanced search) “habeas corpus” in the exact phrase field, unless, of course, your government blocks Google as China does. {grin}
Decision may sway Swedish voters to reject single currency
BRITAIN’S decision to hold off on the euro could help persuade at least one other European Union member – Sweden – to stay out.
The country’s nine million population is to vote on euro entry in a referendum in September, and polls show public opinion has slowly shifted in favour of keeping the krona.
Euro proponents brushed off Britain’s decision to stick with the pound yesterday.
“Sweden is a small and open economy,” said Jonas Frycklund, a spokesman for the Federation of Swedish Industries, a pro-euro trade group. “It’s not like Britain, which is big. Everybody here is aware of that.”
Voters in Denmark, the other euro hold-out, have twice turned down the single currency. A failure in Sweden could spell the death-knell for another attempt. …
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. The EU is not a path to harmony and peace. It’s just the context of the next general European war. There won’t be war between the US and the EU, ever, because nobody in Europe is going to (voluntarily) give up their lives for that blue-and-yellow banner. What will happen, though, is a total meltdown of civil relations between the various countries in the EU. Each will have its own interpretation of what constitutes European law, an interpretation that will, wouldn’t you know it, favor themselves.
My guess is that someone, perhaps one or more of the eastern states, is going to get the economic screw put to them. When, as in the case of the American Civil War, someone tries to secede, some or other larger power within the “federal” structure will try to stop them. An ensuing conflict over the legitimacy and extent of EU authority will ensue.
God, I hope you folks in the UK don’t suffer for it. Whether it seems so or not, Americans really do consider the Brits family. When the shit hits the fan, whatever the US position is now, we’ll be on whatever side you’re on. It’s a shame that it will come to that, but I’m certain it will.
Sage: Agreed. Britian is family. We may not always agree, but we always care – like the comedian said: Family is the place where, if you go there (at 3:00 am say), they have to take you in.
Sage, a very thoughtful scenario and I think an accurate prediction. Britain would be better off getting out right now, before the meltdown kicks in because immense economic damage will be done and we don’t need to be part of it. Better back in the fold with the US and the Commonwealth, trading freely, to the enrichment of all – including African Commonwealth members, who could do with some free trade. Let Europe find its own way.
I think Sage has it nailed – the EU is inherently unstable. The best possible scenario is that it unwinds without violence. The mind boggles at trying to predict whether that can occur, or how it would play out. Unfortunately, even the best possible scenario probably involves a great deal of economic suffering.
T Hartin, You are correct: Europe is unstable. So nothing new here, then. It has been an unstable continent for, oh, maybe a thousand years or so. This may be why Britain never showed an overwhelming interest in conquering it. We set our horizons higher and further away and requiring more daring and cleverness. How a routine victor like Britain got mixed up with the EU, originally – maybe still – designed to stop Germany trying to re-conquer France, we would have to put some electrodes on Edward Heath’s head to find out. (Personally, I am comfortable with that.)
Meanwhile, our real trading opportunities come from the world, not tight-assed Europe. Certainly let us trade with Europe. We’ve been doing it for 1500 years without the benefit of Jacques de Lors, Edward Heath or the excitable T Blair. But we have a Commonwealth imbued with Anglosphere values (which is in no way to take away from the natural fairness found in most of mankind – just saying, it was codified by Anglo-Saxons), immensely rich in natural resources and desirous of trade. Plus we have our warm friendship with the United States. What more could we want?
I keep saying it: how is it in our interest to be involved with unstable European countries, Poland and Denmark excepted, which think it’s rather clever to sidestep the rules they’ve agreed in writing? Too late to teach them cricket … And let us not forget, we and the non-EU Norwegians have North Sea oil… which Brussels wants to make into a “common resource”. Like our fishing. And our farming. Out. Fast.
Liberty,
I am quite capable of shouting loudly on the disadvantages of Europe (and have done most vociferously in the past), but, I would also contend that a reasoned examination of the implications of particular European policies is necessary in order to undermine or offset their worst effects. Rhetoric is satisfying but it is not the sole approach to this problem. This does not compromise the political goal of withdrawal though the process is open to debate.
I would hope that the current debates over the European Union will draw more British people into debating and understanding their own law and unwritten constitution, above and beyond obligatory references to the Anglosphere. If we can use the law to subvert or prevent various European/British nonsenses then, we should do so.
And yes, I am aware that long-term membership of the EU corrodes the rule of law.
David,
Comparing Europeanisation to Nazi Europe is wrong and IMO morally offensive. I think you might have considered whether the victims of the Nazis would have agreed with you that foreknowledge of Europeanisation would have made WWII not worth fighting.
There is no comparison between 1930s Germany and Spain 2003. None whatsoever.
Philip, I’m sorry, but the statement that the “European Arrest Warrant may be subject to judicial review” broadcasts the impression that the “European Arrest Warrant” is somehow so legitimate that it is subject to a review. No. Such an alien imposition on the free British can never be legitimate and therefore can never be subject to some review. The “European Arrest Warrant” is illegal under British law. Under British law, you cannot sign away your rights. They are your rights for all time. Neither can your government sign away your rights on your behalf. End of story.
I’m sorry, Philip, and perhaps I’m misunderstanding your point, but these dainty arguments are what has led us by the nose down this inexplicable dark tunnel. People dickered over finicky little points rather than regarding the visualised big picture, and thus the visualised big picture was allowed to become reality.
I agree that rhetoric can be satisfying, but I wasn’t venting. I feel that people have been so busy examining the quality of the cross-stitching that they’ve missed that a vast tapestry has been woven and is now so interconnected by all these threads that it is no longer possible to disentagle it. I feel we will have to snip the threads.
All you have to do is visit the Have Your Say dept of the BBC website to see the quality of the debate. It’s emotional and chippy-driven and has no relation to the gravity of what is being discussed.
Liberty,
I wouldn’t regard the European Arrest Warrant as legitimate, if, by that term, you mean a law that should be recognised (for whatever reason).
However, the EAW will still be law, whether one likes it or not, under the present government. A reasonable strategy is to subject its provisions to judicial review as this may reduce its scope for destroying the lives of our citizens.
Does the unwritten constitution of the British polity uphold inalienable rights or recognise our natural freedom. That’s one for discussion.
Philip
I am glad to be an American. How can you Brits toss a time (a millenium or so) tested legal system for the wet dreams of the barbarians? Our politicians may be horses arses, but they are horses arses chosen by the people. I take it that in much of Europe (what about Britain?) the cult of the intellectuals preselects those who run for office. In America any jerk can run and even win. This tends to filter out the intellectual cracked pots who seem to dominate the political scene on your side of the pond.
You’re acting so … well, so French. Does it not embarrass you?
Peter Koren – No, there is no cult of intellectualism, a la the continent, in Britain and thus no subtle preselection of candidates for office. As in the US, any jerk can run and get in and even become prime minister.
Excuse me, no one on this board is acting French, so we have nothing to be embarrassed about!
Alice,
I was not comparing the EU project to Nazi Germany. I was commenting upon the futility of the sacrifices the British have made in order to prevent foreign domination and maintain their soveriegnty.
Sorry, the last line should read “sovereignty”.
Yes, any jerk can run for office here, but the process is subtly and steadily being bureaucratised and barriers to entry (and costs, finanacial and personal, of staying in the game) are being raised. Quite beside the looming EU project to keep nationalists and “xenophobes” of various kinds, we have the glorious Electoral Commission and Commissioner for Standards in Public Life.
Britain: ‘unreliable EU partner
It seems that the economic downturn on the continent, the malaise in Germany, is actually all your fault, you greedy British bums, you.
Deutsche Bank’s chief economist, Norbert Walter, Tuesday sharply criticised Britain’s decision not to adopt the euro, calling London an “unreliable” and “not constructive” partner in the European Union.
He said the fact that Britain makes its own monetary policy is the reason that there are interest rate and economic disparities with the 12-member eurozone.
Steven,
Excellent. We’re good for something then 🙂
Hmmm…if Britain is family to us Americans, I’d guess the bset comparison would be the beloved brother who’s been caught up in a destructive relationship with a bloodsucking whore who is ruining him, but he won’t listen to reason until it’s too late. Very sad spectacle to behold. Perhaps it’s time for a full blown intervention.