You can be a “partner”, a “reliable supplier” or perhaps even an “ally” of Brussels. You can even stand next to Ursula von der Leyen in London and proclaim the end of the Brexit wars. But unless you are an EU member state, you will always be a competitor and ultimately expendable.
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Samizdata quote of the day – the EU can never be the UK’s “friend”Perry de Havilland (Prague) · European Union · International affairs · Slogans & Quotations · UK affairs October 13th, 2025 |
 22 comments to Samizdata quote of the day – the EU can never be the UK’s “friend”Leave a Reply |
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Between this and OFCOM, UK’s getting to be a pariah state.
The gold market has noticed how fucked up everything is. Just hit £100k per kilo for the first time ever. £100k! Yikes.
Yes. We have a 90bn pa trade deficit with them.
Yes Patrick – gold is a good refuge, as long as it is physical gold in your physical possession (not the promises of gold that Western gold markets may try and sell you).
James Crisp is both right and wrong – nations are indeed “expendable” to the European Union, but so are “member states”.
The European Union is about power and control – it has always seen itself as building a state, with “member states” just being provinces.
But even this is only part of the story – the European Union is itself just part of the despicable “International Community” and follows all its fads and fashions.
People who think the European Union is about creating a “strong independent Europe” are mistaken.
This is what happens when people who vehemently oppose Brexit are tasked with implementing Brexit. David Cameron at least had the decency to see this conflict and resign.
If you don’t understand the reasons Brexit was a good thing or the benefits of being outside of the EU then how can you possibly take advantage of these things? Britain has an amazing opportunity to do a deal with the ultimate deal maker in Washington, a man who is more of an anglophile than John Bull, but unfortunately at this critical time the country is run by a feckless buffoon and a team of clowns and a cabinet so full of nut jobs they’d make for a great Christmas. And shall we talk about the civil service? I’d rather not, I’m trying to manage my blood pressure.
Fraser Orr – sadly so.
And as someone who knocked on a lot of doors during the referendum on Independence (the word “Brexit” has proved to be a curse – we did not get Independence, we got “Brexit” – a word that has no meaning) campaign, I can tell you that the no one concern of the voters was IMMIGRATION – ending mass immigration.
And the response of the government was even more mass immigration – especially under Prime Minister Johnson (the so called “Boris wave”).
So much for “taking back control of our borders”.
PM: I assume you meant #1 concern, not no one concern. IIRC the ? was how to deal with all the Eastern Europeans that came to Britain happy to work at jobs
UK citizens were less likely to do and were happy to assimilate as best they could with similar Weltanschauung to the natives. Now you have hordes of Africans
and ME who certainly do not have this.
the EU can never be the UK’s “friend”
The same can be said about the government, unquestionably Labour and to a very large extent the preceding conservatives, who are and were not the UK’s (citizens) friends.
We are ultimately expendable to their globalist and multicultural priorities.
You could make a reasonable argument that the EU was not the UK’s friend even when we were a member. They liked our contributions but we were not committed enough to give up Free Trade and Common law.
sch – yes the number one concern, the main concern.
And it is also true that most people were-and-are NOT very concerned about Eastern Europeans.
The European Union does not care about Europe (about Europeans) – like the rest of the “International Community” it regards human beings as interchangeable digits for the international corporate state. There used to be a joke question – “if Nigeria and Japan swapped populations – would Japan remain Japan and Nigeria remain Nigeria?” – only it became clear that the answer of the International Community (establishment – including its branch among “educated” Japanese) was “yes – everyone is the same, it does not matter” – which is not what ordinary Japanese (or ordinary British) people think.
I have stood on the borders of Israel – I know what “free migration” would mean, it would mean extermination (to use that over used word – genocide), but it is not just Israel. For example, if Australia had “free migration” (as the left there wants) there would be no Australia – Australia would be part of Indonesia (which has ten times the population) and the rest of the Islamic world.
Speaking of Islam – on the 17th of September (at least that is the date of publication on the White House website) 2021 (a few days after the attacks on the United States of that year) President Bush made remarks at the Islamic Center in Washington – it is worth reading those remarks in full, so I will leave that to readers to do so (just type it into a search engine).
Either President Bush was utterly ignorant about Islam, or he was totally dishonest – nothing else can explain the remarks he made (religion of peace – and so on, paragraph after paragraph), THAT is when the “War On Terror” was lost – when President Bush made those remarks.
All the fancy weapons and computers are not worth spit – not if they are controlled by either utterly ignorant, or totally dishonest, people.
When and if Mr Mamdani is elected Mayor of New York City, the blame will go back to those ignorant (or worse) comments by President Bush. And the “millions of American citizens” who he said he loved so much – the products of the 1965 (Teddy Kennedy) Immigration Act – by the way many (indeed most of them) of these people are NOT Muslim, but they ask themselves one question “what can I do to best show my hatred of Western civilization – and to do America harm?” and then act accordingly. The same is true of the lily white college indoctrinated types – with their trust funds.
A pox on all of them – regardless of race or religion.
By the way – the last time Republicans got a pluraity of the vote in a Presidential election in New York City was 1924 (the last clear majority was in 1920) – even a century ago the Progressive disease was rotting away in New York City.
The city gets a massive benefit by being the H.Q. of the main Federal Reserve center and, many decades before that, by the Civil War era national banking acts giving such an advantage to the New York banks – as well as the stock market being there and the “financial industry” in general.
So New York Progressives (including Republicans – remember Nelson Rockefeller) think government spending and regulations can carry on endlessly.
Government spending in New York is already at just about French levels – and they have the highest government spending on Earth (in the 19th century France was very different – but that is another story).
However, “Mayor Mamdani” would bring this clown show to an end – and just by doing what everyone else has done, lots of spending and regulations, only he would do it MORE.
He is not stupid, on the contrary, Mr Mamdani is a highly intelligent man – he would push these policies knowing full well that they would turn the decline of New York City into a collapse of New York City.
That is why he would do it – to destroy New York City would be a great achievement, one for which he would be honoured and remembered by people around the world whose approval he wants.
And he can honestly say to someone like Andrew Cuomo – “I am just taking what you say, and have always said, about policy, to its logical conclusion” – and that would be true, Mr Mamandi (“Mayor Mamandi” indeed) would just be doing that.
And much the same is happening in Eurpe.
Only today the French government announced it was abandoning pension reform – so France will continue on the path to financial breakdown.
Germany is deep difficulty – and the government is digging deeper.
And in Britain – the government thinks that even higher taxes and even more regulations are the answer.
There is plenty of work in Britain – as long as you are a volunteer (you can work every day in Britain – as long as you do not expect to get paid, I work several days a week – I am not paid a penny). Paid work is rather harder to come by – and it is going to get a lot harder still.
One ex Member of Parliament I know is very much NOT the stereotype of a lazy politician – on the contrary he is very hard working, he is also an Oxford graduate.
He can not find paid work – and he has been looking since the summer of last year, and he can not sell his house down in London either.
But the government has an answer – everyone, regardless of age or other such, is encouraged to apply for mental health benefits (I believe this was the idea of the “Conservative” Mr Jeremy Hunt).
That way they can pretend that the unemployment rate is only 5% – as people on health benefits (including for mental health) are not counted as unemployed.
And as we must be crazy to live in such a country, I suppose it is basically honest.
Meanwhile youngsters are going round on e.scooters with their faces covered.
They are delivering drugs – all over every city and town.
So if you are not insane already – there are plenty of chemicals available to make you insane.
“We have no eternal allies, and we have no perpetual enemies. Our interests are eternal and perpetual, and those interests it is our duty to follow.”
Sigivald – you quote a great man.
However, the “interests” of the European Union, and of the International Community generally, can be summed up in one word – POWER.
Absolute power, total control over the lives of ordinary people – with all countries being the same.
They want to stamp their boots down on the faces of ordinary people and grind us into he dirt – for ever.
Fundamentally though, this is a good thing (as opposed to a “Good Thing”), The EU’s fundamental antipathy towards us is so obvious even the idiots among us can see it, so when Reform UK comes in and pisses all over the EU’s prized treaties, ECHR, Yuman Rites and all that jazz, nobody will be surprised.
My only fear is that useless twat Kier will do something expensive or largely irreversible before he gets kicked out by his own MP’s.
What a useless cock he is.
Paul Marks 10-15-25 3:49 pm
One interesting thing to watch is the large ethnically Jewish community in New York City. Most of them are not strictly observant Jews, and many of them are descendants of Jews who fled Europe [especially Germany] in the late 1930’s for reasons we all know. Most of them, like most New Yorkers, are devout Liberals or Leftists. There are discussions in that community if it would be better to leave NYC before Mamdani becomes mayor [and in NYC, he will]. It is a battle of ‘learning from history’ -v- loyalty to ideology. Something to watch. Personally, I think most will stay and then hope to be rescued somehow. I also personally think that anyone, their families, and their businesses should be getting ready to leave if necessary; but I do not expect it.
You mentioned France. I saw something in the news online this morning that amused me about France. The theoretical heir to the Bourbon throne is one Louis XX. He is offering himself as King of France if France needs him.
Subotai Bahadur
Many of us are looking forward to the self-immolation of NYC when they elect Mamdani.
Perhaps watching what happens when a communist takes over NYC will serve as a warning to the vast non-NYC middle-road-progressive class across the USA.
And perhaps the destruction can be limited to that one city.
Might be worth the lesson that will result.
@bobby b
And perhaps the destruction can be limited to that one city.
I understand you drooling for schadenfreude, but I find it scary. This isn’t Topeka, KS or even Portland, OR. The consequences of the collapse of NYC will impact us all quite dramatically. The collapse of the center of American finance is not a small thing. For sure it has been leaking out to Florida and Texas for a while, but even if, for example, the stock exchanges and big banks were to decide to flit, the turmoil surrounding the move would be very destructive.
I never thought I’d be rooting for Andrew Cuomo.
I’m thinking of 70’s levels of decline, maybe a little further.
At those levels, the wealthy, and the financial industry, can pull off Thomas Wolf’s “insulate, insulate, insulate” strategy. I think they survive anything short of nuclear destruction, or they successfully move out.
I’m more interested in the 50% of the city voters who think they’re going to be sharing in the wealth of the people on the rungs above them, but who forget that there’s a lot more ladder below them than above.
I tend to agree with bobby on this.
But of course i am not as close to the action as he is, either geographically or emotionally.
NY City is a great location for superheroes, and action movies in general; and i love to re-visit it by re-reading the Nero Wolfe canon. But to be honest, i never really liked to visit in real life.
Subotai – are Jews who do not believe in Judaism really Jews? A big question – perhaps not suitable for a comment, although I am reminded of all the people who declare themselves “Catholics” or “Christians” who, when one questions them, turn out not to believe that Jesus Christ physically rose from the dead or that they themselves will individually survive death and face judgement – they are, in fact, atheists who define “religion” as more government spending and more regulations (the “Social Gospel” which appeared in the 19th century and now dominates much of the “mainline” churches).
Of course, a church that is just about bigger government, and has no supernatural beliefs, is not really a church at all – and it would be interesting to have such “churches” taxed at the same rate as individuals (in Britain 45% – in New York City even HIGHER if one adds Federal, State and City Income Tax together) and facing Inheritance Tax on all its property say every 30 years.
The tax advantages of corporations are dubious (especially as, contrary to Milton Friedman, big modern corporations are NOT controlled or owned by individual share holders) – although one solution is to have low taxes for everyone, for example Paraguay (a nation of millions of people) had no income tax till 2012 – and even now it is only 10% (as it is in some European nations – for example Bulgaria, in Hungary it is 15%).
Some Jews in New York are actually supporting Mr Mamadani – in which case it is hard to have much sympathy, although one should have sympathy – even though it is hard.
I am reminded of the Jews, and others, who supported the “Black Panthers” in the 1960s – who robbed and murdered them, including the lady who did their accounts (yes – they had account books). They were not punished for the murder of the lady who did their accounts (and found some of the Marxist Comrades had sticky fingers – just like “Black Lives Matter”, BLM, now) – because no one wanted to “cause trouble”.
What is mutilation and murder of a few individuals – must not cause trouble, that would cause disutility.
A very Jeremy Bentham view of “justice”.
Snorri and bobby – I understand your feelings on the matter, I “see where you are coming from” as it were – and I share some of your feelings.
But there are millions of people in New York – it would be bad for them to suffer, and no lessons would be learned as the media would blame their suffering on “Trump” – including the so called free market media (such as the pathetic Economist magazine).
As for the Islamic community in general – although still a minority in New York City we can see the sort of people they send to Congress from other parts of the United States, terrible members of the House of Representatives.
It is much the same in Western Europe – both European Union and Britain, with the Islamic population that was allowed in and then increased its numbers (naturally) by births.
Most (most – NOT all) vote for very destructive political parties – and it is logical for them to do so, as it is their religious duty to do harm to infidel nations (this is NOT about personal sadism – it is a matter of religious duty to reduce the power of nations that do not follow Allah and Mohammed). When their numbers are still not sufficient to take over an infidel nation (obviously the best option – from their point of view) – they can still do their best to undermine it.
People, such as former President Bush, who refuse to understand the basic facts of Islam (refuse to understand what Mohammed taught and personally did – and refuse to notice the last 14 centuries of conflict), are irritating – to put the matter mildly.
Watching the financial antics (wild government spending – plus regulations and Credit Money) going on in the governments Germany, France, Britain and Spain, it is hard to see Western Europe as having much of a future – ditto the demographic collapse (the fertility rate in many Western nations is so low it is basically slow-motion genocide).
Islam is to blame for NONE of this – the Westerners have done it to themselves.