Tim Worstall

Greece raised the stakes in the row over how to stabilise the euro today when prime minister George Papandreou set European leaders a deadline of next week for unveiling rescue plans for his battered economy and threatened to turn instead to the International Monetary Fund for help.
Clearly exasperated by the [...]

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The European commission announced moves today to shore up the euro and ward off market pressure on Greece by considering a ban on complex derivatives allegedly being used to undermine the single currency.
The draconian move suggested by José Manuel Barroso, commission president, follows a joint campaign by the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, and the French [...]

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According to a draft regulation drawn up by the European Commission and seen by Reuters, suppliers may be allowed to require that distributors have a “brick-and-mortar” shop before they can sell online.
It’s retail price maintenance for luxury brands by the back door.
No, fuck off.

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No, the real story behind the euromess lies not in the profligacy of politicians but in the arrogance of elites — specifically, the policy elites who pushed Europe into adopting a single currency well before the continent was ready for such an experiment.
Paul Krugman.
Do recall, the man has actually won a Nobel for Economics.
Update: about [...]

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A poll for popular newspaper Bild am Sonntag found that 53pc of Germans wanted Greece to be expelled from the euro if necessary in the coming months. Two-thirds were adamantly against German money being put towards a bail-out of the troubled country, the paper also found.
Will [...]

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Remind me:
Lord Mandelson triggered incredulity last night by insisting Britain should join the euro – just as the currency struggled with the worst crisis in its history.
The Business Secretary played down turmoil in the eurozone by claiming the single currency had been a ‘remarkable success’ and said it was in Britain’s long term interests to [...]

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There’s two ways this can go really.
1) The PIIGS are hung out to dry, they default or leave the euro and the European Project grinds to a halt for a generation or two.
2) Fiscal transfers start between rich and poor EU countries. In effect, we get the economic government of Europe as well as the [...]

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Ambrose EP…….instead of Greece being forced out of the euro, why doesn’t Germany leave?

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How wonderful it is, what a joyous and irreversible thing.
What grates though is that he doesn’t even mention the most important point.
A single currency requires a single interest rate. And a large number of the problems places are facing at the moment have been caused by that very single interest rate.

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Baroness Ashton to call on CND experience in EU role.
Phone call for Mr. Putin, phone call for Mr. Putin.
Some bird on the line asking about whether there’s any more of that Moscow gold?

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Britain warned Iceland that it would be frozen out of the European Union after its President abruptly vetoed the repayment of a £3.6 billion loan.
Gosh, that is harsh, isn’t it?
They’ll just have to stay independent and free….and richer.
The thing is though that they haven’t refused to pay. They’ve just said that this is an [...]

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If a bureaucrat stops working in Brussels, will he make a sound?

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Mr Cameron said he wanted to put the tax status of parliamentarians “beyond doubt”.
“I think it is time to pass a law that says that if you want to be in the Houses of Parliament, if you want to be a legislator, you need to be or be treated as a full [...]

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Eighteen new MEPs whose seats have been created by the Lisbon Treaty are to receive full pay, perks and an allowance worth an annual £300,000 each despite being unable to start work for up to four years.
The rebuttal to the outrage this will cause is already known.
But this has happened before, it’s entirely normal! This [...]

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There is mounting pressure on the Government to fall into line with other European Union countries by reducing the legal limit from 80mg of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood to 50mg.
Oh, why’s that?
”Road safety has improved significantly in recent years – 1,000 fewer people now [...]

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New figures released by the Conservatives show that around two million vendors have paid a combined total of £657.6 million since the controversial scheme was launched amid opposition from estate agents in August 2007.
Also known as Sellers’ Packs, HIPs have raised £94 million for Government coffers [...]

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From:
Meglena Kuneva is European Commissioner for Consumer Affairs
We get this:
Indeed, non-sustainable products should be phased out gradually. Research has shown that many consumers believe that environmentally non-friendly products should not even be on sale.
So when does the legal ban on non-green products get handed down from Brussels?

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Europe is as democratic as it can be for now.
Translation: shut the fuck up and do what we tell you.
Europe can never again have a political system imposed on it from above.
Which is why we are imposing one upon you so shut the fuck up and do what we tell you.
The time for faceless [...]

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“The EU is losing influence rapidly and these appointments make that worse,” said Simon Hix, professor of European politics at the London School of Economics. “The rest of the world was expecting big figures. But Europe has shown it would rather be a super-sized Switzerland.”
This is the gentleman who composed figures for voting support at [...]

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Be afraid, be very afraid: Catherine Ashton, who will be the EU’s new foreign minister, has a full-size Dalek — a gift from her husband — in her sitting room.

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