"Reform sir ? Aren't things bad enough as they are ?"

...as Lord Eldon, Lord Chancellor said in the 1820s.  Birkdale Focus reminds us of Paddy's wonderful speech on foreign affairs at a conference fringe, full of poetry and history but sadly no substitute for the lack of foreign policy debate on the floor of conference.   For the full speech see here.

Paddy was somewhat disparaging about the EU, saying rightly that it does not connect with the citizen and then calling vaguely for institutional reform.  As I pointed out in my question to him on the day, he doesn't say how he wants the EU institutions reformed !  This is dangerous.  Usually the Tory eurosceptics call for EU reform but they have always opposed any reform which would improve things.  Small example: everyone moans about the European Parliament working on three sites and the cost of decamping to Strasbourg once a month.  Why does it happen ?  Because the power to decide the question rests with a unanimous vote of the European Council, i.e. there's a national veto involved.   Solution: remove the veto and let the EP decide on its own location.

I don't believe that the answer to UKIP is to say "Reform the institutions".  It's to proclaim what the institutions have achieved.  "Reform the institutions" is a defensive response, conceding half the eurosceptic case.

Daily Mail, stop writing crap !

The European Parliament's Culture and Education Committee debated a motion on the European dimension in sport this week, UKIP salivated and the Daily Mail and the Daily Express foamed at the mouth.

Here's the idea that shocked our great patriotic newspapers:
"The European Parliament...
26. Proposes that the European flag should be flown at major sports events held on EU territory and suggests that it should be displayed on the clothing of athletes from Member States; "

Here's how the Daily Mail reported it:
Brussels bureaucrats will today make a desperate bid to shore up their plans for a European superstate by forcing British sports players to wear the EU flag on their strips.
The shock plans will demand that all of the country's national heroes in sports such as football, rugby and cricket, display the blue and yellow flag - or face hefty fines of thousands of pounds.

Here's the boring truth. This is a draft report at committee stage. It's not even draft legislation as the European Parliament has no power to initiate legislation. The suggestion was the 26th item in a report which even UKIP acknowledged was a good report. The European Parliament are not Brussels bureaucrats, they are elected politicians and the actual bureaucrats, the European Commission,merely wait to receive the report. Would the Mail call MPs Westminster bureaucrats ? Nothing in the report calls for fines.

As Julia Gillard told the Murdoch press, so I say to the Mail and the Express: Stop writing crap ! Time to listen again to the great Dan and Dan's Daily Mail song.

What are you doing about it, Vince ?

Last night BBC's File-on-4 explained some of the games bankers play. Finally I understood what a naked Credit Default Swap (CDS) is. You take out insurance against your investment in a government bond (or whatever) failing because the borrower defaults. However, unlike the insurance that you or I take out on our homes, cars, lives, you can sell the CDS to someone else, who does not hold the original investment. The CDS is now naked and it's owner has an interest in the original investment failing, as Greece is now finding out. The European Parliament is trying to outlaw some of these naked CDSs, but is running into opposition led by one member-state - the UK !

Over a year ago I asked Vince Cable what role he saw for the EU in financial regulation. He ducked the question, more or less suggesting that the UK could act without the EU. Come on, Vince ! I know you're Eurosceptic but I heard your attack on the bankers at the Social Liberal Forum. How about putting your money - or your supposed ministerial clout - where your mouth is ?

Moving the European Parliament

EUobserver.com reports that a collapsed ceiling in Strasbourg forced the European Parliament to stay in Brussels for a part-session and thereby saved €1.7 million. The Telegraph's Europhobe and MEP, Daniel Hannan, wants to have no parliament at all.. Last November Hannan actually blamed the EP for not voting to stop moving about. He knows this is disingenuous, in fact dishonest. They can't. The EP's locations are decided by agreement between governments. When polled, 89% of MEPs wanted the parliament to have a single seat.

Every summer during the silly season when there's no news, the Telegraph and other Europhobic organs run the story of the cost of the migratory European Parliament. ( Of course they don't like foreigners moving about.) What they never print is that it's their beloved national veto (in this case, exercised by France and Luxembourg) which prolongs the migration. If the EP had the power to decide its own location, it would have settled long ago but the Europhobes hate the EP having more power. Hannan hates its existence.

Cecilia Malmström MEP started a petition for a single seat which has over a million signatures. Sign here, Daniel Hannan and stop lying.

Bumps on the head ? The face of evil ?

What is it about physiognomy and fascism ? Can you really judge a man by his boat ? Look here at these chaps. OK, the prat on the right could be in any party, even mine. After all, we've got Lembit Opik. The chap on the left, however, could only be a fascist, couldn't he ? He could be a Tory of course, but actually he's Barry Bennett, BNP Euro-candidate in the South-West, whose opinions include: "David Beckham is not white, he's a black man." and "... whatever's good enough for Hitler's good enough for me. God rest his soul." For more lowdown on the low-lifes of the BNP, see yesterday's Observer.

Going, going, gone ! Not with a bang but a whimper.

At last, the Speaker has seen sense and announced his resignation. MPs must not imagine that his departure is the necessary reform of the Commons. So much more needs to be done. They would do well to look at the procedures of some other parliaments, perhaps not as old but then not as archaic nor hidebound by conventions that protect the executive from effective scrutiny. May I suggest having a look at the European Parliament ?

MPs' expenses: ask the tax man

The country is awash with proposals for reforming the system of MPs' expenses and allowances (Lynn Truss, please note position of apostrophe). Here are two more. Firstly, remove certain support functions from individual expenses altogether. For example, parliament itself should employ the support staff, as happens in the European Parliament. (It would be helpful if leading members of the Liberal Democrats could refrain from cheap cracks about "the Brussels gravy train" and perhaps learn some lessons from the EP instead). Secondly, pay MPs a higher salary and let HMRC decide which expenses are allowable as wholly, necessarily and exclusively incurred in the course of work. This would put MPs on the same footing as all citizens. There would still be disputed items but the decision would lie with the taxman and the courts, not the House of Commons fees office operating special rules for MPs.

Incidentally, according to Michael Brown, former Tory MP, Margaret Thatcher is to blame as she blocked a salary increase and introduced allowances instead, thus deceiving the electorate.