Hey EU! who are EU trying to kid?

It seems the EU is stumbling from one insoluble crisis to another. The UK government having promised in their last manifesto to have a referendum on the EU constitution are being taken to court by Tory millionaire Stuart Wheeler for not doing so. Ah! say the government, but after France and Netherlands rejected the constitution by their referendums, the constitution was scrapped and in it’s place we now have something called the “Lisbon Treaty”. Wheeler asserts that The Lisbon Treaty is just the EU constitution dressed up for Haloween. Now this blog would not normally ally itself with a rich Tory but in the case of the EU I’ll make an exception.

From left, The EU Constitution, The Lisbon Treaty, A Big Pile of Shite.

There are probably few countries who have done better out of the EU than the Republic of Ireland. Ireland is a success story of the EU but one which will be increasingly difficult to repeat for a whole host of reasons. However it will be very interesting to find out how the good citizens of the Republic vote in their referendum this Thursday on the Lisbon Treaty.

Time and time again when the ordinary voters are given the opportunity to deliver a verdict on the EU, that verdict is negative. It is ironic that it takes a bastion of old British privilege to press for the ordinary citizen in the UK to be given the opportunity promised to them to do the same.

Ordinary folk in the EU want close co-operation and friendly relations with their neighbours -of course they do. They probably think the single currency is not a bad idea. However, ask them about the European parliament, Euro law, and loss of sovereignty and it is a different story.

The people say no. Are the Eurocrats listening?

Classic Comedy – The Two Ronnies

Four candles – nah – fork handles!

Anyone who ever worked behind a counter has had encounters like this.

Nick Drake – River Man

Sometimes real life collides with art in the most unexpected way. As readers will know I’ve taken to the bike in recent weeks. On Saturday I cycled to work (7 miles) and went home the scenic route via Loch Lomond and the scene above (14 miles). The cycle route from Dumbarton to Balloch is along the towpath of the River Leven. I had the Ipod on playing Nick Drake and this track came on just as I was cycling through a rather dark and moody section of the journey. On my left some old industrial buildings, across the river an old church and the light had dimmed as the sun went behind a cloud. This song is simply stunning and beautiful. Incredibly there is no film footage of Nick Drake (who died in 1974 aged 26) but whoever put this montage together has done a magnificent job.

Footnote; I’ve just read that on the back of Volkswagen using Drake’s “Pink Moon” in one of their T.V. commercials, more Nick Drake albums were sold in the following months than had been in the previous 30 years. A sad irony.