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JohnConstable

Listed below are comments made by JohnConstable between Wednesday, 18th November 2009 and Monday, 23rd November 2009.

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Spot the difference 10:30pm on 23 Nov 2009 Many moons ago, Gordon Brown used the proceeds of some £22Bn, that the mobile phone companies foolishly paid in an auction for 3G licenses, to pay down the National Debt from £320Bn to £298Bn

Mr. Brown was in his prudence phase then and boasted that because of his paying down the debt, this meant that taxpayers money would not be wasted on paying debt interest but instead would be used for schools 'n hospitals.

Today, still on Mr. Browns watch, the National Debt is somewhat north of £820Bn and rising yet this apparently had to be done to save our own and the worlds economy.

I do not really understand economics, but then again does anybody, in that it seems to be perfectly permissable to make it up as we go along.

Nevertheless, Mr. Browns economic manoeuvres do not quite seem to add up to this blogger.

So, the choice for voters appears to be between Mr. Brown, who really does not now have a lot to lose except his professional political pride and Mr. Cameron, who has a £30M fortune to preserve, along with the fortunes of his moneyed chums in-and-out of politics.

Not exactly a ringing endorsement for 'Dave' but I suspect that fiscal self-preservation of very significant sums is a very powerful driver for these people.

Camerons type have ruled our England for hundreds of years in their Whig/Tory guises and seem to set to continue for a while longer even if they have to throw a few crumbs to those pesky Lib-Dems now and again.

One day our England will be a model democracy but not while these three deeply contaminated mainstream parties are around, especially whilst they continue to practise their pathetic 'Punch and Judy' adversarial style of politics.
Reasons to be careful 1:46pm on 23 Nov 2009 For whom the bell polls?

Maybe not Labour if the economy begins to show signs of recovery over the next few months and those crucial swing voters respond accordingly.

This blogger hopes the outcome of the General Election will be a hung Parliament because then these wretched politicians would then be forced to find a consensus on the pressing issues of the day.

Recently, a ten-year old girl was watching PM's Questions from the gallery and after a short time exclaimed to her teacher that what she was witnessing was just like her school playground.

These (mostly male) politicians seriously need to grow up and debate issues in a civilised adult manner.
Britain lands key EU foreign policy post 12:03pm on 20 Nov 2009 A Texan usually thinks he or she is a Texan first and an American second.

Likewise, a Californian or a New Jerseyian but their common political denominator is that they are Americans.

Even in England, a person from Yorkshire probably thinks that he/she is a 'tyke' first and English second.

Eventually, Europe may develop to the point whereby its citizens think of themselves as for example, English, French or German first, underpinned by a common European identity.

When we reach that point, which may be years or even decades hence, the associated EU political structures will also probably have matured such that Euro politicians finally have the confidence to let their citizens have more direct democracy, confident in the knowledge that by that time, enough Europeans really believe there is a 'core' identity as a European citizen, which is clearly not the case at present for the majority of the English people.

This, I believe, is at the root of the current unease/anger over these high profile European political appointments.

Specifically for the English, when we English regain our English political identity, then it will become much easier for us English to also don the European cloak.
Britain lands key EU foreign policy post 00:21am on 20 Nov 2009 All happy families are alike but an unhappy family is unhappy after its own fashion.

The final destination for the EU is a happy family but there will be plenty of rows in the interim but hopefully no divorces.
Britain lands key EU foreign policy post 00:07am on 20 Nov 2009 It is irritating to hear politicians and journalists, who really should know better, trumpetting the appointment of Cathy Ashton as a triumph for 'Britain'.

This is one of the top EU jobs and the person performing that role should and I believe will, utterly discount their personal country of origin when making political decisions and make such judgements purely on what is best of the EU as a whole.
Britain lands key EU foreign policy post 00:00am on 20 Nov 2009 I wish the EU President and foreign affairs supremo well but in the short term, the current POTUS or his Secretary of State is not going to be making anything other than courtesy calls in the short term.

The most important point is that these positions of EU president and foreign policy chief now actually exist.

Mr. Van Rompuy has already indicated in the codified language of diplomacy that the EU will move towards 'ever closer union'.

Over time, these roles will expand in scope and power as the EU heads towards a political destination that will probably end up more like the US model, with possibly for example, a directly elected President.

Broadly speaking, Europe is still developing politically but the final destination is probably some decades away.
If you thought it was all over... 2:11pm on 19 Nov 2009 Khrystalar @ 23

In response to my assertion that the EU needs a counterpoint to the US political bloc, you ask if I have been in a coma or living under a stone since 1997, when I suggested that Tony Blair is the only feasible candidate with the appropriate status, i.e. a statesman rather than mere 'politician'.

If Blair became the EU President, then, looking forward rather than backwards, I think you'd find that he would pursue an EU political, economic and military agenda that was as independent of the US as could be practicable, given that the US is still the worlds only super-power in all three of those domains.

In that sense, having a stateman as EU President would bring into sharp relief the independence of Europe from other power blocs, whereas having some non-entity in post simply ensures that Europe will not be taken seriously by the other players.
If you thought it was all over... 12:22pm on 19 Nov 2009 To be a coherent political counterpoint of blocs such as the US required the EU to have a powerful nexus, and at this juncture, Tony Blair is the only possible candidate with the appropriate status.

However, they may well chose a political non-entity and if so, will merely be deferring the EU's political future as a world player.

PS. The former Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga (VVF) is on the right track with her complaints about the lack of democratic accountability, this chimes well with liberal English political sentiments.
Not the Queen's Speech 11:34pm on 18 Nov 2009 anthony piepe @ 386

I accept that perception of issues is usually mediated by the press, television and radio but can also be informed by personal experience.

For example, my personal experience of the NHS has ranged from outstandingly good to very poor, which correlates with some professional commentators views that the NHS is rather like the curates egg i.e. good in parts.

Furthermore, political constructs such as 'broken Britain' may well hold true in the context of inner city sink estates but not elsewhere.

In both of these examples, what is lacking, mainly for cultural reasons, according to Tim Berners-Lee, (by co-incidence also co-author of a piece in todays Times), is easily available access to public data that the Government already collects on our behalf.

Berners-Lee suggests that when we get access to this public data, probably via a collection of freely available third-party database query apps, then we will be able to 'cut out the middleman', that is, our usual mediated sources of information and decide for ourselves what the true picture is.

A better informed public will then be able to make better political choices.
Not the Queen's Speech 9:19pm on 18 Nov 2009 In one of the best pieces of political journalism I have ever read, Danny Finkelstein in todays Times points out that most people are completely clueless about politics.

For example, most people could'nt care less about the content of the Queens Speech, expect all politicians to tell lies, don't usually know what the policies are of the respective parties, can barely name any politicians and so on.

Finkelstein points out that this is not because people are stupid but rather their motivation is to be very efficient with their time and only register what politicians have done after the event i.e. whether what they did actually worked or not.

Nick reminds us that soon we'll have the chance to vote ... but Finkelstein's piece explains why so many voters cannot be bothered to vote or if they do then it might be given to a particular candidate for the most trivial of reasons e.g. 'I've always voted for party X', the candidate has 'name recognition' etc.

Anyway, here is a valuable 'political' perspective that I'd like to share with you all:

Be optimistic ... it can add up to eight years to your life.

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