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Europe's Middle Classes Feel The Squeeze
Misery in France, declining expectations in Germany, anger in Britain
Soaring costs and stagnant wages have persuaded a generation of middle-class Europeans that they're unlikely to share the good life their parents enjoyed.
Newspapers across the continent have reported how spending power has declined across the social scale; however, they've concentrated on middle class thirtysomethings, who are feeling the pinch in a way their upbringing never led them to believe they would.
All The News That's Not Fit To Print
Recently, the prime minister of Slovakia, Robert Fico, has called some of his country's daily newspapers "prostitutes". This is the most coarse example of leaders of countries such as Bulgaria, Romania and Russia expressing hatred for what is termed a 'free press'. Basically there is worry at declining media freedom in Eastern Europe.
Big Mac
In the 1950s, a certain businessman by the name of Ray Kroc founded what has become a multi-billion-dollar, world-wide institution. It's name is McDonald's.
BBC Censors Christian Party
UK party The Christian Choice has filed papers at London's High Court in response to broadcasters the BBC and ITV instructing London Mayoral Candidate Alan Craig to censor his Party Election Broadcasts aired last Wednesday (23rd April).
On Craig's website, he says that the broadcasters demanded that he not criticise radical Islamist group, Tablighi Jamaat, over their plans to build Europe's biggest mosque next to the 2012 Olympics site in West Ham.
"The Most Right-Wing Man In Britain"
Hilarious profile of Sir Benjamin Slade in the weekend's Independent.
Sir Benjamin, who is childless, hopes to pass his ancient estate in trust to a distant relation. He has plans to turn this quest for a long-lost heir into a "reality TV" show; the Independent's hack investigates. Despite primly describing Sir Benjamin and his friends as "dinosaurs" the Indie can't help but publish his thoughts on every issue under the sun, from Lithuanian labourers to homosexual peacocks.
Creeping Sharia
A must-read article by Bruce Bawer in this season's City Journal shows how European nations are giving ground to the demands of far-right Islamists. The US experience isn't much better, as the mainstream media takes a softly-softly approach to extremists and academics who welcome a "separate but equal" version of sharia are praised.
Depressing but essential reading. Bawer is the author of While Europe Slept - How Radical Islam is Destroying the West from Within, a book some US readers have recommended to us; he reportedly moved to Europe having published an attack on fundamentalist Christianity in the US, only to discover that he and his partner had leapt out of the frying pan into the inferno. Melanie Philips has also recommended his work.
Failing To Protect Rights, Again
A Muslim convert to Christianity was warned that he and his family would be burnt out of their home by his former co-religionists. When he complained to British police, he was told he should move out and "stop being a crusader."
So much for the Human Rights Act.
Better To Die Than Be A Coward
The newly 'elected' Communist Party of Nepal (Maoists) do not like the elite soldiers known to all as 'The Gurkhas'. The deputy leader of the 'Maoists', Baburam Bhattarai, says: "Having the citizenship of Nepal and serving in a foreign army is totally unacceptable ... They are mercenaries".
Territorial Integrity
Welcome to Manche Zone One
Is England dying the death of 1,000 cuts?
Isn't a government supposed to control national borders? One could be forgiven for thinking that New Labour is allowing the country to fall away, piece by piece. Yesterday we looked at government proposals to surrender a large part of Norfolk to the sea rather than go to the expense of reinforcing sea walls. On St George's Day, the European Union's scheme to divide areas of England up into its "Atlantic Zone" and "Manche Region" along with northwest France raised its ugly head again.
And today, we read that an apparent majority of citizens of the English village of Audlem would prefer to be Welsh!
Government Logo Takes Matter In Hand
More from the "this government can get NOTHING right" files. A £14,000 design makeover for HM Treasury's Office of Government Commerce came up with a shiny new logo, which was promptly attached to mousemats, pens and official stationery.
Only later did chiefs see what was obvious to everyone else all along: That viewed vertically, the OGM looks rather different. Let's say it resembles a stick man making the gesture Tony Blair made famous in his Cambridge days.
See The Telegraph if you still don't get it.
Baby Boom A La Française
France now has the highest fertility rate in the European Union, rising from 1.66 to 2.0 babies per woman between 1993 and 2003. For generations the Republic of Ireland was top of the old European league table in terms of birth-rate. Now they have been relegated.
Disappearing Act
On a considerable corner of northeast Norfolk, floods caused by fierce seawater forced their way through dunes and spilled across miles of low-lying land, spoiling farmland and destroying homes.
Over 108 people were reported dead.
Is this 2008? No - 1287. Turning the pages of history, much the same catastrophe occured in 1622. At that time over 2,000 men were pressed into repairing the dunes and repelling what 17th century chroniclers called "the extraordinary force and rage of the sea."
Homeward Bound?
Stay a little longer
Poland's government is so worried about a national labour shortage that it is planning a tax amnesty for the estimated two million Poles working elsewhere in the EU.
Happy St George's Day!
England's used to pass without comment. In recent years, however, Britain's largest country by far has seen a surge of patriotic interest. Whether this is due to increased awareness of English identity following devolution in Scotland and Wales; a response to EU federalism; or a reaction to successive decades of anti-English education (or a mixture of all three) could be debated for weeks, but it's undeniable that there's a new spirit abroad in England.
Even the Guardian, the in-house newspaper for those who believe that the flag of St George is flown only by football hooligans and BNP supporters, has dedicated a sympathetic article on how "Englishness is bursting out all over."
Shakira Shakes Her Ass With Number Ten
Blair had Oasis; Brown has Shakira. After launching his premiership with the announcement that he would scorn celebrity endorsements, British PM Gordon Brown is seeking some of Colombian sexpot Shakira's glitterdust. Brown held a conference call with the singer yesterday, when the pair discussed the need for "Universal Education" by 2015.
The End Of Empire
Want to find out about the British Empire? Why not look on the BBC's website? After all, the corporation is not only charged with educating the masses, its global target market encompasses those fortunate parts of the world which once made up the empire.
Tories Out Of Ideas
A new poll for the Guardian shows that the government has narrowed the lead of the opposition Conservative party.
Two weeks ago David Cameron's Conservatives were on 42 percent, with Labour trailing on just 29 percent, their lowest rating for years. Since then - and despite internal rows and the plummeting popularity of PM Gordon Brown - Labour has managed to scrape back five points, and the Tories have lost three.
Mecca Time
Hammer Time! Mecca Time!
"Time's Up" for Greenwich Mean Time, according to a group of Islamic scientists.
A gathering of Muslim clerics and scientists in Qatar has called for GMT to be replaced by "Mecca Time", having "proved" that the holy Saudi city is the "centre of the world."
The British Inquisition
It's None Of Your Bloody Business!
Britain's surveillance state continues to grow. Earlier this month it was revealed that the government is using anti-terror legislation to instigate 1,000 covert surveillance operations a month.
Not to keep tabs on crazed preachers or fundamentalist groups, mind: These government agents are spying on underage smokers, fly tippers, those who allow their dogs to foul parks and homeowners who improve their houses without planning approval.
Brotherly Love
"I'm coming down to burn that church."
That's the chilling phone response from the brother of a 28-year-old London Pakistani who announced to her family that she had converted to Christianity.
The BBC publishes a long feature by former Hizb ut-Tahrir extremist Shiraz Maher on the difficulties facing Muslims who convert to Christianity.
Ken's Propaganda Army
The size of London Mayor Ken Livingstone's taxpayer-funded PR machine has been the subject of some debate in Britain's press and blogs. There are said to more than 30 flacks working for the Mayor's office; more, then, that Prime Minister Gordon Brown is able to command.
One highly critical report (pdf) puts the figure of press and communications staff working at the Greater London Authority as a staggering 173. This figure must include hacks working on the "Londoner" freesheet distributed to the capital's homes, dedicated to Ken's activity.
We can find fifteen on the Greater London Authority's website: Besides two press and marketing bosses and their assistants, the Ken PR office is split into six departments, including Strategy, Transport & Environment, Environment (again); Economic Development; Culture & Community; and "Local Media", "Handling all subject areas covered by local media, providing articles by the Mayor for the local press; women's issues."
What do dozens of PR people actually do all day? With the election date fast approaching, they are busy bees, these PRs.
Dosage
Most of what our parents and doctors told us was wrong. You must finish every morsel on your plate. (It's a recipe to make you fat). And you must take your vitamins, and a dose of cod-liver oil.
Now we discover that vitamins are bad.
Europe Round-Up
Beating the Italian Obama: Spiked publishes an excellent analysis on how Silvio Berlusconi's combination of charm, personality politics and better-the-devil-you-know guile beat the left's contender, who ripped off more than Barack Obama's campaign slogan.
A crackdown on "Passive Drinking": Also from Spiked, reports on an EU/UN health campaign that aims to target the "social harm" caused by alcohol. What started as something of a joke could have real clout as drinkers are targeted for the impact their tipple has on crime, violence, drink-driving - even the unborn child.
Don't say "passive drinking", though: The politically correct term is "environmental alcohol damage." We hope Littlejohn is reading this! More, plus some interesting comments, in The Telegraph.
Keeping Up With The Sarkozys
Moscow is abuzz with rumours that President Vladimir Putin is planning to marry an Olympic rhythmic gymnast and MP half his age.
Putin, 56, is linked with 24 year old Alina Kabaeva, who is famed for her "extreme natural flexibility."
Paris And The Revolution
The spirit of 68 isn't dead. Here's a great quote from Agnès Poirier in the Guardian:
"The week we were recording le podtour, during one of those caffeine stops at Le Balzar, two well-known intellectuals, one celebrated publisher and a Sorbonne professor, were discussing Sarkozy's future: "He won't finish his mandate" said one. "How can you be so sure?" asked the other. "Because I've got my finger on two thousand students' pulse" came the answer. Reminded me of a conversation Albert Camus and Jean-Paul Sartre are reported to have had right there, back in 1947. Sartre asked Camus what he would do if France was invaded by the Soviet army. Camus replied: "I resist. You?" Sartre: "I won't shoot proletarians.""
Sartre was a wicked fool, Camus a hero, students and Parisian intellectuals alike are reliable fonts of idiocy. Plus ça change...
Don't miss Mme Poirier's multimedia podcast tour of May 1968's most important sites, then and now.
Police Charge Down's Syndrome Boy With Racist Assault
We've heard it all now: An 18 year old with the mental age of a five year old gets into a scuffle with a similarly disabled woman at a special needs college. As the girl happens to be Asian, the Scottish prosecutor filed a racial assault case. Someone - it is not clear who - went to the length of putting advertisements in the local press calling for witnesses to this "racial assault."
Muddy Waters?
Remember those British sailors seized by the Iranian navy last year? At the time, the Ministry of Defence claimed that they were safely in Iraqi waters when they were captured. Now, a new report says the fifteen sailors and marines were actually in disputed waters claimed by Iran. The coalition had actually defined the waters as Iraqi, but hadn't bothered to alert Tehran as to the new status.
Pot Calling Kettle
The murder in Italy of British student Meredith Kercher provoked a feeding frenzy of prurient speculation from the press. The sad tale came with an irresistible cast of characters: The beautiful star student, an African barman wrongly accused, a drugged-up black guy who fled to Germany, a posh Italian boy playing dangerous games and most spectacular of all, an apparent femme fatale in the shape of Meredith's American flatmate Amanda "Foxy Knoxy" Knox.
Virtually True
The British TV series 'The Office' and the American newspaper cartoon series 'Dilbert' are still funny but their premise is increasingly out of date.
Nowadays it's time for the 'virtual office'. We have known about working from home or in a cafe with a laptop for a long time. However, it has only recently clicked that the reality of the virtual office is truely with us today.
Another Human Rights Failure For Government
A British court has ruled that the government may no longer have any say in when prisoners serving sentences of more than fifteen years can be released.
The Appeal Court ruled that in future, such decisions should be entirely in the hands of the courts, most likely the parole boards.
The case was brought on behalf of an armed robber serving 20 years for false imprisonment, kidnapping, conspiracy to kidnap and robbery (plus a further four for escaping fewer than six months after being sent down in 1995).
European Tottywatch
Europeans get hot under collars as women make an impact in government
Election wins for two very different characters - Spain's José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and Italy's Silvio Berlusconi - are set to transform the image of European politics.
Zapatero has unveiled a centre-left cabinet which for the first time contains more women than men. Berlusconi, who caused a familiar storm by comparing left-wing women unfavorably to their conservative counterparts, has promised four women in his "slimmed down" cabinet of twelve ministers.
Berlusconi's Back!
Big vote for Berlusconi defies and dismays MSM Commentariat
Someone (it might have been EURSOC) once said that about the only good thing about Italy's Silvio Berlusconi is that he is guaranteed to drive Europe's left into a frenzy of loathing and bitching. Expect more of the same, after the ageing Il Cavaliere scored a third general election victory. Berlusconi defied late predictions and defeated "Blairite" centre-left opponent Walter Veltroni convincingly, securing both the Senate and the lower Chamber of Deputies.
Death Of The Fifth Beatle
Neil Aspinall, manager of the Beatles, died last month, aged 66. He was the man whom the Fab Four trusted most. From the start of thier work until the end of the career of Aspinall, the four musicians from Liverpool dubbed him 'The fifth Beatle'. And many others came to refer to him in exactly the same way.
Pirates Of The Home Counties
At the weekend, when it was revealed that French commando forces paid a ransom for a group of sailors held by Somali pirates, then stormed the ship to arrest the bad guys and recapture the ransom, your correspondent sent a weary message to his colleague about Britain's likely behaviour in similar circumstances.
"Good for the French - it's a pity they didn't blow the pirates out of the water", he wrote, "In Britain, we'd offer the Somalis asylum instead."
Brown Is The New Black
Dark clouds of gloom at Labour party headquarters this week as polls suggest that Gordon Brown has quickly become the lowest-ranked Prime Minister since Neville Chamberlain.
Following a brief honeymoon period, when Brownite hotheads almost persuaded their boss to call a general election which they believed would crush the Conservatives for good, Brown's support has plummeted. The financial downturn hasn't helped the man who made certain that his name and mug were attached to any news of British economic success during the Blair era.
Sterling Work By The Bundesbra
"You don't get many of these to the euro"
Angela Merkel may have her knockers, but this photo demonstrates that she is getting support in all the right places.
Management, Margaret-Style
The Daily Telegraph's Margaret Thatcher season means dozens of fabulous anecdotes and quotes from the reign of Britain's greatest post-war PM have been aired again. Here's one of EURSOC's favourites, from Shadow Home Secretary David Davis MP:
"Soon after my election to Parliament in 1987, I happened to be walking through the Members’ Lobby when I observed an old friend, Michael Forsyth, a well-known Thatcherite who was later to become a leading light in the No Turning Back group. Michael had been elected in 1983 and by now had become a junior minister. He was running, literally running.
"His hair was dishevelled and he was carrying not only his box, but somehow balancing a full tray of papers on his arm. “Slow down,” I called out. “Rome wasn’t built in a day,” I added as an afterthought. “Yes,” cried Forsyth over his shoulder, as he swept past me. “But Margaret wasn’t the foreman on that job.”"
Ambassadors To Nowhere
At the historic French foreign office known as the 'Quai d' Orsay' insiders say ageing ambassadors spend their final years at the ministry in what is known as 'the corridor of death'. The semi-secret news comes from middle-rank civil servants who do not wish attribution for fear of losing their jobs.
The Power To Destroy Planets
The Guardian publishes plans to build something called the Universitas Leadership Sanctuary in the middle of the Nevada desert.
High Euro Brings Problems
The daily diet of misery that is the Independent is wetting its organic cotton knickers today at news of pound sterling's plunge in value against the euro. The euro, the newspaper gushes, "has powered ahead on the strength of its member economies", and its surge "may spur new theories from economists that the currency of the eurozone will become the main international unit of currency as early as 2015, upsetting almost the best part of a century of dominance of the dollar."
This being the Independent, delight in the euro's muscle is tempered with grim reading for British holidaymakers, who will feel particularly impoverished should they visit the eurozone over the next few months (Americans are already staying away).
Hooray for the euro, then, much-derided by overseas commentators when it plummeted just days after its launch, it's now approaching parity with the pound and making the dollar look like funny money. It cannot have escaped the europhile Indie's notice that, as Guido remarks, eurosceptics have long feared parity with the pound, as it would make Britain joining the single currency much easier. Why stick with the creaky pound when the sunny soaraway euro is reaching new heights of glory?
Chinese Heavies "Posed As Athletes"
The government has revealed that the Chinese "guard of honour" which caused so much controversy in London last week entered the country described as "athletes" on their visa. A government source told The Sun that as part of the official Chinese delegation to London, the men entered under a block visa granted to the party. The Sun's source added that as soon as the men appeared in action, "everyone could tell they were anything but athletes."
Bin Laden's "Right Hand Man" To Remain In UK
Breaking News: Terror suspect Abu Qatada cannot be deported to Jordan because he risks not getting a fair trial, judges ruled today.
Last year a special panel ruled that the extremist cleric should be booted out of Britain; today's Court of Appeal ruling overturned this and means that he and two Libyan terror suspects cannot be returned to the Middle East, despite the government having gained signed assurances from Jordan and Libya that the men would not be tortured.
London 2012 Welcomes Militias
The antics of the 13-strong Chinese security detail which rampaged through London at the weekend have drawn some belated squirming from the British government.
Labour has been embarrassed by questions from the opposition and human rights groups. David Davis, shadow Home Secretary, said, "Security in London is a matter for the police and security services. Who were this group of individuals? On whose behalf were they acting? Are they, as reported, drawn from the Chinese People's Armed Police? What exactly was their role, jurisdiction and authority in relation to the relay?"
The Home Office has admitted that the men arrived in London on visitors visas, but refused to say if their employer was listed on their application. A police source told the Times that the men "came as part of the (Olympic) package" and that they were told they had no executive powers in London.
Didn't seem that way.
The Rain In Spain Does Not Fall On The Plain
Catalonia, a principal province on the Mediterranean coast of Spain, is running out of water. The situation in Barcelona, Catalonia's capital, is critical. Water reserves are down to 19 per cent of capacity. This will certainly affect the city's main business, which is tourism.
France Left Attacks NATO
The government of Nicolas Sarkozy, led by Prime Minister François Fillon, brushed aside a Socialist-Green-Far Left attempt to pass a vote of censure in protest against plans to deploy 700 French troops to Afghanistan and potentially rejoin NATO next year.
That the vote was defeated was inevitable; what is interesting, however, is the stance taken on the issue by France's supposedly moderate "opposition", François Hollande and Ségolène Royal's Socialist Party.
Don't Mention The War
Further to last month's story about the exhibition of photographs showing life in Occupied Paris, The Independent has a closer look at the background of the photographer, André Zucca.
It seems the exhibition has caused red cheeks in the Paris city hall. The assistant cultural affairs mayor said that it the expo was "embarrassing, ambiguous and badly explained." The mayor's office quickly released a leaflet claiming that Zucca's photographs gave a "distorted" picture of life under Nazi rule.
The work, it added, "chooses to show nothing, or little, of the reality of Occupation and its terrible consequences."
The problem seems to be that Zucca depicted life as carrying on much as normal.
China's Men In Blue
Yesterday, we commented on the sinister Chinese security detail which barged its way through central London "protecting" the Olympic torch as it was carried by British athletes and celebrities.
EURSOC noted that only in Britain would this kind of "private army" be tolerated. It's good to see other news sources picking up on the same story. Lord Sebastian Coe, who Chairs the organising committee for the 2012 London Games, was heard to say that the British authorities should "get rid" of the guards. "They tried to push me out of the way three times" said the former Olympic medallist, "They are horrible... I think they were thugs."
The men were reported as having scuffled with British cops as well as protestors, and even having manhandled those personalities charged with carrying the torch.
Civil liberties groups have remarked on the presence of the Chinese guards.
Who Goes There?
Could it be that the Hamas-backed creators of Palestinian children's television are fans of the BBC science fiction series Doctor Who?
Does Size Matter?
In America the tallest quarter of the population earns nine-to-ten per cent more than the shorter quarter. This is the conclusion of two recent studies by the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Michigan.
The Other King Of England
EURSOC has spent much time discussing the constitutional vandalism carried out by the British government. Most of the repercussions of this tinkering and "modernisation" will be felt years or even decades hence, and few will end well for Britons.
The Act of Settlement - a 1701 law which prevented Catholics from taking the throne, ensuring it passed to the House of Hanover - is said to be high on the list of Gordon Brown's reforms. The Presbyterian PM is said to be stung by criticism that the Act discriminates against Catholics, and is said to be considering repealing it.
Holding The Torch
Guard of dishonour?
The Olympic flame makes a troubled voyage through London... Paris today
When you're walking through the streets of London, it's usually the home-grown thugs in hideous sportswear you need to look out for. However, this weekend a gang of Chinese heavies dressed in blue-and-white "shell suits" - the favoured garment of Britain's "feral youth" became the centre of press attention as the Olympic torch made its journey through central London.
Latest: Torch extinguished three times in Paris; Mayor cancels welcome ceremony.
A Winning Suit
Each year the British version of the magazine GQ (Gentlemen's Quarterly) publishes a chart of the best-dressed men in Britain.
News Round-Up
Punch & Stabby
Two senior journalists on Germany's Berliner Zeitung newspaper admit they spied for the Stasi secret police.
Britain's theatreland is up in arms as a new government grants form demands companies reveal the sexual orientation of their staff.
Crusaders Woz Here
According to the American Journal of Human Genetics, a team of scientists has discovered a 'DNA signature' among men in Lebanon. Almost certainly related to medieval crusaders from Western Europe.
Happy Birthday RAF
The renowned British Royal Air Force has celebrated its 90th birthday with a fly-past over the Houses of Parliament and above the centre of the capital and high over Buckingham Palace.
Mugabe's European Lesson
Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe seems to have lost his country's election. He hasn't admitted defeat (though others in his government have), and most national governments are holding off from congratulating the opposition on peacefully removing from power one of Africa's most disastrous despots.
Incompetence And Ideology
Good to see Simon Heffer giving both barrels to the myth that New Labour is incompetent. It isn't incompetent, he argues: It is malignant.
Of course, EURSOC was first to air the idea that Labour's supposed lack of ideology was a diversion, and that the ten years under Blair saw the most intense period of ideological legislation in recent history. Heffer expands on this theme, laying into the soft excuse that government is merely incompetent:
"When we say, as we should often feel the temptation to do, that the Labour administration that has governed us for the past 11 years is incompetent, we should be aware also that we are saying the following: that, but for its administrative and technical failings, it would have done well.
"I do not believe this to be true. Despite the sheen of reason that Gordon Brown and, before him, Tony Blair and their chums have sought to put on all they do, this Government has had dark motives from the start."
Smoke Doesn't Get In Your Eyes
Not in front of the children
Liverpool is enjoying its stint as Europe's "City of Culture" for 2008. However, there's always someone who wants to undo some of the good work of the organisers. This time, it's anti-smoking group "SmokeFree Liverpool" who want to give films with smoking scenes an 18 adults only certificate.
Terminal Case
No one ever thought it could get as bad as this. The disaster-zone known as London Heathrow airport's Terminal 5 (T5) is estimated to have cost British Airways (BA) £50m at this point in time.
April Fools Day
April 1 is a time for tomfoolery in the British press. It's been a while since anyone but the most dim-witted reader was caught out by the made-up stories published in the name of April Fools' Day. Instead, the annual fun has become more self-referential, with a wry look at the dominant concerns of the newspaper's readers and the leading stories of the day.
The Guardian, for example, leads with a story by one "Avril de Poisson on how Gordon Brown has appointed Carla Bruni-Sarkozy to head a committee designed to bring more style and glamour to British life.
Terminal Disease - Part Five
The crisis at the world's largest international airport continues to increase.
