An ecstasy of fumbling

Gas! Gas! Quick, boys! Wrote Wilfred Owen But the fumbling we see here isn't that vile corruting stuff that filled thousands of young lungs, but they stuff of life, energy and warmth. And the fumbler. That egregious idjit Chris Huhne.

I give you exhibit 1, This is him way back in July,

Huhne also ushered in a new "dash for gas", inviting the construction of new gas-fired power stations with a promise that a new "emissions performance standard" would be set at a rate that favoured gas but blocked new coal-fired power. He promised this new regulation would not be reviewed until 2015, and any revision would not be retroactive, giving gas companies a clear window for investment. "We are sending a clear signal that we do want new gas," he said

And exhibit 2, from the Lib Dem conference,

The UK's "dash for gas" will be halted by the government because if unchecked it would break legally binding targets for carbon dioxide emissions, Chris Huhne, energy and climate change secretary, said on Monday evening. "We will not consent so much gas plant so as to endanger our carbon dioxide goals," he told a fringe meeting at the Liberal Democrats party conference in Birmingham.

Compare and contrast.

This was brought to my attention by Ben Pile of Climate resistance who points out,

These contradictory statements reflect the incoherence of the coalition's energy policies. The UK now seems to be sitting on top of an abundance of cheap natural gas, which could very quickly realise an answer to the UK's looming energy problems. Furthermore *if* climate change and energy security are real problems, a combination of gas and nuclear energy are viable, proven, existing solutions to them.

But whether or not climate change is a problem, and whether or not gas and nuclear energy are solutions to them, the UK is committed to meeting 30% of its energy needs from renewable sources, thanks to EU legislation and the Climate Change Act. The EU and UK's ideological commitments to the 'environment' mean that green, low-carbon energy alternatives are going to be rejected in favour of wind energy, higher fuel bills, and unemployment.

Rewriting revisionism

Peter Oborne and Frances Weaver's new pamphlet for the Tory allied think tank the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS), "Guilty Men" deliberately apes the famous paper co-authored by Micheal Foot under the psuedonym Cato. That savaged those whose appeasment  left this country so vulnerable to the rise of Nazi Germany. This singles out those who it says are to blame for our situation vis-a-vis the EU and the Euro in particular.

But not only does it single out the villans, the FT, the BBC, the CBI and a series of individuals all too well known to us. It accuses them of a campaign of belittlement and inaccuracy , of outrageous slurs and plain bias. But of course it misses something out entirely,

Here is my yet to be moderated comment on the CPS blog,

"Cranks, Gadflys", "a bunch of fruit cakes and loonies and closet racists mostly"


Just the sort of thing the authors rail against. The sort of attacks those brave Conservative eurosceptics have had to endure from the Euro federalists on the left and in the BBC and the FT.

But of course those insults do not come up in this book, because they were hurled by two leaders of the Conservative Party at UKIP. UKIP which has been traduced time and time again by those you attack in this pamphlet.

Is this highlighted? Well no, not really, there is one glancing reference to UKIP in relation to the wildly disproportionate coverage given to John Steven's Pro Euro Conservatives on page 29. Other than that silence. Nothing even in the index.

Amazingly, UKIP peer and former Party Leader Lord Pearson is described merely as a businessman with no reference to the party he lead.

In the afterword this paper's debt to the hundreds of thousands of pounds that he has personally spent on the Minator study into BBC bias is highlighted, the impact that it has and upon the BBC through the Wilson and Lyon's report which specifically mention that level of anti-Eurosceptic (and anti UKIP ) bias in indeed valuable.

But maybe while we applaud the "courage of unfashionable politicians" including a couple of former Prime Ministers and the Current Foreign Secretary, as well as the Chairman of the European Select Committee this paper may have mentioned in passing the courage of those who, in defence of this country's liberty have eschewed preferment at all.

That will be UKIP, but maybe to the authors, and to the CPS, UKIP remain there to be scorned, just to keep the Conservative Eurosceptics backsides firmly planted on the pile of fresh-grown laurels.

So two cheers for Mr Oborne and Ms Weaver

OK, so that's the bad news, but how bad does it get really?

Christine Lagarde has been waffling on in Washington on the back of the World Economic Outlook report produced by the IMF which she heads.

What is interesting about the report is how it was reported, The press picked up and heavily repeated the first sentence of the report,

The global economy is in a dangerous new phase.

Terrifyingly portentious as it is. The great cuts to expected growth figures were thrown about and the markets had a series of jitters.

In the group's latest predictions, economic growth was lowered by 1 percentage point for the U.S. to a 1.6 percent rate of growth in 2011 and by nearly as much for 2012 to 1.9 percent. The Euro-zone was lowered 0.4 percentage points for 2011 to 1.5 percent and by 0.6 percentage points in 2012 to a 1.1 percent rate of growth

But if the hacks had bothered to look a bit further down the page, if they had strayed into the second paragraph indeed they would have seen something far far worse.

Put it this way the headlines are bad enough, but what about this?

World Economic Outlook (WEO) projections indicate that global growth will moderate to about 4 percent through 2012, from over 5 percent in 2010. Real GDP in the advanced economies is projected to expand at an anemic pace of about 1½ percent in 2011 and 2 percent in 2012, helped by a gradual unwinding of the temporary forces that have held back activity during much of the second quarter of 2011. However, this assumes that European policymakers contain the crisis in the euro area periphery

that is my italics.

Now given that there isn't a cat in hell's chance of European Policy makers containing the crisis in the Euro area periphery, what are the real figures, how bad are the real projections if we do nott make that sanguine assumption.

My blood runs cold.

Well somebody needs to speak the unspoken

UKIP are organising, through their Parliamentary group a rather interesting conference in the EP in a fortnight.

Poor old  Evangelos Venizelos. The Greek finance Minister's daily lot must be pretty tough. So tough that, rather than accepting responsibility for his own country's actions is rather keen on deflecting blame.

'Blackmail' he shouted two days ago attacking the EU and the IMF,

Mr Venizelos said: "If we want to stabilise the situation, if we want to avert default, if we want to remain in the core of the eurozone, if we want the country to stop being blackmailed and humiliated - because no citizen should have to put up with humiliation of their country - we have to make three large strategic decisions as part of our national strategy."

Blackmail he called again today in the Greek Parliament, this time targetting his ire at those shadowy markets,

“We will not put the country’s very existence at risk over matters that account for half or 1 percent of G.D.P.,” he said. “The markets are blackmailing us and the circumstances are humiliating us.”

But as Paul Mason at the BBC has pointed out on his twitter feed

Venizelos - Greece blackmailed by the markets. Half Gr debt held by Greek banks/ funds, 1/4 by foreign states/ecb. Who blackmails whom?

"time is running out" for Cameron as UKIP rises

You might think I would say that, but in this case it isn't me, but the highly respected Hudson Institute in New York.

In an article out today A. Millar looks at the Conservative Party of today and wonders where it is going and what it is, at heart for.

His conclusion should encourage UKIP supporters no end, but also poses the party a challange.Essentially is UKIP up to taking up a bigger role?

Aruging that it is the Conservatives failings, notthe Lib/Dems activities that is causing Cameron and the Government problems he says,

In power just over a year, the Conservative-LibDem coalition Government has more or less continued the policies of the much-detested former Labour Government. It is not worse, perhaps; it is simply that there has been no discernable positive change. Yet, to blame the LibDems is merely to shift the blame. The Conservatives dominate the coalition. They would also have won a historic number of seats in Parliament had they discussed the substantive issues, and promised essentially conservative measures, during the election campaign.

Of course this goes against the CCO spun narrative, that the Tory party must move to the centre, while ignoring its base. But it has purchase as millions ofthose who thnk of themselves as tribal Conservativbes see their own party wandering off into the muddled middle.

After more than a year in power, the verdict on the Conservative Party is damning. For those who support Israel; who believe the UK should withdraw from the EU; who believe in law and order and strong military deterrence; who want to see immigration cut and the English treated fairly, there is simply no possibility of supporting the party as it currently exists under David Cameron.

Historically this didn't matter, after all where could the disgruntled Tory voter go. Millar points out that there is now a vessel to hold those votes.

This is something that the United Kingdom Party's leader, Nigel Farage, understands. He believes that his party will not only pick up the protest vote (which has previously gone in large part to the LibDems), but will continue to pick up more Conservative votes, as the party's faithful realize that they have elected merely a version of New Labour.

Of course this requires UKIP to be able to move up a gear and become relevant across a whole platform of policies but the prize is great,

Although Farage's message will resonate with some former Labour and LibDem supporters, it is clear that he has set his sights on disgruntled conservatives who had naively looked on Cameron as the last best hope to revive England. Many had already realized that, under his leadership, the Conservatives had turned into little more that a version of New Labour, and had defected prior to the election.


In 2010 the UKIP vote cost the Conservatives ten seats and an outright majority. Farage is clearly aiming for more than that in the next election. He wants to win seats and to replicate the success his party has had in EU elections, and in local and UK national elections. "If you're a patriotic, Euro-skeptic, Conservative voter," Farage announced at the annual conference, "under David Cameron you're party has now ceased to exist. If you want to vote for what you believe in, you must come and vote UKIP."

The challange is their and the prize is nothing less than our countries freedom.

If Cameron wants to prove Farage wrong, time is running out.

Cripes, things are moving in Brussels

When events like this are taking place in the European Parliament you can imagine the stench of fear in the corridors