Nosemonkey's EUtopia

Labour ministers: “We couldn’t give a pissing fuck about you, your pathetic concerns about ‘liberty’, the checks and balances of the constitution, the traditional role of parliament of scrutinising public accounts, OR the potential cost to the taxpayer, so cunt the fuck right off, you twats.”

There’s a surprise…

The name raised my suspicions, but having just seen the guy on the news it’s been confirmed:

The lawyer responsible for the headline-grabbing new private prosecution against Michael Barrymore is indeed Robert Kilroy-Silk’s former litigious assistant (though they are no longer on speaking terms), failed UKIP candidate, co-founder and one-time technical leader of Veritas (remember them?), road sign thief, public proponent of the “Mohammed was a Paedophile” theory (for which he was expelled from UKIP), member of bonkers self-appointed moral guardians Christian Voice, and associate of ex-chairmen of the National Front, Anthony Bennett (pictured below, in typical maniacal pose).

Judging by Bennett’s less than successful track record with pretty much every campaign with which he’s ever been involved, Barrymore should have little to worry about…

Hardly a surprise – after all, the US remains a close ally even with all the various policy disagreements. Rather shows up official denials of any knowledge of “extraordianry rendition” though, eh?

“EU governments have �collaborated, tolerated or looked away� from secret CIA operations on European soil, a high-profile investigation is set to conclude next week.

“Dick Marty, the Swiss senator who is leading a Council of Europe inquiry into clandestine CIA detention centres and flights, is set to conclude his probe on January 23…

“‘For two or three years countries knew exactly what was going on,… Some countries actively collaborated, some tolerated while others simply looked away.’�

�…’It’s not possible to transport people from one place to another in such a manner without the secret services knowing about it,’ the senator insisted.

�’The question is: was the CIA really working in Europe? I believe we can say today, without a doubt, yes.’�

Update: The BBC had something on this on Saturday, but I missed it. Weekend, and all that. There’s been little interest shown elsewhere that I’ve noticed in any case, which is a tad odd. But the British government, at least, was very careful (once again) not to make any outright denials… After all, if there’s no paperwork, it never happened, right?

I pissing love the House of Lords sometimes:

“The amendment to be debated today will tap into cross-chamber insistence that resisting calls for estimates of the full costs of such a massive initiative not only prevents proper scrutiny but aborts discussion of alternatives. It also seems to be unprecedented. The Home Office minister Baroness Scotland tried to justify the intransigence on the grounds of commercial secrecy during the tendering process. Besides wondering at the presumption of embarking on tenders long before the bill is through, to think that commercial convenience trumps parliament’s right to know is a baleful reflection on our democratic ill-health.

“Although the government seeks to pretend otherwise, our ID card project is uniquely vast, complex and intrusive. It risks outscandalising the Eurofighter, the Millennium Dome, the Scottish parliament, the driving licence and NHS computer projects and a host of other less daunting cock-ups.”

Keep your eye on the Lords.

This. (Oh, and a vaguely-related note to all those “patriots” blathering on about the national flag: it’s only the Union Jack at sea, idiots – the reason no one flies the Union Jack outside their homes in this country is because it’s impossible. Unless you’ve got a houseboat, at any rate…)

The government planning to spy on Members of Parliament? Why doesn’t that surprise me? Anger… Rising… Again…

This may be worth a look – though not on a Saturday evening, so I haven’t read it myself yet: former New Statesman editor John Lloyd on his pet topic of anti-Americanism (my own views on which can be found here) – this time in a European context (I think the likelihood is I will disagree strongly with his take…).

Yep, that’s right – I’m linking to a review I haven’t read of a book I haven’t read. The book does, however, sound interesting…

Tony Blair as UN Secretary General? A man with no concept of international law – or even the legal system of his own country? Wouldn’t that be rather like putting Mr Stabby in charge of the knife drawer? Oh well, at least the picture of Blair and Clinton they’ve chosen to illustrate the piece is a contender for Viz‘s Up The Arse Corner…

Update: I don’t know if this is so much a case of great minds thinking alike as this is really the only possible reaction…

Menzies Campbell: “I will take the party left of Labour” – yeah, like THAT’s hard… The difficulty, old boy, is in making your party electable. Which it never really has been – and that’s coming from someone who has voted for you buggers more than once.

It’s just like that episode of Spooks with Giles from Buffy… (Or something entirely innocent, who knows?)

So it looks like the EU constitution has turned into one of the undead, roughly raised from its shallow grave to parade around the continent once more and scare the crap out of everyone. From the manner of its rising it can only really be a zombie – a shambling, slowly rotting, rather ineffectual member of the army of darkness which can, nonetheless, be a bit scary and have the potential to eat many a good brain.

The Austrian presidency is planning to relaunch the constitutional ratification process on January 27th in Salzburg – the home town of Mozart and the 250th anniversary of his birth, prompting all kinds of PR guff about “bringing harmony to Europe’s orchestra”. Meanwhile Andrew Duff and Johannes Voggenhuber, British and Austrian MEPs respectively, were the European Parliament’s rapporteurs on the EU Constitution, and are due to report again next week on the “period of reflection” everyone was supposed to have been having since its rejection by France and the Netherlands last year.

They are also expected to try and get the Parliament’s backing for a pointlessly contentious attempt to revive the damn thing, the only possible benefit of which could (if we’re lucky, which on Friday 13th seems unlikely) be increased pan-European debate – something the Blair EU presidency studiously avoided, despite calls from the Commission for a “Plan D for Democracy, Dialogue and Debate” in the aftermath.

Nonetheless, as it looks like the constitution is going to become an issue again over the next six months, how about a recap?

Right, that’s it – no more slagging off Galloway for being on Big Brother for me. Him getting locked up for a reality TV show and not being able to attend to his Commons duties is one thing, but once a government minister from a constituency 300-odd miles away starts interfering in a pathetic (and belated) attempt to jump on the bandwaggon, that’s when I get sick of the whole affair.

The EU budget deal’s screwed again:

“”In its current form, the parliament would have to reject the common position of the council, as it does not secure a budget guaranteeing prosperity, security and solidarity for European citizens.�

So, that would be precisely tit all that Blair managed to achieve with his six month EU presidency then? Hurrah!