And Yet It Moves

‘Eppur si muove’ or so Galileo Galilei is rumoured to have said of the Earth shortly after his recantation at the hands of the Roman Inquisition in 1663 over his blasphemous Copernican claims that the Earth revolved around the Sun.

Much like Galileo, the modern day EU space project which bears his name continues to move steadily towards realisation, with the Commission and their accountants moving heaven and earth to keep their dream aloft.

The Galileo programme formally began as far back as February 1999 when the Commission first presented plans for its initial creation. However, who can say for how long before this point the elites in the backrooms and expensive restaurants throughout Europe had nursed their egotistical desires?

Until recently, Galileo appeared to have somewhat stalled. The Westminster Parliament was making noises suggesting that it might not provide its backing, and general EU funds had seemingly dried up. Yet, having invested so much time and effort wallowing in their own vanity, the EU Commission were unlikely to throw the towel in over the small issue of funding the estimated extra €2.4bn Galileo apparently requires – a cost which without doubt will dramatically rise as times passes.

To negotiate around this minor financial inconvenience, the EU’s accountants have managed to allocate the necessary funds by means of a transfer of surplus from the Common Agricultural Policy, thus staving off calls for the whole project to be scrapped for the time being at least. To the clinking of champagne flutes much self-congratulation and backslapping probably ensued.

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Under Dreaming Spires

Last night’s much publicised Oxford Union debate on the freedom of speech involving BNP leader Nick Griffin and historian David Irving was delayed after protesters broke into the debating theatre.

Perhaps this outcome was in the end not all too much of a surprise since there will always be individuals willing to prevent others engaging in democratic and free debate with whose views they do not agree?

Many Universities in Britain currently hold a ‘no-platform’ policy for groups such as the BNP and the likes of David Irving. Only last year the University of Bath’s Student Union voted to bar Nick Griffin from speaking at a private event hosted in one of its auditoriums. Therefore it actually came as a pleasant surprise to discover that the Oxford Union had actively voted to allow Mr Griffin to be challenged in an open debate.

Regardless of whether you agree with Nick Griffin or David Irving (and I for the most part do not) then it should be generally accepted that if their views are so wrong, then they should be challenged through debate and their arguments shown to be incoherent - not instead to try and force Mr Griffin and Irving into silence, which benefits no-one and in the end often has the undesirable effect of providing them with public sympathy.

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Why We Remember

It is eighty nine years since ‘the war to end all wars’ concluded with the disastrous peace settlement at Versailles. Only twenty years later, Europe was once again plunged back into a bloody conflict that eventually engulfed the world.

Watching the Remembrance Day memorial service in London this morning was like briefly glimpsing through a narrow window into the past. Solemn figures lined Whitehall around the Cenotaph as they have done every year for nearly a century; among them suited politicians, foreign diplomats, war veterans, monarchy (a seemingly declining phenomenon in modernity) and a sea of sombre faces reflecting upon past glories long since faded and the death of millions whose blood was poured down shell-holes till their veins ran dry.

While ever greater emphasis has been placed upon the catastrophic death toll and the brutality of past wars, of most significance was not necessarily the manner in which so many lives were lost; by bullet or incendiary bomb from on high, or by whizzing, pounding shells or the stuttering half-hearted clacker of the machine-gun that ripped flesh from limb and rendered life inanimate - but quite why so many people died on the battlefield, and for what cause.

It was for the most just and noble of reasons that millions gave their lives in the service of their country; in the pursuit of freedom from tyranny. Willingly or unwillingly it matters not, for they are heroes one and all – and their sacrifice will stand as stark testament to future generations of the price men paid for liberty.

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More Power To The Unelected

In the wake of the recent ‘banking crisis’, the Government is pushing ahead plans to increase powers given to the IMF in the hope that it will become the ‘financial watchdog of the world’.

The Telegraph reports that under the proposed plans ‘the IMF would take a more hands-on role in monitoring global markets and lending’ to help prevent future global monetary problems. Quite what this would practically amount to is anybody’s guess at the moment, but, based on previous form, I’m not really sure that I like the sound of what it may be implying - especially since these will not be arbitrary powers casually handed over by our politicians.

So, once again the British Government is ready to give away our sovereign powers to another democratically unaccountable external organisation without even the thought of consulting the electorate. It’s certainly worth reflecting upon the extent of the powers currently wielded by the IMF and other globe-spanning organisations over which the voter has next to no influence. Monolithic organisations such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund make decisions and craft far-reaching policy initiatives that are taken without popular consent, yet affect each and every one of us.

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