EU To Ban Eurosceptic Groups

Writing in the Telegraph on Tuesday, Bruno Waterfield uncovered fresh plans by MEPs to eliminate eurosceptics as an organised opposition within the European Parliament.

Richard North continued the story by pointing out that the affect of amending these parliamentary rules will probably be to prevent David Cameron from forming a new eurosceptic group as he had pledged during his party leadership campaign and breaking away from the EPP-ED.

Gawain Towler also talks us through the procedure of how the vote came to pass and the way in which Europhile Tory MEP, Timothy Kirkhope helped Labour’s Richard Corbett escape defeat. Whether this was intentional on Mr Kirkhope’s part is open to debate – though he had ample motivation since he has been against Cameron’s pledge to leave the EPP-ED from the start.

Rather sadly, a significant number of people in politics and the media (who probably should know much better) continue to have a fairly rose-tinted view of what they would like the European Union to be, rather than acknowledge what it has actually become. Despite all evidence to the contrary they persist in believing the Union to be a free trading area when it is not; a bastion of democratic ideals when it is not, and a co-operative but loose association of sovereign nations when it is not.

The sole aim of the EU’s fore-fathers and subsequent torch bearers always has and always will be ‘ever closer union’ and political integration. As a consequence EU institutions and supporters will not tolerate any dissent against their grand project which they have spent so much time and effort slowly constructing, and will often break their own rules of procedure simply to evade any semblance of democratic opposition.

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Last Chance To Say No

On the 12th of June there will be one last chance for any of the peoples of the European Union to publicly say ‘no’ to the Lisbon ‘Reform’ Treaty which the elites of Europe have intolerantly forced upon us all.

Despite the original EU Constitution being rejected by the people in France and in the Netherlands back in 2005, the document has returned disguised as a series of amendments which the governments of the EU hope they can slip past their electorates as another supposedly harmless Treaty.

Yet, so fearful are the political classes of their people saying ‘no’ to the Constitution-in-disguise that they have actively colluded to deny referendums to the people this time around on an almost unprecedented scale. Only the Irish will have a chance to vote on the document due to clauses within their own constitution.

With just over a fortnight until polling day the pro-EU, pro-Lisbon Treaty camp seems confident of gaining a positive result from the referendum. In part this is because Irish big businesses, the media and all the major Irish political parties are uniformly in favour of the EU and a ‘yes’ vote.

However, those on the ground are suggesting that there may well be a repeat of the Irish Referendum on the Nice Treaty, where despite a ‘no’ vote being continually behind in the media’s opinion polls, on the day saw Ireland vote against the Treaty. Yet, as with Nice, even if Irish sense again prevails and the Lisbon Treaty is rejected then there is no guarantee that the Constitutional Lisbon Treaty will be put to rest.

For the leaders of Europe, bureaucrats and supporters of ever closer union, public opinion is seen not as a reason to change direction but as an irritating obstacle to be overcome. And they will come back again, and again, and again until they find the result they want – but if the Irish vote for freedom, independence and democracy in June, and say ‘no, not in our name’ then it will at least throw a small spanner in the EU works.

Against Not For

There is a bar which serves food at my University. It has always been pretty dire in my opinion, so I know that if I go in with very low hopes then I will not be disappointed and in fact might even occasionally be very surprised.

The same goes for yesterday’s by-election in Crewe and Nantwich. I did not go to bed last night with expectations of the Conservatives winning yet they have managed it with a pretty comfortable majority – for now at least.

I am really somewhat surprised by this result. Although I correctly predicted the Labour vote and most of the independent runners and riders, I was wrong in judging the strength (or rather lack) of the Liberal Democrats and the surge in the Conservative vote which increased well beyond their General Election share. Considering that in all previous by-elections the Conservative vote had fallen below General Election levels then Crewe and Nantwich was certainly somewhat of a turnaround.

Still, it is plain that this by-election was more about what Mr Brown and his Labour party had done to annoy sections of the electorate rather than what the Conservatives were proposing. Let us be quite clear, this was a vote against the Government not a vote for the Conservatives. Likewise, one by-election has not changed the British political landscape overnight. Labour still form our British administration and the unelected bureaucrats and politicians in Brussels still control our true Government and to an ever greater extent regulate our lives.

Yet, Crewe and Nantwich may foreshadow events to come. When I go out canvassing in various constituencies across the South West there is certainly a discernible mood in the air that desires a change of Government – but it is at the moment unfocused and somewhat hesitant. People dislike the Government but they do not quite yet want to vote for the Conservatives.

As I said before, the Conservatives need to come up with a number of policies that crucially differentiate them from New Labour. What’s more, whether in opposition or in Government, we need to massively roll back or leave the European Union – otherwise the next General Election will simply provide a change of faces at the top without any change of policy or direction.

Blogging The Qur’an

I have just noticed on my travels across the internet that the Guardian website has a new section called ‘blogging the Qur’an’. And no, I’m not going to link to their website.

Apparently each week, writer, broadcaster and cultural critic (whatever that may be) Ziauddin Sardar will blog on a different verse of the Qur’an. The blurb in the about section describing the reason behind the site says:

Muslims have been wrestling with the meaning of the verses and words of the Qur’an from the early days of Islam. Non-Muslims, meanwhile, often have wildly inaccurate notions of its content … Through Blogging the Qur’an, we hope to try and untangle some of those meanings and misconceptions.

Can you imagine, for example, the Guardian affording this level of treatment to Christians and the Bible, or indeed any other religion? Of course not, they would be ridiculing Christianity as a backwards, intolerant religion as they have done for decades, and would have no interest in ‘untangling’ some of the ‘meanings and misconceptions’ surrounding the Bible.

The development of this site, along with many other things the Guardian and the likes of the BBC have said, makes you wonder why it is that they are clearly so desperate to appease Muslims rather than shower them with scorn as they do Christianity.

Could it be that hidden behind a hastily constructed façade of reverence, is the fact that those on the left actually rather fear Islam. They know that most Muslims won’t quietly or meekly surrender their beliefs in the face of adversity or opposition as some Christians might, but instead would vocally and sometimes explosively fight back.