Thought Id start this one going because its rather dead on this board at the moment and I suppose all my usual muckers are either at the Stella tennis event watching Dim Tim (lose again) or at Henly Regatta eating cucumber sandwiches (they wish,...NOT).

Anyway please feel free to just talk to yourself blast away and let it go on any company or subject you wish. Just wish Id thought of this one before.

cheers GF.

Written and published before the results...did this guy hit it on the head or what?





Whatever the European election result, Ukip has already won

Ukip has changed the shape of politics – for the better





Whether or not Ukip wins, this month’s European election campaign has belonged to one politician alone: Nigel Farage. Single-handedly he has brought these otherwise moribund elections to life. Single-handedly he has restored passion, genuine debate and meaning to politics. Single-handedly he has reinvented British democracy.



http://www.spectator.co.uk/features/9212811/ukips-triumph/

If it wasn't for Nick Clegg's good showing at the last election TV debate his party would not be shareing power with the torys and he would not be DPM.

and If it wasn't for Nick Clegg's bad showing on the Euro debate
with Farage more people would have voted for the LIB/DEMS

He should resign , the bad showing is all down to him and he brought down the tory vote as well with his party trying to block imigration control measures

I am quite happy with poor leaders in charge of the Libs and the Labs.

Better warm up a nice comfy €uro commissioners seat....




Damning verdict: Nick Clegg and Lib Dems face wipeout

Internal ICM polling shows Clegg would lose his Sheffield Hallam seat in 2015



Patrick Wintour and Nicholas Watt


The Guardian, Monday 26 May 2014 20.45 BST





The electoral oblivion apparently confronting the Liberal Democrats as led by Nick Clegg was underscored on Monday by leaked opinion polls in four seats showing that the party will be wiped out.

Commissioned by a Lib Dem supporter from ICM and subsequently passed to the Guardian, the polling indicates that the Lib Dem leader would forfeit his own Sheffield Hallam constituency at the next election.

The party would also lose its seats in in Cambridge, Redcar and Wells, costing MPs Julian Huppert, Ian Swales and Tessa Munt Westminster seats.

If the business secretary, Vince Cable, were to take over as leader, the Lib Dems would perform marginally better, the data suggests. Appointing Danny Alexander, the chief secretary, would give the party a more modest boost.

The damning verdict comes after a crestfallen and visibly exhausted Clegg said in the early afternoon that he would not buckle in the face of woeful European election results that lost the party 10 of its 11 MEP and left it in fifth place.



http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/may/26/nick-clegg-and-lib-dems-face-battle-for-survival

Comment from the boards at advfn.


PENDRAGON2
26 May'14 - 21:44 - 64529 of 64529 0 0


News from germany:

While the rest of Europe was wondering who they'd voted for, Angela Merkel held a meeting today with SPD leader Sigmar Gabriel to decide who will get the top jobs in the EU to succeed Barroso and co.

Her man Rompoy will get the top job, next will be Martin Shulz, an SPDer, who is in theory in competition with Rompoy for the top job, but will accept a compromise! That follows a meeting at 02.00 in Brussels yesterday i which the two of them agreed the amicable stitch up.

No-one else in Europe has a say about what will happen.

It beggars belief.

The UK really should leave this shambles asap.

Bravo Nige!!! now that you have kicked the shit out Europe lets have a go at the jobs for the boys Health and Safety Knobheads!! Last straw for me was the risk assessment on the toaster in the kitchen at my work. AND the 3'x 2' at the foot of the stairs notice declaring all hot drinks must be covered to avoid spillage. These guys are taking the pisshe and being paid for the privilege. Rant over! :O)

The above is nonsense. The job of president is held in rotation. Decisions are taken by the heads of state of the 28 countries.

Hays you forfeited your chance to post on Europe by not voting thursday.

Now stop it or Ill ask Cynic to smack your bottom.

Must admit it was all a boring afair anyway waiting for london for 2 hours or more.

Far better thursday night.

On the QT I have heard Nigel is targeting 20 seats for the GE.

18 con seats 2 labour seats and 1 Lib/Dem seat.

Hes going to throw everything bar the kitchen sink at these seats.

Business leaders say politicians must act 'to deliver reform of EU’

Business leaders have demanded that the main party leaders set out new deal with EU


(left - right) Nick Clegg, Ed Miliband and David Cameron, who have all been left reeling by the “political earthquake” caused by Ukip’s victory in the European elections


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/eu/10857292/Business-leaders-say-politicians-must-act-to-deliver-reform-of-EU.html

The other two are already zomby's, dave is waiting for the €U shot up the bum

Hell hath no fury like a lefty scorned....read the comments.


http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cartoon/2014/may/26/steve-bell-european-election-results

Immigration aside I still rememeber this article, lets not forget that the EU is able to change the rules as it sees fit and tap us to shore up its Euro currency also. So far we've handed Europeans the keys to our land, supported them financially, given them a blank cheque to cash in their lands and asked for nothing in return. Seams a little one sided to me this European Union, your either a giver or a taker, enough is enough.

http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/389444/Cyprus-bail-out-will-cost-British-taxpayers-38-2m
http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/424856/Back-door-bailout-of-Greece-may-cost-taxpayers-millions

i don't think we have any obligations "to shore up the euro" and i'm sure we declined to do so in the recent crises

Tony Blair on radio 4

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-27585260

"You look underneath that UKIP facade and you see something pretty nasty and unpleasant," he told BBC Radio 4.

We should have looked underneath your goverment when you were PM , maybe we will discover the truth some day.

We contribute to EU Budget Structrual Funds, these were used in the bailout so we did contribute. Our government said that we wouldn't pay anything additional to these funds. Question is, why are we paying into this anyway?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Structural_Funds_and_Cohesion_Fund

Bleep, bleep, Blair on Radio 4 ah...! Waste of air time that man, clue less.

And the spin doctors are already hard at work, since when was UKIP a 'far-right' handed party??? I suppose it makes it easier to class its voters as racists and bigots if the party and its class are defined first....

May 27 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister David Cameron will launch an assault against "business as usual" at a summit in Brussels on Tuesday, calling on his fellow EU leaders to set clearer and simpler priorities that address the concerns of frustrated voters. After resounding victories for the far-right in Britain, France and Denmark, and a strong performance by populist or Eurosceptic groups in many other EU countries in European elections, Cameron is under pressure to shore up his position at home and deliver on long-promised changes in Europe. In a series of phone calls in recent days, he has spoken to six EU leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, and will make further calls on Tuesday, ahead of a post-election summit over dinner. "Fellow leaders have agreed that it is an important moment for the European Council to set out its views on the future of the EU and provide clear direction of what is expected from the next European Commission," Cameron's spokesman said late on Monday in reference to the flurry of phone calls. One of Cameron's immediate objectives is convincing other leaders that Jean-Claude Juncker, the former prime minister of Luxembourg, is not the right kind of person to lead the European Commission, with its sweeping legislative powers. Juncker, a long-time advocate of a more federal Europe, has been chosen by the EU's main centre-right political group, the European People's Party, to be their candidate for Commission President, arguably Brussels' most powerful job. With the EPP having won the most votes in the European elections, clinching 213 seats in the 751-seat European Parliament, Juncker is in pole position to secure the post, a point he firmly underlined on Monday. ID:nL6N0OC2BH But Cameron has concerns that Juncker, prime minister of Luxembourg for 19 years and at the heart of European politics for decades, is too much in the mode of old-school federalists rather than someone dynamic to lead change, EU officials say. NO COMMISSION NAMES While Cameron has been relatively outspoken about his reservations, he is not alone, with some northern and east European leaders sharing his concerns, the officials say. Tuesday's summit will not include any detailed discussion of specific candidates for the presidency, with leaders instead talking broadly about the characteristics and skills they think they need in the institution for the coming years. With the EU having to tackle big questions about the pace of its own integration, how to balance the relationship between the 18 countries that share the euro and the 10 that are outside the currency union and issues of geopolitics and energy security, appointing the right Commission president is critical. Under the Lisbon Treaty, leaders are responsible for nominating a candidate "taking into account" the elections to the European Parliament. Whoever they nominate must then be approved by a simple majority in parliament. Juncker has only just started consultations to see what sort of support he can garner in parliament, and EU leaders are not going to jump into a nomination, so the process is likely to unfold slowly over the coming weeks or months. But Tuesday's summit - the first opportunity for all 28 leaders to assess the political shifts caused by the elections - will be important in establishing where allegiances lie. "It will be too early to decide about names," European Council President Herman Van Rompuy, who chairs summits of EU leaders, made clear in a letter sent to them last week. "We will talk about the process leading to the European Council proposing a candidate for the future presidency of the Commission... and how to organise our work over the coming weeks." While Cameron may have deep reservations about Juncker, he and others may not be able to block him in the end. According to EU rules, the nominee must be approved by a 'qualified majority' in the European Council. What that means in practice is that if Germany, France and most other member states supported a candidate, Britain would struggle to block it. He would need to rally countries representing 38 percent of the EU's total population - that's 190 million people - which could prove a very tall order. At the same time, Germany and others may not want to push Cameron to the edge. With Britain's relationship with the EU in turmoil and Cameron having promised a referendum on continuing EU membership before the end of 2017, leaders such as Merkel are keen to do what they can to convince Cameron to stay in the club.

interesting times in brussels which just MAY play into DC's hands

if brussels now insists upon and appoints this known federalist, then it is likely to push DC towards a referendum supporting "out", which neither germany nor france want at all - eu is in a pretty fragile state already

if they get this chap blocked, then it will be a significant victory, albeit that is just the starting line

Shortie,

Does that mean his "opinions" are different to yours.

-------------------------

cynic 25 May 2014 13:44 - 41396 of 41460

lib/dems are no different from the other two parties - no obvious leaders or even creditworthy NCOs


Cynic,

When Theresa May is elected leader of the con party, can you imagine coming down to breakfast in the morning and seeing her sitting at the other side of the table.

-----

The thought made me shiver.

==========

I was asked by someone while in France, "where have all the football hooligans and rioters of the 70s and 80s gone"?

At first I didn't know and then realised they had all matured and joined UKIP.

===============

GF.

Good to be back.

The Dordogne was as beautiful as ever, relaxed and not as anti-EU as one may interpret from the election results.

======

I offered them Cameron and Farage, but many replied, "they would prefer to drink bad wine than accept them".

=====

But can you imagine a country managed by two barrow boy spivs Cameron and Farage in a coalition ?

With one out of "touch" and out of his mind due to the effects of Coke and the other in a similar state due to ethanol.

Ah, so you want Millibandus eh Fred...really?