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.

And another success!

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has signed up to a trade and economic pact with the European Union on Friday, saying it may be the "most important day" for his country since it became independent from the Soviet Union.

Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin quickly responded, saying there will be "grave consequences" for Kiev's signing of the dead, Interfax news agency reported.

The European Union signed similar association agreements with two other former Soviet republics, Moldova and Georgia.

Businesses in the three countries whose goods and practices meet EU standards will be able to trade freely in any EU country without tariffs or restrictions. Likewise, EU goods and services will be able to sell more easily and cheaply to businesses and customers in Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova.

ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Just seen Hilarys attack on us so called left wing commies from yesterday, what a stiffy I got on. 12 inch of raw meat Hilary. I know you love the male hen.

ps, I vote who I think will do the best for the economy, sorry but this present set of Tory Lyers dont come anywhere near.

pps, its very hard just thinking of you Hilary.

Interesting to see that the majority of EU political leaders are dissociating themselves from Cameron.

I suppose they don't want to be associated with a loser.

======

What puzzles me is when the World is dividing itself in to major and minor economic trading blocks, ie. China, USA. Russia, Africa (when it organises itself), India, some like Cameron and cronies want to trade as pirates outside the blocks.

All those major trading blocks are federations of some form or another and have cross states organisation, rules, laws, regulations etc. and functioning and appear to be gradually integrating albeit with minor problems.

But little englanders with the likes of Captain Marvel want to swim with Flotsam and jetsam.

But I always trust a man who says he going to stand up for what he believes in, and repeatedly breaks his promises.

Laughable.

he he.

I do wish George would put his very clever brain and oratory powers to better things. What a wasted talent!

George Galloway sued for £176,000 by PA ‘who helped him buy home'
June 27, 2014

Ayesha Bajwa, 51, who was employed as the MP’s parliamentary aide on a £12,000-a-year salary from October 2006 to February 2012, claims he still owes her tens of thousands of pounds, in a case lodged at the High Court.

In the legal papers, Ms Bajwa says she and Mr Galloway had a financial arrangement whereby she would pay for his expenses from her own bank account and he would reimburse her.

The former PA alleges she paid £29,914 in solicitors’ fees for the purchase of the MP’s home in Streatham in December 2009, and made a number of payments totalling £32,391 for the printing of election materials and Mr Galloway’s campaigning between March 2007 and May 2010.

Other outgoings allegedly included payments to his Viva Palestina charity of £2,848 and expenditure on his day-to-day living, from groceries to utility bills, and the refurbishment of his home.

The writ claims Ms Bajwa, who volunteered with the MP for 18 months before being given a paid job, was asked to make payments to two companies, Miranda Media and Finjan Limited, which were set up by Mr Galloway to “benefit from lower rates of taxation”.

It also alleges that when she experienced financial difficulties, Mr Galloway “requested Ms Bajwa raise funds by way of a bank loan and/or overdraft facility”. She subsequently took out a £25,000 loan in January 2011.

The writ claims that Mr Galloway was “unjustly enriched” at her expense.When approached at her home in Eltham, Ms Bajwa said: “What happened is very difficult for me to talk about. I’m sorry that anyone has found out. I’m not willing to discuss it.”

A spokesman for Mr Galloway denied the claims and said the case was being “vigorously defended” by the Respect MP for Bradford West.

The case comes after Aisha Ali-Khan, a former parliamentary secretary of Mr Galloway, this week pleaded guilty to encouraging her anti-terror police officer husband to access confidential Scotland Yard emails.

Her husband, former detective inspector Mohammed Afiz Khan, pleaded guilty to two misconduct charges at Southwark crown court. They are due to be sentenced on July 11.

Fred.

The volume of exports from the €U has been falling for years.

They are more interested in creating rules and regulations than jobs.


Check it out before you make such all encompassing statements.

Max

You seem stuck in the past.

Think of the future.

and this from the man who forever harks back to attlee!

cynic
As I know you don't not like copy and paste, I have written down my thoughts on the EU.

Whether we like it or not, the EU is heading for federalism. It will become the 'United States of Europe'. There can be no doubt about this as it is necessary for the working of the EU.

The introduction of the Euro and the problems it has created show the necessity of closer political union. To join the Euro a country has to meet the 'convergence criteria'. These tests include inflation not more than 1.5% above the average of the lowest members, budget deficit not more than 3%, the size of a country's sovereign debt as a percentage of GDP not more than 60%, not have devalued in previous 2 years, its current interest rates and 10 year bond rates not more than 2% higher than average of lowest members. It is quite clear now that several countries faked their data. These include Italy, Greece with serious fraud and to some extent Spain, Portugal and Ireland.

Historically, when a country got into financial trouble, there were things it could do to fix the problem. The most important was to devalue their currency. This made exports cheaper which helped their industry. It also meant, specifically in the cases of Italy and Greece, that tourism increased due to the currency being weaker. The other tool was the use of interest rates. This has many uses in the economy. High interest rates makes the currency attractive and it will revalue up, low interest rates cause the opposite. Interest rates can be used to control a tendency towards debt and slow or speed up the economy.

The weaker countries in the Euro had access to cheap money from the EU and spent it on huge infrastructure projects such as Greece, where it would have been cheaper to send all passengers to their destinations by taxis than build their new railway.

The methods of devaluation and interest rates have been taken away because all the countries use the same currency. Interest rates are set for all Euro countries by the European Central Bank (ECB). The net result was that countries in trouble had no tools to resolve the problem. The only alternative was to reduce consumption (austerity).

This situation will occur again at some stage. An answer has to be found if the EU and the Euro are to survive. The answer is for more central control. It requires that the ECB sets budgets for individual countries, controls all borrowing at a country and personal level and sets taxation levels. It has to take away all the methods of a country getting into trouble.

The convergence criteria are applied every two years and the lack of central control is evident. All members of the Euro members would now NOT pass the tests and would not be admitted to the Euro. That includes Germany which fails on the debt test.

The introduction of the Euro happened before political and fiscal union. In retrospect, it is now obvious that the Euro came too soon. A longer transition was needed to achieve the level of federalism needed. Then the Euro could have been introduced once the controls were in place.

The EU is relentlessly heading down this path to create stability for the Euro and the economy of the EU. There are side effects of the move towards federalism and central control. We are seeing these already in terms of the EU laws and regulations that apply to the UK. The financial transactions tax is an example. We can stay where we are outside the Euro, but we will increasingly be subject to rules that apply to those in the Euro. We will end up with all the regulations but without the benefits.

We seem to be heading towards a choice. If we want to stay in the EU, we will be sucked into the Euro at some point as the regulations will become increasingly onerous to be outside. If we join then our chancellor will have to give up control of our economy to the ECB as will the Bank of England regarding interest rates. In the longer term our government will have little to do as the bulk of our laws will be federal laws.

As much as I like the original premise of a 'common market', I now don't like the direction that it is heading. If we are going to leave, then the sooner the better.

Manuel,

Unlike yourself some of us are prepared to learn from the past, but not dwell in it like yesterday's men!


I know it is difficult for old reactionaries like you to realise that societies are moving and they are not stuck in the days of the Raj.

But Cameron is doing well in Brussels , if you hurry you should be able to earn a tip carrying his bags.

Haze,

Quite a reasonable post.

Disagree about the conclusion, but that is choice.

Just wonder if you suppose UK is outside the EU in 25 years time, what the UK economy will be like and especially what the effect will be on London Financial Services?

I think much of the "business and research" cooperation now happening between European countries and the UK will be reduced!

i liked hays post too, and certainly i am far from enamoured with the concept of "inevitable federalism", and have yet to see any reason at all why this should be a "good thing" ...... for sure the morbidly obese eurocrats love the idea, for they run their own show for their own benefit more and more with seemingly no accountability to anyone other than themselves

i see no merit at all in expanding eu membership to include almost every rag tag and bobtail, no matter how parlous their economy, especially as even the core 7/12 countries aren't even "in tune" ..... running before walking is an understatement

on the other hand, there must surely be good reasons for staying within this augean stable, but wait to hear some cogent arguments as to what those might be and why it would truly be such a disaster if UK did indeed pull out

EU sets Monday deadline for Russia to act on Ukraine
The EU has set Russia a deadline of Monday to take concrete steps towards implementing a peace plan in eastern Ukraine or risk sanctions against entire sectors of its economy, such as energy, finance and defence.
Petro Poroshenko, Ukraine’s president, told EU leaders at a summit in Brussels that his peace plan – which was meant to be underpinned by a ceasefire this week – had failed to stop attacks by militants backed by Moscow.

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

will this entail shouting "BOO!!!" down a foghorn and be just as effective?

I would think (hope) Putin is putting "reliance" of the cost of tuning "fuel" taps on and "off".


I hope there are a few oil tankers spare and the ME is quieter before December!

If BOO! doesent work, they can always try stamping their feet and blowing rasberries.

try gas (LNG) rather than oil