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.

fred was guaranteed to stand on his soapbox and rant

for myself, I think there is plenty more life in this debate as unquestionably there are many leading politicos within Europe who are certainly not enamoured with juncker ..... though they were arm-twisted into voting for him - e.g. angela merkel - what now happens behind the scenes may (not will) bring about a rather different complexion reflecting better the wishes of the voters who strongly demanded significant reform

Nigel Farage is 'weirder' than Ed Miliband

Poll of marginal voters reveals that Ukip leader is seen as more weird and more down to earth than the Labour leader


Nigel Farage topped the ComRes poll while Labour leader Ed Miliband placed second Photo: PA



By Georgia Graham, Political Correspondent

10:02AM BST 30 Jun 2014





Voters in marginal seats think Nigel Farage is weirder than Ed Miliband, a poll has shown.


The Ukip leader is seen as weirdest party leader but also the politician voters most closely identify with, according to a ComRes poll of the 40 most marginal seats.


Mr Miliband, the Labour leader, is seen as far more "weird" than either David Cameron or Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister. A third of voters said the description matches the Labour leader in comparison to just 7 per cent for the Prime Minister.


More twaddle here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/10935056/Nigel-Farage-is-weirder-than-Ed-Miliband.html

More indications that the EU will negotiate with the UK. The vice president of the European Commission has said it "it would be very bad news" if the UK left the EU. He also predicted that Cameron can work with Juncker. It is looking more and more that Cameron did the right thing.

I am content to watch all unfold

'I will fight with all I have to reform the EU over the next few years

I will fight them in the media.

I will fight half my party.

I will fight them in Parliament.

I will fight half the country with the other half.

I will use others to fight them on the streets.

I will blame anybody I can think of and the EU in order to protect my own and my mates’ backsides warm at anybody else’s expense.

Long live Jack.

=======

If I heard Cameron and few others talking about what would be good from being an integrated into Europe and what would be good for Europe I might be more impressed by their arguments about reform.


What one has at the moment is an isolated UK (England) treating the rest of Europe as "bloody natives" and how dare they think or act differently to himself and the UKippers.

Cameron look alike.

Leo McKinstry: Germany controls the EU, we MUST get out NOW

FEAR of Germany was one of the driving forces behind the creation of the European Union. In the eight decades before 1950 aggressive Teutonic militarism had plunged Europe into three savage conflicts, leaving millions dead and entire nations ravaged. The architects of European political integration were determined this should never happen again.



By: Leo McKinstry
Published: Mon, June 30, 2014

http://www.express.co.uk/comment/columnists/leo-mckinstry/485699/Germany-s-march-to-control-Europe-is-now-relentless





So German ambitions were to be suppressed through the construction of a federal superstate. "We are carrying out a great experiment," one that would "put an end to war and guarantee eternal peace", wrote Robert Schuman, founding father of the European Community in the 1950s.

But the belief that Brussels would constrain Berlin has turned out to be a dangerous illusion. It is a tragic paradox that an organisation built to hold back Germany has ended up giving the country more influence over her neighbours than at any time since the Second World War. The selfdeceiving dreamers of Brussels thought their federation would act as a straitjacket but it is the rest of Europe that is now trapped in the asylum, with the Germans holding the keys.

That bitter truth has been exposed over the farcical appointment of Jean-Claude Juncker, the veteran political operator and federalist fanatic from Luxembourg, as the new President of the European Commission in succession to the equally unimpressive Jose-Manuel Barroso.

EVEN within diehard pro-European circles there is little pretence that Juncker is the right man for the job. A cynical careerist who is only interested in backroom deals, not real reform, he has been plagued by allegations he has a serious drink problem.

But this is the man who has been imposed on Europe largely because German Chancellor Angela Merkel backed his cause. Initially she hinted to David Cameron she would oppose Juncker in view of his lack of reforming credentials and his unfitness for office but she then reversed her position.

It is a sign of Germany's complete dominance of the EU that all the other national leaders, except for Hungary's, fell in obediently behind her. Cameron never stood a chance once the Merkel juggernaut began to move, crushing all dissent. As one British diplomat put it, the other countries "didn't want to be on the wrong side of Germany".

There has been nothing humiliating about Cameron's action. At least he had the guts to stand up for what he felt was right instead of colluding in another shabby EU stitch-up orchestrated from Berlin.

But the intriguing question is why Merkel was so keen to foist Juncker on the EU Commission. One reason was that Juncker's chief rival for the commission presidency was Martin Schulz, a German bookseller, staunch socialist and head of the European Parliament. Within Germany Schulz is an opponent of Merkel's Christian Democratic Party, which meant she had little enthusiasm for his candidacy.

More importantly Germany has huge financial interests in Luxembourg. The German banking group is by far the largest in the tiny state's lucrative financial services industry, with no fewer than 42 institutions.

By installing Luxembourg's arch wheeler-dealer in the top post Merkel not only ensured German interests were protected but also that financial reform would receive little priority.

On another level the elevation of Juncker suited the power-hungry ambitions of Germany and EU federalists who have acted in an unholy alliance to seize control from the rest of the member states. Until the Lisbon Treaty in 2009 the decision over the EU Commission presidency lay with the heads of government.

But Lisbon required them to take account of the European Parliament's wishes. Because Juncker was the candidate of the European People's Party, the largest grouping in the assembly, he became the frontrunner.

Yet the idea that because of the European Parliament's machinations Juncker has any sort of a mandate is absurd. His name was on no ballot paper in the recent European elections. Not a single elector voted for him. His EPP actually lost seats in May, securing just 28 per cent of the overall vote.

But Merkel gave her backing to this sham of democracy because an extension of the European Parliament's power also extends Germany's influence. Not only are other national leaders weakened but also Germany is proportionately by far the strongest voice in the parliament, holding 98 of the 751 seats.

MEANWHILE the federalist maniacs see the parliament as another vehicle for reducing the member states to the status of regional provinces under the governance of a United States of Europe.

In any federal European entity Germany will have by far the biggest role. This is the country that already runs the eurozone ruthlessly in its own interests while figures such as Barroso and the Council President Herman Van Rompuy are little more than puppets, their strings pulled by Berlin.

It is outrageous we should now be governed by Germany's placemen. We went to war in 1914 and 1939 to uphold our national independence from the threat of German domination. The events of recent days have confirmed that our continuing membership of the EU will bring about precisely the result that previous generations, in a spirit of monumental self-sacrifice, tried to avoid.

Rolf Harris has been found guilty of 12 counts of indecent assault at Southwark Crown Court.

Edit:

How very sad. This guy was well loved and has made lots of people happy and also made them smile. Obviously, he has now been found out to be an utter hypocrit.

I feel very sorry for his wife and family who have believed in him and been extremely supportive, and particularly for the 8 weeks of the trial.

For years I had thought just a little about maybe trying to purchase one of his pictures for an investment. Thank goodness now, that I didn't. I would not now be proud to own one and they have most probably just utterly bombed in value so it would actually have been a really rotten investment.

That is sad, ruined many lives and many inspirations.

Not funny but maybe he will pen another song for prison; "They've jailed my leg, fiddle, fiddle, diddle dumb".

ISIS expansion plans for conversion into Sunni run states within the next 5 years......

I'm surprised the whole of €uropa isn't included.

Lord Ashcroft’s weekly poll today has topline figures of CON 33%, LAB 31%, LDEM 9%, UKIP 15%. This is the first Conservative lead in a poll since that brief narrowing in mid-May.

Poll: Support for Britain to stay in EU falls
Last updated Mon 30 Jun 2014



Jean-Claude Juncker’s presidency was opposed by David Cameron. Credit: PA

http://www.itv.com/news/update/2014-06-30/poll-support-for-britain-to-stay-in-eu-falls/


An ITV News/ComRes poll has found that the proportion of Britons that would vote for the UK to stay in the EU has fallen by four percentage points.

The figure has dropped to 36 per cent following the row over Jean-Claude Juncker’s appointment as President of the European Council last week.

If a referendum was to be held, 43 per cent of people would vote for Britain to leave the EU.

And 34 per cent believe membership of the EU is a “good” thing for the country, a fall of three per cent, while 44 per cent say it is a “bad” thing.

WHAT HAYS DOESNT WANT YOU TO SEE

Despite the small Conservative lead, voters overall would prefer to see Labour in office than the Tories. Nearly a third (32 per cent) said they wanted a Labour government, and a further eight per cent a Labour coalition with the Liberal Democrats. A quarter wanted the Conservatives in government alone (25 per cent), and a further nine per cent in another Con-Lib Dem coalition. Notably, only four fifths of Labour voters and three quarters of Tories wanted to see their respective parties governing alone.

UKIP voters said they would rather see the Conservatives in government (35 per cent with a majority, 10 per cent with a coalition) than Labour – though 27 per cent said they didn’t know what they wanted the outcome to be, the highest proportion of any party’s supporters.

WHAT HAYS DOESNT WANT YOU TO SEE

Despite the small Conservative lead, voters overall would prefer to see Labour in office than the Tories. Nearly a third (32 per cent) said they wanted a Labour government, and a further eight per cent a Labour coalition with the Liberal Democrats. A quarter wanted the Conservatives in government alone (25 per cent), and a further nine per cent in another Con-Lib Dem coalition. Notably, only four fifths of Labour voters and three quarters of Tories wanted to see their respective parties governing alone.

UKIP voters said they would rather see the Conservatives in government (35 per cent with a majority, 10 per cent with a coalition) than Labour – though 27 per cent said they didn’t know what they wanted the outcome to be, the highest proportion of any party’s supporters.

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/oliver-carteresdale/ed-miliband_b_5536317.html

Other than the shame of the Blair and Brown years, Labour's biggest problem is currently that of its leader, Ed Miliband's charisma. Or, more accurately, the lack thereof. Certainly, Miliband was never going to have it easy after the reign of his two predecessors: Two unwanted wars, with now since greatly questioned motives; playing lapdog to Bush's America; and presiding over the country whilst the global economy went into meltdown were never going to prove a rich history to look back on, but Labour's spin-camp haven't exactly been helping themselves of late.

A recent YouGov poll for Prospect Magazine showed that 68% of people don't know what Miliband stands for, compared to just 28% of those who do. And, bar his off-hand comment about 'bringing back socialism' in Brighton during the 2013 Labour Conference, it's a bit hard to see what his motives actually are.

43032 - some good imagination at work there

The Sistine Chapel

Sums up the Cameroon's approach: