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| Two short planks |
Yes I'm thick folks. In England we use the term "thick" to describe those whose mental capacities are under par. I have just been watching news footage from Greece. Street riots have greeted the news of yet more austerity measures for that blighted country as the "euro" struggles from one crisis to another. Meanwhile, the European Court of Human Rights has decreed that the Jordanian hatemonger- Abu Qatada must be released from a British jail. Apparently his human rights must be protected! But who I wonder is paying his massive legal bill?
I am thick because I have no idea what European unity is all about. How can you have unity if some of us are less equal than others so that when the going gets tough the weak get punished? And why is it that British justice can be overruled by overpaid and unelected legislators in Strasbourg, Brussels or The Hague? A straw poll of British citizens would overwhelmingly conclude that the odious Abu Qatada should be sent back to Jordan immediately and billed for his air ticket. We wonder what the hell the guy was ever doing in our country in the first place and how he got to tap in to our welfare benefits while championing a nasty vision for the world that is utterly medieval and anti-Western.
In my profound thickness, I have other questions about Europe. How come petrol is far more expensive in Britain than anywhere else and how come we pay far more for wine and other alcoholic drinks? Why do we contribute more to the American adventures in Afghanistan than any of our European "partners"? Why are the borders open for Eastern Europeans to swarm in willy nilly and why did we allow countries like Romania and Bulgaria to join this so-called European Economic Community when they were clearly economically backward and would become liabilities propped up by the rest of us?
Back in the day, economic "experts" and transient politicians decreed that the only way forward for our continent was monetary union. European people assumed that they knew what they were talking about though many of us were very sceptical - imagining that this drive for union was mainly about big business, banks and suchlike. But how could we see into the future, being as thick as two short planks? We had to bow to the experts. They knew best.
The state of an economy has an enormous bearing upon political stability and the contentment of ordinary citizens. It was economic chaos that led to the rise of the Nazis in the 1930's and economic gloom that has caused so many suicides, so many relationship problems and so much anger all around Europe in recent months. I know I'm thick but looking back I'd have been much happier if rather than joining the European feeding frenzy, Britain had stepped aside, choosing instead to fortify its economic links with the rest of the English speaking world and historical allies from the British Commonwealth such as India, Pakistan, Malaysia and Nigeria. The world is a small place now. Did we really need Europe? Or am I simply being thick?
And did you know that British familes pay 60% more to get into Disneyland Paris than French ones do?
ReplyDeleteBut as regards our trading partners, it is worth looking at where our export markets are. Europe is actually quite important to us!
Point taken Monsieur Parrots but just because we'd have been outside the Eurozone wouldn't have meant we couldn't trade with those foreign johnnies over on "the continent"! By the way, why would you even want to go to Eurodisney?
ReplyDeleteYou are speaking for at least 90% of the ordinary people of Britain who live in the real world. These decisions, unfortunately, are made by jumped up, over-protected, self-serving idiots who have no idea or experience of living in the real world.
ReplyDeleteIf you start asking other people, you'll find that most of them agree with you. The media, however, twists our information so each of us thinks we're the only one with any sense, that everyone else has been snookered and the situation is hopeless. Divide and conquer.
ReplyDeleteFox News, for example, takes totally irrelevant trash (consider the Republican primary campaign in the U.S. this year - where did they ever find that assortment of clowns?) and make us think all of that is real and important, and our own personal problems...losing our jobs, losing our houses, losing our chiidren in stupid wars, dying from sugar addiction...are things that just require an attitude adjustment. And if we can't self-adjust our attitude, that's no problem, just take a h8gh-priced pill or two.
The only question is, how long are we all going to put up with this? Until too few of us are still comfortable and too many are suffering? Until the present generation of smartass freethinkers has died off and a new generation of more compliant humans is voting, thinking they're in charge?
We've been told for years that news manipulation only happens in those inferior places, not in ours. The USSR may be dead, but controllers everywhere use the same tactics. And now there's a new one, make the news so unreliable and stupid that no one pays any attention to anything.
Snarl. You're not thick, good buddy. As long as people write about these things, other doubters know they aren't alone.
well dont ask me Pud.......
ReplyDeleteI cannot balance my own cheque book....and when I was a bank clerk (in YOUR favourite town of Rhyl)
I never balanced my till once in 2 years!
I've always assumed that the drive to "unify" (hah!) Europe was to produce a country to rival the USA, Russia and China in terms of sheer size - thereby affording an opportunity for some "lucky" politician to be El Presidente.
ReplyDeleteCan't for the life of me think of any benefits for England, it seems to just be costs and interference. I get the impression that we're the unpopular, unliked, geeky kid who is only allowed in the gang because he pays, and that the other kids in Europe all laugh at us behind our backs or when we're not there.
Not thick, just mystified and frustrated as so many of us are....
ReplyDelete