John Lanchester is an occasional writer for The New Yorker and the London Review of Books. In an October edition of The New Yorker he gives an excellent review of the Euro and its failings. Among other things he covers some history of the EU, the Euro, the global crisis, and how these link to … More The Euro – Decline and Fall
Robert Chote, head of the UK’s Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), says “forecasts are always wrong” because the future is highly uncertain. But the OBR has a job to do – to forecast the future – and a poor set of tools at its disposal. Reading tea leaves is a nonstarter, obviously, so the next … More Reading the tea leaves
A single issue is disturbing established patterns of politics throughout the Western world. It takes different forms in different jurisdictions but can be seen as a common thread tying together voter behaviour in Europe and the USA. This issue of voter dissatisfaction appears to be a significant contributory factor to rising euroscepticism and the increasing … More Disillusion, Disaffection and Denial
In this post we pull together and summarise the evidence we find that the EU is fragile and its future is at risk. For more details see Evidence of Fragility (Part 1), Evidence of Fragility (Part 2) and Evidence of Fragility (Part 3). Evidence is also drawn from other posts; there’s plenty of it – … More Evidence of Fragility (Summary)
We know there are many virtuous people in the EU who want to do good in the world, which admirers believe is what the Project is about at heart. An example might be helping the poor of Africa. Whilst the EU contributes aid to the Third World, including from Britain’s substantial foreign-aid budget, this is … More Virtue is its own reward, but for whom?
Migration, trade and recalcitrant member governments continue to show up the weaknesses of the EU. First, the Express on the latest spat about migration: http://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/725540/Migrant-crisis-Italy-PM-Matteo-Renzi-veto-EU-budget-refugee-chaos? “FURIOUS Italian leader Matteo Renzi today [October 27] threatened to fatally cripple the entire European project unless Brussels bureaucrats do more to sort out the migrant crisis.” “In an extraordinary … More Evidence of Fragility (Part 3)
“Morecombe and Wise”, “Bonnie and Clyde”, “Brexit and Uncertainty” – is there an attempt to make the last coupling as inseparable in our minds as the others? It took us just moments to find these examples: “…uncertainty in the UK over Brexit … makes our clients a little bit nervous and hesitant to invest. …Uncertainty … More Uncertainty
Has the UK’s High Court caught the “Activist” bug from the ECJ, whereby it takes political decisions masquerading as legal judgements? The decision to refer Article 50 to parliament looks toxic since this enables MPs and (especially) peers to delay the process. We hope the Supreme Court disagrees. If not we think the Prime Minister … More UK High Court Judgement on Triggering Article 50
Jeremiah, 5:21 – “They have eyes, but they see not, ears, but they hear not, like the idols which they made and worshipped.” There are non-economic reasons why we voted to leave. Peace, brotherhood and justice are not well-served by the EU as it is. In our view the idealism inspired by a continent in … More There’s None So Blind
Headmistress ‘Headmistress’ Theresa May, criticised EU leaders’ lack of maturity after they warned her they intend to make Brexit negotiations ‘hard’, even suggesting they might be carried out in French (which hasn’t been the practice since the number of member countries tripled). She asked that they adopt a constructive spirit, to deliver a ‘smooth’ departure, … More Shorties-2
This EU Won't Work 