278 days ago
It is a climate emergency shrieks the mainstream media. Rhodes is burning down. Everyone is being evacuated. Three weeks ahead of my next trip to Greece I am not panicked. As I noted in a podcast last week, the headlines on this matter are wilfully misleading.
289 days ago
The waste to hydrogen come Macedonia cannabis growing related party nest of snakes that is Hydrogen Utopia (HUI) has announced that its Irish subsidiary has won a grant from the Evil Empire, the EU. If you thought that folks on the LSE Asylum were useless stock pickers you should have a look at the track record of the EU and its grants!
346 days ago
I noted the other day how those in the liberal political and media elites have, for years, sneared at anyone flying the Union Flag. Indeed, I think, the term flag waver actually became a term of abuse at some point amomng those who tend to have #FBPE in their twitter handles. But at least the UK does not spaff taxpayers cash on a “Flags team.” Unlike …
620 days ago
Therese Coffey MP was on Sky this morning where she was meant to be batting away questions on the cost of living crisis and the drought. Either Ms Coffee is thick as two short planks or she must think we are.
740 days ago
Greece was often praised for its authoritarian approach to the scamdemic. You may remember the Guardian and BBC claiming that, while our evil government committed genocide by negligence, Greece’s draconian lockdown had cured the country of covid. Of course, it did not. The lockdown gave the economy another good kick but, as the table shows, Greece has fared relatively badly in terms of covid deaths.
838 days ago
I thought that we had left the EU but it seems that its laws which allow crooks to hide their shameful past from google citing privacy are still in effect. The latest scumbag playing this game to hide ShareProphets exposes is Brian McDonnell, the scamster in charge of US Oil & Gas, once a listed company valued (incorrectly) by the market at £350 million but now, chucked off three exchanges, a shell teetering on the verge of insolvency despite Brian continuing toile to investors and to half-inch their cash.
845 days ago
Only 21% of the population want to rejoin the EU according to the most recent YouGov poll.Even most of those who voted remain now want to stay out with only 41% of that group diehard remoaners. But the media elites know better than we dirty plebs so just because we are the majority our views, like facts, don’t really matter.
896 days ago
I wear a red poppy to remember brave men and women of ALL countries who died fighting, all too often futile, wars. Charlotte wears the poppy below, here in Britain, with a flag on it suggesting that while she remembers the dead of ten* EU states who fought with Hitler she does not remember the dead from the country she lives in, free Britain. Whatever. Charlotte is severly ill with #BrexitDerangementsyndrome. This armistice day let us also include her in our prayers.
951 days ago
The Mrs switched on BBC Radio 4 this morning as she baked a cake for Joshua’s 5th Birthday party and as I made porridge with apple sauce for the family breakfast. No-one told me that having to listen to BBC Radio was part of the marital deal. I should have insisted that not listening to Pravda was part of the marital vows some eight years ago. The programme was “Broadcasting House” and part of it included two obviously left wing harpies and a former Tory MP who spent his career before entering showbusiness for ugly people working for the BBC so was obviously a drip. Natch most of the big news stories they picked were from the Guardian Observer.
1037 days ago
Five years after we voted for Brexit some folks have just not moved on. Remember how trade deals with Trump’s America would be bad as we might eat chlorinated chicken? Or Aussie deals were bad and should be ripped up because the descendants of the criminals gave chemicals to their cows? So i assume that news that the EU is going to allow chickens and other creatures to be fed animal remains, the sort of practice that caused BSE, will see the remoaniacs showing utter consistency and demanding that the UK stops trading with the Evil Empire too? Er…
1048 days ago
I start with the 4 week delay to what is laughably called Freedom Day here in Airstrip One. It makes me so angry as there is no justification for it. Next up more woke nonsense from Pensana (PRE), before a look at Colin Bird’s quartet of mining juniors and asking if it is worth the risk? Finally Tavistock Investments (TAVI) – too good to be true?
1052 days ago
The President of the United States is one of those tedious Americans who insist that they are Irish because of some distant ancestor. No Joe, you are a yank and your romanticised and ill-informed views of what many of us call “the old country” wrecked appalling damage and great bloodshed on the British isles for many years.
1133 days ago
Andrew King stares out from behind his face nappy on his twitter profile. Maybe that helps him not catch covid online. Or maybe it is just virtue signalling. He likes being dominated and subservient to the state so he is happy to muzzle up even when standing outside. You will note that Andrew has a flag in his twitter profile. It is not that of the country where he lives but that of his beloved EU. Notwithstanding that, Andrew warns that “we all need to stop using flags in political contexts”. Like a political tweet eh? The old hypocrite continues…
1138 days ago
The graph below is pretty clear. Having lockdowns as a way to fight covid does not work. It looks at age adjusted excess deaths per million. You will see that Sweden, no lockdown, does pretty well, far better than the UK with a draconian lockdown. Florida with a very lax lockdown does marginally worse that California with a very tight lockdown, but not that much worse. Lockdown jihadists, mainly from the “tolerant” left, have repeatedly warned that Republican run Florida was heading for Armageddon. Many of those fanatics lived in New York with a far more draconian lockdown. Look how it fared…
1185 days ago
Like colleagues such as Daniel Sandford, Ms Adler banks a six-figure salary, plus expenses, funded by extorting £157.50 a year from we plebs whether we watch her fake news or not and she honestly thinks she does a good job. As the BBC’s EU correspondent, she has become utterly embedded in the Evil Empire’s mindset. In the Brexit talks she batted for Brussels. On every glitch, it was always the fault of the evil Britishers and now that we have left she carries on blaming Britain for everything as you can see below.
1189 days ago
Wine Merchants across the UK are, according to the EU’s fave PR mouthpiece the Financial Times, having to add £1.50 to each bottle of wine imported from the EU as a result of Brexit. Natch the poodles on the pink paper tell their rapidly declining number of readers that this is another disaster caused by Brexit. That fecker Farage and we dirty 17.4 million dirty, smelly, stupid xenophobes in the sticks have another crime to account for. But hang on?
1189 days ago
Where my DNA comes from Sinn Fein and the IRA are seen as one and the same so he is known in this household as my pal in the IRA. Certainly he is proud of its actions – he celebrates the killing of British soldiers, something his forebears took part in. But, given the timing of the arrival of my family in his home county of Donegal (the 1650s), we know not to go chat about such matters. He knows that I wear an Ulster rugby shirt and we have much else to discuss anyway. Yesterday, he called to tease me about problems with Brexit, kicking off with Dutch customs officials seizing the ham sandwiches of British lorry drivers.
1195 days ago
These remoaner types like AC Grayling, hereditary TV presenter Dan Snow, crazed fantasist the cat lady Carole Cadwalladr, Lord Adonis (who the fuck is he anyway?), the entire staff of the BBC and our own in house Euro loon Jonathan Price are absolutely obsessed by the two world wars. It used to be thought impolite to talk about them when discussing things to do with Europe lest any Krauts overheard you and took offence. But these folks talk of almost nothing else these days.
1202 days ago
So says daughter Olaf who has repudiated her father’s DNA and is now identifying wholly as Welsh. She is perplexed that I laugh at the Welsh and its certifiable political class, predict that Independence in the short term would be an economic disaster for Wales as well as Scotland yet support the cause, as a Welsh resident, most strongly. Our starting point here is that my daughter is a teenager, lives in Islington and is a bit of a lefty. As such, she, by definition, does not really believe in jokes and many of my comments about cottage burners are said in jest and, thus, she does not understand them.
1210 days ago
The hereditary TV presenter Dan Snow, aka thehistoryguy, claimed yesterday that the EU had brought peace to Europe and Brexit threatened it. So nothing to do with NATO and the American defensive shield then? And what about the genocide at Srebrenica during the Bosnian war when EU peacekeeping troops stood idly by as 8,000 folks were massacred? Snow was talking nonsense as many of us pointed out. But rallying to his defence was my good friend, the arch Euro loon Jonathan Price, who insisted that the EU had ended war in Europe since all the previous wars were started by either France or Germany. Like the hereditary TV presenter, I fear that even Bath Spa would fail that answer.
1212 days ago
We are good Europeans, the Mrs and I. We live in Greece as much as we can and love the place. The Mrs is a fluent Swedish speaker and she would, I suspect, live there again. We speak to each other in French when we do not want Joshua to understand and we happily toasted our freedom at 11 PM on December 31 with Metaxa, greek brandy. We love Europe, we detest the EU. The toast was to three great Eurosceptics not there to witness this great day: Ronald Bell, father of my friend despite the day’s earlier humiliation Andrew*, my uncle Christopher Booker and my Grandfather Sir John Winnifrith.
1213 days ago
This rather surprises me. I was convinced that the top 30 would be packed full of waspish, libertarian or anti-woke articles. But it seems that many of the most read pieces on this website are the ones the Mrs thinks no-one reads, about life at the hovels here in Wales but also in Greece. Anyhow, here are my top 30 non financial articles of 2020.
1216 days ago
Now that we are out of the EU for good, surely the next great national campaign has to be to #DefundtheBBC. It really is a most nauseating institution. The clear liberal left bias of its news coverage, the woke and unfunny comedy and the smug air of superiority makes it almost unbearable. As it attracts ever fewer viewers and listeners, it ups the bloated pay of its staff, never questioning why folks are deserting it but instead doubling down on the sort of activities which arouse so much anger.
1218 days ago
I have not read the full 1500 pages of the Trade treaty between the UK and the Evil Empire. I am sure that buried in the detail are a few dastardly measures from inserted by stormtroopers from the Death Star. I don’t need to fall asleep reading it; I just look at the reactions of those who have.
1322 days ago
I may be in the gulags of Merthyr Tydfil by tomorrow night so if there is no Monday bearcast, you know why. I look at abuse of furlough and how some folks want this madness to continue and then at the Government’s bonkers demands of the EU to allow it to hand out vast sums to British companies. In that vein, I flag up my latest expose of Innovate UK HERE. I sense this scandal is massive and will grow. If any of you are bored and want to assist uncovering it, the relevant link is HERE.
1322 days ago
£30,000 a year for goose stepping around in a high visibility jacket telling the rest of us what we can or cannot do and where. What sort of person with small willy syndrome would want such a job? It seems there is no shortage of takers. Take this fellow.
1375 days ago
As a part time resident of Greece, I am most delighted by the EU bailout. Not only does the mightly Hellenic Republic have almost no cases of Covid now, but we are also going to get shed loads of cash from other EU countries for our politicians to steal. Oops… I meant to invest wisely in rebuilding the economy. Fabbo. As you can see below, Greece is the fourth biggest winner from the great EU Covid lottery and, in terms of per head of population, I think we have (again) topped the handout table. Ouzos all round in Greece. Elsewhere, others are not so happy.
1413 days ago
Last week started with the woke mob coming for the statues. Often they got the wrong guy, as in this case, but we live in a post fact era. Then they came for the comedians. I had thought that the book burnings would not get underway for a fortnight or so but, as ever, the inolerance of the Marxist Madrassas formerly known as British Universities continues to be world leading.
1440 days ago
Remember when the noxious leprechaun told us that RyanAir (RYA) might have to quit Britain if we voted for Brexit? It seems he is not leaving now and thinks we Britishers are jolly good chaps for bailing out his airline even though it sits on a vast cash pile. However, as his airline faces massive price competition as EU member states break all the rules to bail out flag carriers, O’Leary took to CNBC to complain. Of course he is correct, this is a crazy breach of the rules and spunk of taxpayer cash. But as a consumer facing years of cheap flights with the added joy of seeing the odious O’Leary kicked in the gonads and EU taxpayers stiffed with the bill my libertarian anger is somewhat muted. Enjoy the video.
1547 days ago
The 12 EU flags I had bought to burn on Brexit day seem to have disappeared. I have my suspicions. The Mrs may have voted the right way but has still not dared to admit as much to her lefty pals who, being public sector workers, have nothing better to do than post comments on facebook about how 17.4 million of us are stupid, ill educated racists and how they are considering a permanent move to Tuscany. She does not wear her beliefs, on this one, on her sleeve. That is probably wise as it cannot be long before University lecturers who are found to have voted for Brexit are no platformed and accused of being members of the alt right. But I am not a man to give up easily as you can see below.
1796 days ago
Like millions of others, I voted for the party which is now the largest single party from any country in the EU Parliament and which won the British Euro elections by a country Mile – Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party. The reaction of the Westminster and media classes has been predictable: “Didn’t the Lib Dems do well! This is a vote against Brexit.” You could not make it up. But they did.
1870 days ago
Anyone who points out how the Financial Times is always on the wrong side of history when it comes to the EU must be a good guy and that brings us to Tim Martin of JD Wetherspoon (JDW) announcing interim numbers today who opines:
1892 days ago
Heidi Allen is one of the three Tory MP’s to have resigned this week to join the new Independent Group at Westminster. Like the other two she voted to remain in the EU, but told voters at the last election that she would implement the referendum result but has since done everything she can to block Brexit. She says circumstances have changed so we should have a People’s Vote. That is on Brexit but not on who should represent her seat where circumstances have clearly changed in that Heidi is now not a Tory and is now working to block Brexit. But it is not her rank double standards that is most appalling.
1900 days ago
In today;s bearcast I discuss Alpha Growth (ALGW), Advanced Oncotherapy (AVO) and Optibiotix (OPTI) as well as Spain, the latest crisis in the special place in hell that is the EU.
1936 days ago
Having lost his seat at the last election, former MP Ben Gummer is constantly wheeled out by the BBC and other liberal news outlets as a “mainstream” Tory. That is to say that – unlike most Tory members - he wants to stay in the EU. He then trots out the most monstrous canards claiming them as facts and, naturally, goes unchallenged.
1961 days ago
In today's podcast I start with Deutsche Bank and the dire problems faced by the EU. Who really wants to stay in bed with this corpse? That pans out to wider reasons to be bearish and I cannot stress too much look not at P&Ls but at balance sheets. I look specifically today at Photonstar Led (PSL), Tomco (TOM), Low & Bonar (LWB), Argo Blockchain (Don't laugh at me too much), Optibiotix (OPTI), IQE (IQE) and the scandalous behaviour of team BlueJay Mining (JAY), moving on from the points flagged up HERE
1966 days ago
You may remember, that at the height of the Greek Financial crisis I went to deposit 10 Euro in an account with the National Bank. As I entered the branch the queues at the withdrawal counters were endless. I went to the special assistance desk where there was just me and three completely senile peasants.
1981 days ago
In today's podcast I reveal what that game changing news I alluded to ten days ago is. I discuss why its wrong to blame Brexit for everything (as per Malcolm AGAIN today and others) and look at the particular problems of the EU, an economic corpse in waiting. Why would anyone wnat to tie us to such a zombie? Finally a look at Telit (TCM). Is its disposal of auto collapsing? A statement is needed. The shares look sickly.
2016 days ago
As I sit with an ouzo in Greece, a country with 49% youth unemployment and where pensioners mist live on 9 Euro a day thanks to the EU, back in London, about 100,000 generally very affluent middle class folks are marching to overturn the wishes of 17.4 million of their fellow citizens. The organisers and the BBC and the rest of the liberal media claim this is a big demonstration but that is just fake news.
2017 days ago
You may remember that in extending the Greek Hovel I had to move two olive trees. One perished quickly, the other just about survived. But it is a battle. I have done my bit, providing fertiliser in a way that a man finds easier than a woman, one cycling champion excepted, but it looks touch and go as you can see below.
2020 days ago
I see that London’s hapless Mayor Sadiq Khan is tweeting like a man possessed, pleas for folks to travel to his great City this weekend for a mass exercise in anti Brexit Remoaning. I would have thought he has more important things to do.
2041 days ago
"Next warns on Brexit" risks screamed the headline on the BBC website as you can see below. On radio and TV broadcasters shouted the same message. But if you read what Next, a company run by highly pro Europe management, actually said rather than what the state funded broadcaster said it said you might be surprised.
2044 days ago
In this podcast I look at the EU's shameful treatment of the wretched Theresa May, it insults her but also the UK. Do we really want to be part of such a club. I look at warrants handed out by Kefi Minerals (KEFI) as it appointed shamed and disgraced SP Angel as its joint broker and I discuss how proven liar Elon Musk will cook the Tesla (TSLA) Q3 books and how that will play out.
2052 days ago
Most of what was in yesterday's bearcast on Angus Energy (ANGS) stands. The ramping is sordid and the company MUST come clean on Tidswell-Pretorious and his sordid share dealings. But I do not believe there is a placing at 6p. I was played and discuss that. Project Fear cheerleader Mark Carney says a no deal Brexit could cause house prices to fall by 35%. I explain why he is talking total cock (again). I look at Amur Minerals (AMC), Pan African Resources (PAF), Obtala (OBT), Online Blockchain (OBC) and ADVFN (AFN). I did not ask how ADVFN is affected by the new EU article 13 on copyright breaches? I cannot think that it will be a good thing for it.
2080 days ago
As you can see below, the little room in the Bat Room, the eco-loo room is almost ready. Fear not, there is a sliding door which locks in any odours as well as an extractor fan. As you can see there is plenty of reading material. Euro loon Jonathan Price will no doubt approve of the positioning of "Castle of Lies" the definitive history of the EU, by Uncle Chris Booker, next to the loo roll. But we are not quite there yet.
2111 days ago
From memory, Justine Greening was fired from the cabinet for being utterly useless. There may have been another reason but she was useless. Her pronouncements on Brexit confirm the case that she is just fundamentally stupid and yet another Tory who holds the electorate in complete contempt.
2114 days ago
My 32 mile walk for Woodlarks with my fellow rogue blogger, Brokerman Dan, is now just two weeks away and I am conscious that most of my training has been on the flat. What better way to prepare for the Surrey hills than to walk up a Greek mountain in the burning summer heat? And so at 8.30 AM off I set....
2161 days ago
I start with the myth which Julian Richer is trying to perpetuate that you can somehow stop large scale, 100% legal, tax avoidance by folks like Sir Phil Green or indeed the legal stuff we all engage in by using dividends in private companies, etc. Then I ask if Italy might break the Euro or even the EU who are behaving - again - with shocking contempt for the little people. It should. Will it? Finally...98% of bearcast listeners have NOT yet sponsored myself and Brokerman Dan for our 30 mile Woodlarks walk. If you enjoy bearcast I am sure you can spare a tenner so donate HERE - to those who have donated I say thank you.
2179 days ago
Once again Tim Martin is the hero of the day. As the parasites of the CBI, who have never created a cent of wealth as risk taking entrepreneurs, and low grade career politicians lecture the 17.4 million about what we really voted for, Tim reports back from the coal face. This man is a great British hero of whom my Bennite grandfather from the 1975 campaign, Sir John Winnifrith, would been proud. Tim opines in today's trading statement from JD Wetherspoon (JDW):
2188 days ago
As we know big Corporations love the EU. Goldman Sachs led the cheerleaders for Project Fear and the ball breakingly liberal virtue signalling elitists at LinkedIn have jumped in on the act with some selective use of their own data.
2307 days ago
A friend who is the epitome of the remoaning metropolitan elitist emails me today to claim that "you really are becoming a fascist in your old age what with your support of Donald Trump and your climate change denial." The elitists always forget that labelling anyone with whom you disagree as a fascist demeans the true horror of what fascism is. But I suppose it is easier than actually debating facts. I shall deal with my admiration of the leader of the free world another day but let's look at some hard facts about climate change or , as it used to be known, global warming. I bring you three quotes:
2317 days ago
As of 2019 new British passports will be coloured blue as in the good old days, not EU red. This will not cost £500 million as some remoaners like James Caan claimed. It will not cost a cent. But still the fake news continues with the loathsome Guardian leading the way. Its headline today is "Blue Passports to mean red tape say EU officials" Natch this is just sheer fiction.
2335 days ago
Marcus does not seem to like Brexit so has a go at our great hero Tim Martin of JD Wetherspoon (JDW) today. My comments below each of the two sentences from nasty Marcus are in bold.
2349 days ago
I wandered up to the Greek Hovel this morning and saw, at once, that something was not quite right. Yes there were olives on the trees as you can see below but not vast numbers.
2351 days ago
I see that Guardian journalist Carole Cadwalladr is complaining that she has received death threats after writing what she, without any justification, claimed to be an expose of Russian meddling in the Brexit vote. Let us be clear: Carole is talking shite on the Russians, as she does on almost everything, as I noted here, but death threats against journalists are always utterly wrong. I speak as a journalist who has received death threats.
2358 days ago
The scariest graphic you will see this year is on Zero Hedge below and shows just how each country in Europe is ageing. I discuss what it says about the scorched earth policies the EU has imposed on the Southern Europeans, about Germany and about the UK and Eire. This is the old world. It is dying. We in the UK need to focus elsewhere as we approach Brexit. Then it is onto IQE (IQE) and its £95 million placing: buy, sell or hold.
2384 days ago
The OECD, aka a think tank run by and for the vested interests of the 1%, the global elite, has today urged Britain to hold a second referendum on Brexit and to vote the right way. Naturally the BBC and the rest of the liberal media is loving it and not bothering to point out one little inconvenient truth, that the OECD is a proven Brexit liar.
2399 days ago
I start with a look at the weekend's events in what could be, and should be, the Catalan Republic. It shows our political leaders, but especially those in the EU, in the worst possible light. If the Catalans do go it alone it has massive implications for the Euro which I discuss. Then it is on to PCG Entertainment (PCGE) where I declare an interest but try to be objective in a detailed analysis. There is a similar biopsy but it could soon be an autopsy on Starcom (STAR). I also cover Falanx (FLX) "the flea jumping" - a stock we own - and comment on Advanced Oncotherapy (AVO). I have remembered what I forgot at the end and will cover it tomorrow.
2408 days ago
Uber has lost its London license thanks to Transport For London (TFL), a move applauded by useless Mayor Sadiq Khan, The Guardian, the BBC and black cab drivers. But it is very bad news indeed for London and I explain why. It is symptomatic of a new era of economic madness as is Theresa May claiming giving £20 billion (it will be more) to the EU is a good deal and our useless PM also trying to satisfy the greed of lazy and overpaid public sector workers. Perhaps the biggest sign of this madness and wish for economic hari-kiri is Labour's plan to renationalise the utilities. It is utter madness but no one dares say so. We are heading faster and faster towards the precipice my friends.
2411 days ago
Radio 4's flagship Today programme was discussing Brexit in light of the recent comments by Boris and the forthcoming speech by the worst Tory Prime Minister in living memory, if not ever, Mrs May. It had already given time to the senile old remoaner Vince Cable who wants us to keep voting until we vote the "right" way, hence the word Democrat in his party's name. And so next up...from our Nottingham Studio it was fat old Euro-bore Ken Clarke.
2416 days ago
Once again, Tim Martin of JD Wetherspoon (JD) has let rip with a devestating attack on the EU and its attitude to Brexit. It comes as JD unveiled a 43% increase in Full Year Profits achieved, as the fake news broadcasters at Channel 4 and the BBC would say "despite Brexit." Over to our hero of the day, Tim Martin:
2420 days ago
My father attempts to hide his inner reactionary by ostentatiously being the best customer of the fat Bulgarian lady who, rather aggressively, sells the Big Issue outside the Co-Op in Shipston on Stour. Sometimes, in order to either annoy me or to demonstrate his PC credentials to my virtue signalling public sector (part time) working sisters he will buy two or three issues a month.This is not Alzheimer's he has always done it. He is the favourite "customer" of the great Bulgarian lardbucket.
2421 days ago
5,000 folks marched through London yesterday to demand that we stay in the EU. The speakers included some poor incoherent dishevelled Irish chap who I thought was a Big Issue seller invited onto the platform as part of a drive for diversity but turned out to be Bob Geldof. Though the folks, most of whom seemed to be notably physically unattractive and/ or significantly overweight showing, once again, that politics really is show business for ugly people came up with all sort reasons for protesting its clear that all wanted stay in the EU.And that is how they felt before the nation vote the other way year. These remoaners just cannot accept democracy.
2428 days ago
I am no particular admirer of my Oxford contemporary, the pompous MP for somewhere in Somerset, Jacob Rees Mogg. But my fellow residents of the Hellenic Republic should at once establish a committee to erect statues of the pin stripe suited buffoon in every town square in our great land. The heroes of 1821 should stand shoulder to shoulder with the man who has arrived at a solution to our economic misery and enslavement by the fucking Germans, sorry I meant the EU, and banksters. Jacob Rees Mogg is the new Byron.
2431 days ago
As an alternative to the fake news, non stop diet of Trump and Brexit bashing that is the BBC, our hotel offers up DW News, a German channel presented in English which offers up a non stop diet of Trump bashing and explanations of why the EU is the greatest thing since sliced bread. Today's winner was a story about a farm in Southern Italy run by a yuppie ancient history graduate which farms donkeys.
2455 days ago
Marie Claire showed commendable liberal idiocy for its take on the film Dunkirk. USA today was almost on a par. But the winner of the liberal metropolitan elitist idiot commentator on this war movie depicting an actual historic event is Robert Fisk of the Independent, a man who has real form when it comes to being a stranger to the truth. It is thanks to Robert that we have the phrase "to Fisk" meaning to go through a newspaper article to discover the series of statements from the post fact era.
2455 days ago
The last time I felt under attack from Sir Vince Cable was when he called on the FCA to deal with myself and fellow critics of that Great British company Quindell (QPP). As, even Sir Vince now knows, Quindell was the UK's biggest stockmarket fraud for 30 years, the regulators have thanked me for my work exposing it but Sir Vince worked hard with Lord Peter Hain of sleaze and others to get me sent to jail for market abuse.To the man who has predicted 17 of the last 4 recessions I say thank you once again for your efforts. Now he calls folks like me, hardline brexiteers, "jihadis" in an article in the Mail on Sunday which, even by the standards of that paper, is lie filled fiction.
2457 days ago
Over the past few days I have written a couple of times about my grandfather, Sir John Winnifrith, a thoroughly respectable fellow who ran the National Trust and was a staunch Bennite opponent of the EU. He was intelligent, sober and obviously not what one might term glamorous. But his little sister Joan was rather different.
2460 days ago
In her Guardian column today arch remoaner Polly Toynbee took time out from tending to her Tuscan castle to bash Brexit because it will hit British farmers so badly as they lose subsidies from the Common Agricultural Policy. Natch, the BBC took time out from the month long LGBT-fest to make way to report this breaking news from its sister publication and thus Toynbee opined on Radio 4's Today Programme. It was classic Toynbee and I am so glad my late grandfather Sir John Winnifrith, a true socialist and friend of Tony Benn and a campaigner for No! in 1975 was not around to hear it. He would be incandescent as he really did believe in "for the many not the few."
2461 days ago
I noted earlier today that World War One was pointless and that folks rewrite history aggressively to show otherwise. But the Nobel prize for rewriting WW1 history goes to the French Embassy in London as this tweet below demonstrates. Linking the slaughter of Flanders to the peace in Europe created by the EU is tasteless as well as wrong. Perhaps the lying Froggies might wish to discuss NATO, Bosnia, The Ukraine, the Basque conflict, Cyprus, EU funding of Hamas killers, how Reagan & Thatcher delivered the end of the cold war with policies most EU nations opposed and many other matters.
2477 days ago
There is a strong contest to be the maddest and most extreme Brexit denier in public life. Normally Tory MP Anna Soubry is a strong contender, turning up on the BBC or C4 twice a day to offer up a few post fact era words to explain why she cannot accept the democratic will of the nation. But this week Soubry started to look positively sane when compared to two chaps who really are yesterday's men.
2485 days ago
It is really simple being a lefty. You have to be dogmatic and have a set world view. Otherwise you may be suspect in your liberalism. As such certain things are beyond doubt. LGBT and abortion issues are important above all else - these are the number 1 concerns of "real people", or at least of real people among the Metropolitan elites, not thick working class people or evil Christians because they don't matter. The USA is wrong on everything and Donald Trump is stupid and satanic. Israel is also wrong on everything. The EU is right on everything, The Daily Mail should be shut down to protect free speech. The Palestinians are always right. The BBC is a vicious right wing tool of the enemy but we'd all love to work there. You get the drift.
2490 days ago
No doubt charlatan and snake oil salesman Darren Winters and his evil cancer-patient conning wife Tatjana Valujeva will again use Europe's daft privacy laws to ensure there is no google link to this article which contains a full transcript of a court case showing what complete and utter bastards and conmen they are. So we beg you ALL to use the tweet & Linkedin buttons below the headline, to put a link on every Bulletin board or every finance article you find soi that folks can be warned about this man who has been conning decent folk for almost 20 years.
2518 days ago
Wall to wall coverage of the London Bridge attacks continues on BBC World News. the only interruptions are the adverts which are largely for BBC news itself. How much do they cost and what exactly is their purpose? But in between the adverts and the latest recycling of old footage the BBC served up a montage of how London and the World reacted. It was so utterly dismal and predictable.
2523 days ago
"Congratulations on your anniversary" said a raft of messages from folks I once knew, barely know or don't know at all but who are connected to me on facebook for grown ups, that is to say LinkedIn. Er ....what thought I... what anniversary?
2550 days ago
Those running the EU are doing their best to meddle in the UK Election. By smearing Mrs May with silly leaks and by making outrageous demands ahead of Brexit talks they seem to think this will boost the remoaning parties. Au contraire. Mrs May gains more seats with every outrage. The claim that the UK must hand over £100 billion before Brexit proper talks can start is just obscene and there is a handy six point response.
2553 days ago
The drunken career politician and all round poltroon Jean-Claude Juncker, aka the President of the Evil Empire, is the source of a leak of a meeting he had with PM Theresa May. He aims to embarrass her - in fact his leak, and the ludicrous demands made by EU leaders for pre-divorce Brexit negotiations, are Mrs's May's best presents since Jeremy Corbyn was re-elected as leader of the Labour Party.
2568 days ago
I have remarked many times before on Paddy Leigh Fermor's good Greek bad Greek thesis. 99% of Greeks are generous, honest, good folks. The other 1% are such complete and utter bastards that their actions serve as a stark reminder of how incredibly good their fellow countrymen are. The lying traitor of a PM, Alex Tsipras is firmly among the 1%. So too, are more than a few taxi drivers in Athens.
2597 days ago
For the nth time not all Cloudtag (CTAG) shareholders are morons. But some are. I discuss how one defines a moron but also responding to "Rachael" I discuss why my combative style is needed and will not be changing. It cannot be an excuse for some of the things that have gone on. Yesterday's Cloudtag moron has now noticed my wife is of Indian origin and is emailing me accordingly. Then I look at the EU. The issue is not Wilders or Le Pen but economics and I present some data that will truly scare you. The can cannot be kicked down the road forever.
2597 days ago
You and I had thought that Kevin Hart the grossly overpaid and underperforming CEO of Bowleven (BLVN) had cleaned his desk and gone after Tuesday's GM vote to sack the useless pig. Think again. He is still CEO and still on full pay and still running the company. This is like debating the Brexit referendum with that silly cow Gina Miller. A company is owned by its shareholders. The shareholders have voted to get rid, like we voted to quit the EU...but the bastard hangs on and Gina tries to subvert democracy.
2600 days ago
Those who read Sherlock Holmes will understand the title. In this podcast I mention Islington in EU and a chat with Chris Booker - more on that HERE. I look at Blancco Technology (BLTG), Sabien (SNT), Quadrise (QFI), Prairie Minerals (PDZ) and Lionsgold (LION).
2600 days ago
You may remember that the leaders of the EU, backed by that imbecile Dave Cameron, agreed to give President Erdogan's Turkey $6 billion if it promised to stop migrants flooding to Europe. Forget that Erdogan gags and shuts down a free press, fires teachers who do not support his crackpot ideas, discriminates against gays, has offered overt support to Islamofascists in Syria, bombed Kurdish civilians and does all sorts of other things we are not so keen on, the EU thought it had secured a cracking deal.
2623 days ago
I arrived in good time at Athens bus station, aka the biggest shit hole this side of Mosul. and grabbed a cab for the airport. Within 100 yards the car was stuttering as if it was out of gas. The driver seemed unphased and just played with the gear stick as` if this was par for the course. On a dusty side street I was not too bothered but then we went onto the 4 lane motorway to the airport. He sensed my unease and asked "are you scared?" I lied and said no.
2623 days ago
Yikes! I thought I was safe with Greek TV from the likes of Lineker & Graham Norton but then up popped commie media tart Paul Mason lecturing the poor bubbles on why the EU and the Euro was the only way forward. Mason is an asset millionaire. My neighbours here in Greece are starving, unemployed, emigrating and angry. Mason just has no idea and worse still he talks rot. Greece does have a choice and I urge it to take it.
2627 days ago
I do not normally pay much attention to what folks on neighbouring tables say when watching the world go by in the Kourounis taverna in Kambos, the village closest to the Greek Hovel where I hope to spend most of the rest of my life. I just tap away at my keyboard or think about olives. But today I exploded as a fat and smug German explained to a couple of timorous Brits why hard Brexit would screw England and thus why we should "obey orders" and fall into line with what Germany, sorry the EU, wanted. I exploded.
2631 days ago
When you get on a Greek bus, either the driver or a ticket collector who sits with him at the front, checks your ticket. You cannot board without one. It is simple enough. But then it gets complicated.
2634 days ago
For about forty years I have teased my sister T about how when travelling on the bus from Ioannina to Metsovo she was always sick numerous times. Poor girl she was just not a great traveller. But I think, having just done that journey it is time to say sorry.
2709 days ago
Jeepers, to think that this drunken elitist fool Juncker thinks he is speaking for me. Fidel Castro was an evil bastard whatever the BBC says as I noted earlier. Back in 1968 he cheered on as the Russian tanks crushed the uprising in Prague. Do you think that the people of a, now free, Czech Republic are mourning Castro today?
2714 days ago
German finance minister Wolfgang Schauble has always been a bit of a bastard. Screwing Greece and causing misery across the Hellenic Republic was the high point of his career. Now he wants to go one step better and screw Britain even after we have left the EU.
2723 days ago
I start out by explaining why those discussing how Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by 0.25% so should be President are talking rubbish but I then go onto the more widespread refusal to accept what is going on by the liberal establishment here and in the USA. I look at Thursday's BBC Question Time which was a disgrace and forward to more shocks for the elite across the EU.
2726 days ago
I am a bad winner. I wanted Donald Trump to win and I wanted crooked Hillary Clinton to lose even more and my eight reasons why that would happen, published two months ago, proved 100% correct. I was punching the air all night as I stayed up watching the results. Georgia Yeeeees! North Carolina Yeeeeees! "Racist" Trump's share of the black & hispanic vote is up on 2012 - Yeeessss!!! Take that Matt Frei you ignorant bastard. Dippy Millennials in tears at Clinton HQ YEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!! Oh what fun I had and so in the cold light of day, I list the eight moments that brought me most joy from the past 24 hours.
2731 days ago
There is a minor profits warning from JD Wetherspoon (JDW) today and thus I urge you to all go and buy a pint of its finest cheap lager to show solidarity with the company's founder and boss Tim Martin who has used his trading statement to point out how EU leaders are hitting their own people, not us, with the mad anti-Brexit actions. Over to hero of the day Tim Martin:
2736 days ago
Legendary resource investor Rick Rule has recorded a podcast covering gold (cautious), potash (mega bullish) but also the looming chaos in the EU and what that means. It is thought provoking stuff from Rule.
2749 days ago
Once again Nicola Sturgeon is insisting that if the evil right wing Tories take Britain out of the EU then she will do her utmost to get Scotland to leave the Union. Is her contempt for democracy more alarming than her delusional failure to grasp basic economics? It is hard to say.
2762 days ago
The Hungarian referendum on immigration left me feeling pretty disgusted by all involved. All the players appall me.
The liberal media wags from the BBC and Channel 4 were delighted to interview a raft of fat old Hungarians dressed in national costume heading off to vote. One woman insiated in sitting on the back seat of the car facing backwards with her ample arse in the air so as not to crumple her hideous dress which reminded us of folks in old Nazi propaganda movies from the thirties. Naturally 99% of those voting wandered to the station wearing jeans and looking normal. But the media wanted to show that all those voting to stop migration were old, inbred and stupid. We have seen that agenda before.
2762 days ago
When a broadcaster that we are forced to pay for abandons any pretence of impartiality with its news coverage, the great unwashed who earn a fraction of the salaries of the star presenters, and even B list camera candy, have every right to be angry. That is where we are at with the BBC right now. last night's Newsnight from the Tory conference marked a new low point. A panel was assembled to discuss Brexit.
Leading the pack was Guardian journalist Andrew Rawnsley, a lefty and a Remainer. Then there was Tory MP Heidi Allen who campaigned for Remain. Third up there was Tory peer, journalist and Cameron biographer Danny Finkelstein. He too was a remainer. Finally there was Jenni Russell a journalist who went from the BBC to C4 to the Guardian and New Statesman and is now at the Times and was described as a "key member of the new establishment". Jenni is left of centre and, of course, voted to Remain.
So the 48% of the country and 30% of Tory
2767 days ago
As head of the CBI Carolyn Fairbairn is meant to speak for British Business. She is, naturally, totally unqualified. Her CV says it all:
2774 days ago
It is a bit off the radar screens of the mainstream media right now but life in Greece grows ever more miserable. Nothing works. The poor are getting poorer and hope has just gone. But of course PM Alex Tspiras, a man reminiscent of Tony Blair in all the worst ways, will accept none of the blame.
2776 days ago
Channel 4 News anchorman Jon Snow had the pleasure last night of interviewing a man who is not really a household name even in his own household, that is to say Tim Farron the leader of the Liberal Democrats. Farron was both inconsistent and uninspiring but it was Snow who made the real spectacle of himself, showing sneering contempt for seventeen million of his fellow citizens.
2785 days ago
We told you so! So shout the "Remainers", leaving the EU was always going to make life worse say folks such as my utterly misguided father. Thus we are told today that the EU is thinking of introducing US style visas and that, post Brexit whenever that is, we in Britain may need to cough up a few quid should we want to travel into the Evil Empire.
2788 days ago
Mr Arnold Mballe Sub, his Mrs and eight kids moved from France to Luton in 2012 so that he could study to be a mental health nurse at the University of Bedforshire with the NHS picking up the £27,000 fee for the course. Neither Arnold or his Mrs work, they are currently housed in a three bedroom house. Before that they clocked up a bill of £38,400 staying in a hotel for four months. Actually it was worse. The family ordered hotel meals of £21,000 and then refused to pay leaving the Council to foot that bill as well. Chuck in benefits and this lot have cost the taxpayer £103,000 in the past year. It gets worse.
The family want a larger house which, natch, will be paid for by the State. They have been offered several five bed houses which might see some of the brats having to share but they are young so that should be okay. But apparently that would not have enough
2796 days ago
So the Evil Empire is forcing Eire to claim back £11 billion of back taxes from Apple and nearly all conservative commentators say the EU is 100% wrong. At one level it is and I hope that Ireland invokes the spirit of Easter 100 years ago, tells the EU to feck off and goes for Irexit. But this will shock you, in a sense there is a valid moral point that the EU is making. Gosh much though I loathe and destest the EU I offer it some praise in this podcast. There is a first time for everything.
2802 days ago
I remember my daughter remarking how wonderful the poisonous midget Nicola Sturgeon of the SNP was a couple of years ago, for there was a time when on both sides of the border this silly woman appeared to be the darling of the left, of the liberal media and the metropolitan bien pensants. Since my daughter lives in Islington, I expect midget worshipping was almost compulsory for her. But how the Sturgeon devotees must be recanting for as every day goes by the Scottish leader seems sillier and more disingeneous.
2803 days ago
You would have thought that leaders of the failing Evil Empire would have reacted to Brexit and the surge in support for anti EU parties across the continent by at least pretending to listen to the people of Europe. Surely a few cliches about "we must listen" would have been standard spin. But the EU really does not care.
2809 days ago
I was waiting this to happen just at it did four years ago as I reported HERE. The EU has claimed that it sits at the top of the Olympic medals table with Team GB, currently second behind the US, submerged into team Evil Empire.
The EU table shows that the Evil Empire has won 223 medals at this year's Games – including 78 golds – compared to the United States' 84 and China's 51. Team GB - on 50 medals and 19 golds - disappears.
Remember that it is your taxes that funds such a pointless exercise. Do you think that in the streets of Athens they are cheering
2825 days ago
There are two matters EU to discuss today and they are linked: the debate over who pays the EU pensions black hole for British MEPs and Eurocrats now we are ,leaving and the comments from Michael Heseltine showing how he views you and I with contempt. He is a vile man at every level but these two issues are linked as I explain in this podcast.
2830 days ago
Every morning at around 6 AM I hear a sound at the front door, here at my father's house in Shipston, as a little man pushes a copy of the Guardian through the letter box. My father can hear the same sound from upstairs and emits a grunt of approval and prepares to start his day with a mug of coffee prepared by me and a dose of poisonous lies from Polly Toynbee and her mates. The paper is written by middle class lefties who are filled with hate for so many things but mainly the value set of the working classes a group they claim to support but clearly despise and just never meet. Each day there is stiff competition for the nastiest and most inaccurate article. Monday's winner on both counts was a classic from Joris Luyendijk "After Brexit, a game plan for the EU, unleash Project Pain"
Joris wants the EU to be as horrible to Britain as possible,
2836 days ago
In days gone by it was perfectly respectable to be a Eurosceptic and a lefty. Great socialists such as Tony Benn, Peter Shore and Barbara Castle lead the battle to get out of the EU in 1975. But gradually most on the left have abandoned that position. That they have done so while working people and the old, young and sick across Europe have been screwed by the EU might be rather surprising.
And thus while Greek Pensioners have to live on £9 a day
2840 days ago
Last month I wrote on Shareprophets about how British and Irish investors have been ripped off by numerous dodgy property developers in the unregulated backwater country Cape Verde. These victims had received very little publicity up until now but BBC's Panorama last week featured a pension scam by one of the major Cape Verde developers – The Resort Group.
2840 days ago
Nicola Sturgeon seems amazed that EU leaders are not lining up begging Scotland to join the Evil Empire as soon as possible. It has not dawned on her that, set to lose a major benefactor in form of the United Kingdom (in reality England plus the Celtic scroungers), the last thing it wants is to take back the welfare addicted nation of idlers that is Scotland. Heck the EU alread has the basket case that is the Real Greece why would it want the wannabee Greece of the North as well?
2851 days ago
The Sad Truth: Theresa May is bad, but the others are worse is the headline in the main opinion article in yesterday's Guardian. Author Rafael Behr urges Tory members to vote for May. His qualification for offering such advice is that he is a screaming lefty. A cat offers mice advice on personal safety. Behr is a star of the Guradin in that he is not only wrong on most issues, deriving his conclusions from prejudice as opposed to fact, but he is also a pretentious twat to boot. Thus he starts his piece on why Tories should vote for May on Europe, a subject where May disagrees with the vast majority of Tory party members and voters and 52% of the wider electorate
"Imagine
2851 days ago
Yeah...I bet you are gutted we are not staying in the EU now. EU boss Jean Claude Juncker explains below how he has met leaders of other planets who tell him that they are worried about Europe. I can see now why so many were so keen to pay £350 million a week to be ruled by men such as this.
2854 days ago
The University lecturers are not happy with their pay offer and so will tomorrow again be withdrawing their labour. For many that will be a real pain as they will actually have to go to the campus in July, in order to signal their displeasure.
You can have a look at how much lecturers can earn in the tables HERE which the Union is too embarrassed to update. For a job with long vacations allowing you do do "research" on a beach of your choice and with total job security, it sure is worth working your way up the greasy pole is it not?
The current pay offer
2855 days ago
The charming woman next to me on the plane back from Kalamata was a Greek living in Cardiff. She said that she was frightened. So were her friends: Italians, Poles and other bubbles living in Britain. How could they plan for the future when it looked as if they would be booted out post Brexit?
I asked: Who said this was going to happen? Which of the leaders of the vote leave campaign: Boris, Gove, Priti Patel, Nigel Farage, Carswell, Gisela Stuart, who?
2856 days ago
As the earnest young people, mostly loathsome students, gather in London today they claim that they march for Europe. it sounds good to be an internationalist showing solidarity with a whole continent. MarchfortheEU does not sound quite so good. The EU is after all, as even its supporters in the remain campaign admitted, inefficient, corrupt and far from perfect. Moreover it is loathed across the continent.
Switzerland has just withdrawn its application to join. In France, Austria, Greece, Italy, Holland, Sweden and Denmark there are growing calls for their own referendum and signs that in many of those countries folks will vote to leave. For what these young people fail to see is that across Europe there is a widespread feeling that the EU serves an business, bankster, media and political establishment very well but for the ordinary Joe, for the 99% it sucks.
Here in Greece, youth unemployment is 60%. It would be far higher
2858 days ago
Maybe it is just a feature of getting older but whenever I read about more or less anything to do with students and politics I find myself thinking that we should bring back National Service is a pre-requisite for those wishing to study for a degree. Of course National Service was something I dodged by about thirty years, but when I was a student only 10% of folks went to university. We were - with a few exceptions - an elite. These days almost half of young folks go to what are, in many cases, laughably called Universities and it seems that large numbers of students are pathetic, idle or stupid or all three.
The leader of Britian's students, Malia Bouattia is a 28 year old perma-student fanatic who has featured here before as a supporter oif ISIS and fanatical Jew hater. The other day she told the world that Tory cuts to higher education (regrettably there have been none) were driving students to join ISIS. She is a barking mad fanatic but the fact that she was elected as head of the National Union of Students shows just how many students live in a parallel universe based on discredited ideas and a sense of entitlement.
Post the Brexit vote, in which only 30% of those between 18 and 25 could be bothered to get of their arse and put a cross in a box, the outpourings of grief from the young people who are "working" their way through the University system have been a hoot.
2859 days ago
Nigel Farage was on good form today as he sticks it to the overpaid parasites in the EU parliament. Enjoy his victory speech
2860 days ago
Thanks to the lightning strike on the Greek Hovel I spent Saturday night in a hotel room in Kalamata which meant that I got to enjoy the BBC World News. Jeepers it was excruciating as the presenters reported on something they obviously felt was a disaster, that is to say Brexit.
In one session we went live to interview a chap in Paris. natch, it was not an independent expert but the BBC's own man there Hugh Schofield who discussed how the French viewed Brexit. Please note how "the French" viewed the vote.
Hugh prattled
2863 days ago
Poisonous midget Nicola Sturgeon notes that Scotland voted to stay in the EU but that Britain voted out and so she is having another referendum on whether Scotland should leave the UK. We should pre-empt her and just boot it out now.
2865 days ago
Liz Hurley has released a charming nw portrait below as she has explained why she is voting for Brexit. Your current and next editors (Tom Winnifrith & Steve Moore) stand firm with Ms Hurley and urge you to ignore all the lies from Dodgy Dave Cameron and have faith in your own country, the word's fifth largest economy, and in your countrymen and countrywomen. Please vote to leave the EU today.
2865 days ago
The deadline to enter this caption contest is in 45 minutes. Only kidding Tony, let's call it midnight tonight. It seems that our favourite war criminal, Mr Tony Blair reckons that folks will follow his lead and has thus circulated this charming picture below. Apparently Islamic hate preacher Anjem Choudary also voted remain because the EU stops folks being deported for trial elsewhere. Do your best in the comments section below...
2866 days ago
And so our party finally made it through the large blue door which marks the entrance to the house that Paddy built in Kardamili. Turning right along a terrace open on one side we found ourselves with the rest of the group in the library. This was all rather different from the Greek Hovel.
2866 days ago
When Turkey joins the EU its 75 million citizens will be able to travel and live in any other EU country. Turkey is a poor place ruled by David Cameron's pal the homophobic, sexist, fascist beast Erdogan and I do not blame any Turk for wanting to leave. And polls say that millions will leave and that Britain is a favourite destination. The only way to avoid millions of Turks - understandably - pitching up in the UK is to leave the EU. David Cameron - and last night Sadiq Khan - have repeatedly lied to the British people about this.
Cameron says
2868 days ago
I think the video below is fairly self-explanatory. Would you not rather your money was spent elsewhere?
2874 days ago
I've crossed swords with upper class fish wife Tanya Beckett over many years and she has always struck me as thick as two short planks on every occasion we met. In other words, she is an ideal presenter on BBC World News covering business. Of course she is more famous as the ex wife of convicted felon Champagne Charlie Gibson who is a real hoot, but back to Brexit.
2874 days ago
So how does immigration affect multi millionairess luvvie Keira Knightley? Is she facing longer lines to get treatment on the NHS? Is there downward pressure on her wages? What about problems getting housing at affordable rates? Er no: it just means more cheap labour at her fave posh restaurants in London. Luvvie Keira and others in the 1% have no concept at all about how the EU affects those of us in the 99% , young or old.
Today Keira has released a video
2876 days ago
Ten years ago Cape Verde, a small group of islands south of the Canaries, was hyped as the next holiday home hotspot. Apart from the perfect climate, Cape Verde sold itself on being an associate member of the EU as well has having solid property laws (it was until recently a Portuguese colony). The favoured currency in the country is the Euro. UK and Irish investors bought into promised developments promoted by Irish, British and Italian developers, handing over staged payments totalling an estimated € 300 million.
2876 days ago
Sadly here in the most excellent Melitsina Village hotel here in Kardamili the only English language channel we can get is the BBC World News Channel. It is Pravda at its best. The agenda is clear: Trump = evil racist, Brexit - evil supported by racists, Tories - evil racists who hate the NHS, all of the NHS, EU, crooked Hillary = perfect. Once you understand that all reporting has to fit that narrative watching becomes easy and your anger at having to pay for this crap with your taxes sort of subsides.
And thus we flicked channels and saw a BBC chappie called Sean with a panel of four folks discussing Brexit
2876 days ago
Much to the chagrin of the patrician twit who did not want a scruffy bearded fellow like me to gain admittance to the house of Paddy Leigh Fermor here in Kardamili, after much huffing and puffing my father made his way up a gentle slope and we passed through a large blue door and were in. We all headed straight for the library where most of the other folks on the tour were assembled.
2876 days ago
I see from numerous congratulations messages from folks who I I do not know, sent via LinkedIn, that I am celebrating another anniversary. Having checked it out it appears that www.TomWinnifrith.com is four years old. It was a very strange birth indeed.
2878 days ago
There is no sitting on the fence from German finance minister Wolfgang Schauble. He has stated explicitly today that if the UK leaves the EU as a result of Brexit we would have no access to the single market, not even limited access like Switzerland or Norway. Does this mean that for we Brexit Tommies "ze war is over". Nope, sorry Wolfgang but whatever you say, The Great Escape is still very much on.
You see we all know
2881 days ago
If we vote for Brexit on June 23rd we will get to leave the European Union, right? No. Wrong. Certainly that is the view of certain MPs, Tory and Labour who have stated that they will use Westminster rules to insist that the UK still stays in the single market, pays money to the EU and allows unlimited numbers of migrants in, even if the UK leaves. This contempt from some of of Westminster "servants" for the folks who pay their wages is obscene.
The EU itself has "form" in ignoring referendum results it does not like. It either
2882 days ago
To be fair to David Cameron he does not need to open his mouth to tell an actual lie in order to mislead the British people about Brexit. Sometimes his silence is equally deceptive.
It appears that the EU has overspent its budget by circa £20 billion and that member states will be asked - once again - for bonus contributions to fill the black hole. But in order to assist Dodgy Dave who is trying to tell the British people that we are "better off in" it has been agreed that the invoices will not be announced or sent until after June 23rd. How convenient.
No doubt lyin' Dave will now pipe up
2883 days ago
My wife is wavering as to how she should vote on June 23rd. I hope I answer her points in this podcast as well as many others and explain why a Britain outside the EU would be better off, more democratic and more open to being part of a wider world. A free Britain can stand on its own two feet and thrive and be a far better member of the world community. I do hope that you all ignore the horrible smears and lies from Project Fear and vote, as I have done already, for Brexit on June 23.
2884 days ago
In today's Daily Telegraph the columnist Allison Pearson describes how when debating Brexit with multi-millionaire PR man Roland Rudd (brother of dimwit cabinet minister Amber) she was told that "Allison does not want any immigrants coming to this country". The traditional retort to those to question any aspect of immigration policy is "you're racist"
As Pearson points out, the Rudds were kids of a millionaire stockbroker and then went to posh public school and Oxford (just like Dodgy Dave Cameron himself). They have never experienced the downside of immigration: downward pressure on wages for lower earners and problems getting access to schools and healthcare in certain areas or pressure on the housing list. For them as affluent employers and consumers immigration is all upside. And thus the rich and middle classes have for years branded anyone who queried our policies as racist. The most excellent Priti Patel, who also thinks current policies are crackers, came up with the same analysis.I guess Priti is a racist too. Heck so many of us who didn't grow up in millionaire households seem to be racists these days.
And that matters in terms of Brexit at two levels.
2896 days ago
I wrote this article pre postal votes. I have updated it to reflect the fact that they altered the result. EU boss Martin Schulz warned the Austrians not to do it but I guess that they stopped obeying orders from the Germans some time around 1945 and so have almost just elected an extreme right winger as their President. Norbert Hofer denies he is a fascist or a Nazi but he, and his Freedom Party founded by , are pretty right wing. Excluding postal voted Norbert won, overall he lost narrowly. Who is to blame for the rise of the far right? No doubt David Cameron is already blaming Brexit while his new best buddy President Erdogan of Turkey is blaming the Kurds.
In a sense nobody is "to blame".
2899 days ago
Though not actually British, Michael O'Leary, the Ryanair (RYA) boss, is now an official ambassador for Project Fear telling us all that we must vote to stay in the EU or else. But back in 2011 he went to Brussels to tell the truth about what he actually thought of the EU, a body he described on that day as "The Evil Empire". Here captured on camera is what the pompous little prick really thinks
2899 days ago
A list of 250 celebrities have signed a letter telling us that we should vote to stay in Europe. The actor Derek Jacobi thinks I care so much what he thinks that his name appars four times. So lots of rich folks whose lives are not impacted at all by immigration, NHS waiting lists, paying the mortgage and other matters which you & I must deal with on a daily basis, are telling us we should listen to them just because they are fecking celebs.
What on earth
2902 days ago
The Daily Mail has obtained a letter which is political dynamite and shows that David Cameron has lied on a monumental scale over the EU referendum. If he was a man of honour he would resign at once. But he is instead Dodgy David Cameron.
Eleven days before calling the poll Cameron was negotiating with the other EU nations on a deal for Britain. Dodgy Dave told Parliament and us all that if he did not get the deal he wanted he would campaign for us to leave the EU.
But at the same time, it emerges
2904 days ago
Looking at twitter I see folks aghast that Boris Johnson has compared the EU to Hitler. How dare Bojo link Brussells to white supremacism and killing Jews? You think I am kidding? Here you go:
@PritaBardhan
EU to Hitler? So is #BorisJohnson saying that a body of countries is a white supremacist thug & committing genocide?
Er no Prita Boris is saying nothing of the sort. Tactic one of Project Fear or is that Project Smear is to take what we Brexiteers say totally out of context. Here is what Bojo actually said:
2906 days ago
Jumped up Canadian pipsqueak Mark Carney, the grotesquely overpaid Governor of the Bank of England has again intervened in the Brexit debate but this begs the question, which Mark Carney was lying? I bring you two quotes;
2907 days ago
Dodgy Dave and Project Fear keep on lining up fat cat FTSE 100 bosses to oppose Brexit. None of these chaps are entrepreneurs who start businesses with their own capital. They are just grotesquely overpaid managers who prosper whether profits are rocketing or plunging. They are crony capitalists who like the EU as its feast of red tape helps put smaller competitors out of business. But Dodgy Dave and vile harridans such as Amber Rudd time and time and time again tell us that this means that most businessmen oppose Brexit. It will not surprise you greatly that this is a lie.
2908 days ago
I cannot remember when I first described David Cameron as the heir to Blair. I think it was in 2012 but it may have been at the time of the funeral of Lady Thatcher, whose shoes Dodgy Dave is not fit to lick. Today's comments on Brexit are fantasy lying league stuff which is right up their with with the war criminal Blair's comments on Weapons of Mass Destruction.
2909 days ago
Personally I would not trust the morons in this video from Vote Leave to spend the cash but then I don't trust the EU to spend it wisely either. Couldn't the Brexit chaps find anyone with an IQ of more than 25 to interview? £350 million reasons a week to vote for Brexit as explained by a range of stupid folk.
2909 days ago
Yesterday Dodgy Dave claimed that leaving the EU increased the risk of World War Three. That was a slam dunk 100% lie and some people pointed that out but on the whole he got an easy ride.
Today David Cameron was revealed to have said that Nigerian and Afghanistan are corrupt. Well that is not an opinion that is a fact. According to Transparency International only 16% of the world's countries are more corrupt than Nigeria while Afghanistan is ranked as among the top 1% for corruption. It is in a neck and neck race to be the most corrupt country on this planet.
Naturally the UK gives both countries oodles of aid to be stolen. International aid is as
2909 days ago
I have landed in Kalamata and start with a look at where Greece is now. My friend John the bike man seems to have gone bust. He is not alone. There is a three-day general strike underway but the EU reckons that Greece has solved all its problems? The EU is the problem, or rather the Euro is. Then I look at why I sometimes despair of humanity and notably some of the people in the world of small caps and AIM. I am taking it easy for the summer as a result. Finally some praise for Marcus Stuttard the bogus Sheriff of AIM but then also some criticism and suggestions re African Potash (AFPO) and Ascent Resources (AST)
2909 days ago
I am no late arrival on the Eurosceptic ship. Euroscepticism is hard wired into my DNA. My father's father, the Bennite Sir John Winnifrith spoke for the "out" side in 1975. My mother's brother is Christopher Booker. How could I be anything other than an "outer"?
And so three years ago I designed a T-shirt which I have worn happily in Greece & England ever since. It's Time to Leave. The imposition of a Soviet hammer & sickle on the EU stars says it all about this most undemocratic of establishments.
As hatred of the EU has grown not only in Britain but
2912 days ago
Around 40,000 kids are not going to school today because their stupid left wing parents have instructed them to go on strike. The overpaid and lazy teachers, no doubt delighted that they have even less work to do as they look forward to their ten week summer hols, support the strike. Who suffers from #Kidsstrike3rdMay and why?
Of course it is the kids who suffer since they have one day less of being taught all about global warming killing all the polar bears and
2917 days ago
The Mrs was renewing her MOT. A banner advert on the site linked to take the EU quiz which by mistake she hit. It is a multiple choice quiz by the Government. It is laughable.
2925 days ago
My old pal Jim Mellon is an ardent Europsceptic who campaigns for Brexit although, as a resident of the Isle of Man, he cannot actually vote himself in the great referendum. But all power to his elbow and I am sure that his offshore donations will be put to good use. But there is surely some irony in today's announcement from SalvaRx (SALV) where Jim is the largest shareholder and chairman.
2928 days ago
Carefully planted in the Daily Mail is this little gem from Project Fear: "Don't believe that nasty Boris Johnson...if you vote to leave the EU, the mad Islamofascist nutters of ISIS will be celebrating". Yes that is right, ISIS are backing the out campaign. What cobblers.
This story, dreamed up by Project Fear and served up by the pliant Mail, which has a ghoulish fascination with ISIS and folks having their heads chopped off, centres on claims made by Aimen Dean who used to be in Al Qaeda before becoming a British spy on ISIS. Apparently his cover was blown in 2006 but despite that he claims to know that:
ISIS is planning an attack on Britain (I think we all know that) in order to convince us to leave the EU and when we do the brothers in downtown Raqqa will be celebrating as this marks the start of the break up of Europe or, what Dean terms, the successor to the Roman Empire which fought Muslims for control between the 7th and 11th centuries.
It is hard to know where to start
2929 days ago
Barring a successful last minute appeal by two married celebs the celebrity injunction will be lifted on Thursday morning. The celebs front up an Aids charity but do not want you to know that the younger of the two plays away from home having unprotected anal sex including in threesomes in baths filled with olive oil. The UK Courts are now minded to accept that an injunction is pointless since the latest polls suggest that 55% of folks in England & Wales can now name the celebs. This is the Streisand effect - gagging is counterproductive.
Up until ten days ago while my father, Thomas John Winnifrith, could wax eloquently on
2930 days ago
Turkey is not a member of the EU but it is going to be, whatever those behind Project Fear tell you. As of this summer 75 million Turks can travel within the Schengen zone without a visa. And one day soon they will have full travel rights to come to Britain when Turkey gets full membership.
Mr Cameron and the other figures of the establishment who wish us to say in assure us that Turkey wont be joining the EU with the same sincerity Ted Heath & Harold Wilson told voters in 1975 that Britain's fishing waters would always be for British fishermen only and that all we were joining was a common market.
But we are not driving the good ship EU. To see which way the wind is blowing look at the EU parliament which seems to have no qualms about the fascist, gay
2930 days ago
Stephen Kinnock has never really had a proper job outside the political world apart from a few months with the British Council. Daddy led the Labour Party to defeat then became a European Commissioner. Mummy was an MEP. His Mrs was PM of Denmark stating that her whole family lived in high tax socialist Denmark. Only that Stephen actually paid (very low) taxes in Switzerland where he worked. The establishment investigated and the establishment said that its own had done nothing wrong. Jolly good show.
2934 days ago
The headline is deliberately offensive for as someone who, pro tem, lives in the EU I am utterly offended by an assault on free speech taking place in Germany right now.
Comedian Jan Böhmermann read out a poem in Germany about Turkey's fascist President Erdogan. You know the guy who closes down papers and TV stations that criticise him and treats journalists as "terrorists" if they are not "on side". Erdogan demanded Germany prosecute the guy and Angela Merkel has now agreed to this.
Turkey wants to join the EU and
2934 days ago
My favourite German leftie, Gisela Stuart, a Labour MP for some rat infested bit of Birmingham wasteland, was on The Today programe today explaining why we should all vote to leave the EU.
At one level she pointed out that if we were not members of the Evil Empire we would have an extra £350 million a week more to spend on the NHS. Our "contributions" she argued could be better spent at home. This got presenter John Humphries in a tangle which was a delight to behold as the old lefty just tied himself up in knots.
Rather lazily,
2937 days ago
Like many folks I am still shocked that David Cameron saw fit to use £10 million of taxpayers cash to send out EU propaganda. He termed the glossy booklet as containing facts but as any Latin scholar knows the word FACT is derived from the past tense "it has happened". CMD's glossy booklets contained predictions which thus cannot, by definition, be facts. They are opinions and dubious ones at that.
So what do do with your booklet when it arrives? I suggest
2938 days ago
Nick Clegg, the name rings a bell, didn't he used to be an MP? Apparently he still is and today he sent me a strong email telling me why I must vote to stay in the EU. The last time I remember Nick Clegg telling me I had to vote urgently it was to stop tuition fees for students. Can anyone remember how that one played out?
This time Nick says that I must vote to stay in the EU to ensure we still have low cost air travel in Europe. Apparently if Britain leaves the EU the low cost airlines say that "routes will be cut" and "prices will skyrocket."
Really? Can Mr Clegg
2942 days ago
And so the Dutch referendum on the EU's Trade treaty with the Jew hating Government of the Ukraine has seen a resounding 64% no vote - the opinion polls again under-estimated scepticism as some "shy voters" did not dare admit to politically incorrect views in liberal Holland. Naturally the EU and the Dutch "inners" were across the media last night explaining why this vote does not appear what it seems. It was a classic of Orwellian newspeak. Thus we were told:
The turnout was low (32%) and a spokesman for the inners told Newsnight that most of those who did not vote were on his side. So really it was a win for the EU.
Moreover
2943 days ago
The Dutch are holding the sort of referendum the EU loves today. That is to say the result is non-binding so if the little people vote the "wrong way" their leaders in Holland and their masters at the EU can go ahead and do what they want and ignore them anyway. Welcome to democracy EU style. But the vote could be a snub to Brussels and for that reason lets pray for a No result.
2945 days ago
Australia's foreign minister Julie Bishop has opined that she thinks that it is in Australia's interests that Britain stays in the EU and votes no to Brexit. Meanwhile 99.9% of Britons think that it is in Britain's interest that Aussie nonce Rolf Harris is shipped back to Australia ASAP. As a convicted felon he'd be following a well worn path and frankly there's no reason why the old kiddie fiddler should be allowed to stay here. While we are at it can the Aussies take Germain Greer back as well?
What on earth
2951 days ago
Yes it is official. Today's fairy tale from Project Fear is that if you vote to leave the EU on June 23rd you will be damaging your children and grandchildren. Hell's teeth why didn't Education Secretary Nicky Morgan just go the whole hog and liken Eurosceptics to paedophiles?
The ludicrous assertion is based on the idea that the economy will be damaged by Brexit so young folks will not get jobs. But Ms Morgan asserts this economic view as if it is a proven fact which of course it is not. And thus her whole proposition is just based on opinion and is thus nothing more than an assertion.
In case you think the paedophile jibe is going a little far I refer you
2955 days ago
Cabinet Minister Amber Rudd has been marked down as a ghastly careerist harpie for some time. Her last appearance on Question Time, or rather the last that I could bear to watch, saw her refuse to point out that it was the private sector not the State that created jobs and wealth as she spoke to a hall packed with clinically obese welfare junkies from the grim northern post industrial wastelands. Ms Rudd is someone who will say whatever she thinks will advance her or her cause. I have no idea what she actually thinks if indeed she thinks at all.
As such it is no surprise at all that she is a fully paid up member of Project Fear. And last week she served up the shock claim that if we leave the EU, British Energy bills will rise by £1.5 milion a day - please note that we pay c£30 million a day for the privilege of being in the EU. Let's ignore real maths, Amber reckons we must vote against Brexit to avoid increased power bills.
It is hard to see where Amber gets this idea from other than the drawer marked "bogus claims Project Fear". But
2958 days ago
As we prepare to hand over 6 billion Euro to Turkey and to give 75 million Turks free travel across Europe it seems that nothing that the country's fascist President Erdogan does can raise any objection from the EU or from David Cameron.
2958 days ago
Let's widen the scope of the Bulletin Board Moron of the week contest this time to include the most ludicrous claims made by those in Project Fear, the campaign against Brexit. Yesterday Lord Browne of BP infamy claimed that leaving the EU meant that we might see another Auschwitz (see HERE) - can you trump that for scaremongering? Or do you just want to settle for nominating a common or garden Bulletin Board Moron who did not stiff shareholders with a bill for his rentboy? Whatever..please post all entries in the comments section below. Last week's contest...
2958 days ago
I listen to BBC Radio 4 which seems to be about twenty minutes behind twitter in reporting the latest attacks in Brussels. They are co-ordinated ISIS style. They come a few days after the arrest of the the most wanted man in Europe, an ISIS terrorist. Shouts in arabic were heard before the airport blast which took place next to the American Airlines desk. And naturally the BBC is reluctant to speculate about who might be responsible. Hmmmm let me have a guess?
2959 days ago
The poisonous midget who leads the SNP, Nicola Sturgeon told her party faithful the other day that she was going to organise another referendum on independence come what may. It is no surprise that the midget is so keen on the EU given how she buys into its idea of democracy: the people can vote however they wish in referenda and they will keep voting until they vote the "right" way.
Of course independence would be economic suicide for Scotland. At $100 oil it was spending more than it would have received in tax. 89% of Scots are net takers from the State and the nation is almost united in its belief in money tree economics.
Despite all this spending Scotland gets poorer as the public sector squeezes out the wealth creating sector, and sicker - life expectancy in Glaswegian men is now - at 57 - lower than anywhere else in the EU, indeed in the Eurovision zone which includes Ukraine with its civil war and its Chernobyl legacy.
As an independent nation, Scotland would be the Greece of the North at $100 oil. At $40 oil it would be the Upper Volta of the North which perhaps explains
2960 days ago
Project Fear becomes even more desperate in its attempts to scare us into staying in the EU. Today's "you couldn't make it up but we will anyway" comes from Lord Browne, the former boss of BP.
2963 days ago
By we, I mean the EU which is giving Turkey 6 billion Euro as a bribe to only export the right sort of immigrants (ie Syrians whether they be peace lovers or jihadis) to Europe. As part of the EU's Turk-geld policy we are also planning to allow 75 million Turkish citizens to roam freely around the EU from June and to accelerate Turkey's membership appliocation to join the Evil Empire. What could possibly go wrong? What's not to like. Answers on a postcard to David Cameron in Downing Street because Call Me Dave reckons this is money well spent and wants to be part of this barking mad set-up. I don't which is aother reason I am voting for Brexut.
As a reminder, Turkey bombs our friends the Kurds. It buys oil from ISIS and is the chief supply route of men and arms to ISIS. It closes down newspapers and TV stations that are hostile to the Government. And more than 2000 folk have been arrested for the offence of insulting the Government, that is to say disagreeing with it.
Terrorists are dealt with very harshly but who is a terrorist? Helpfully, President Erdogan has cleared that one up for us all.
2965 days ago
Earlier today I suggested a few more possible scare stories that the increasingly desperate "inners" campaign might spin in order to terrify us into not voting for Brexit. But even I did not think they would come up with a claim this daft.
Tory Minister Anna Soubry has just claimed on the BBC that if we left the EU, Britain would no longer be able to export anything to the EU. Anna knows we run a trade deficit with the EU so if we are blocked from that market and reciprocated the big loser would be the EU. She knows that before we joined the Common Market we were able to export to it. She knows that countries around the world export to the EU.
In short she knows that in stating that exports to the EU would " go down to almost absolutely zero if we come out" she is talking total bollocks.
Anna you cannot be serious.
2965 days ago
This morning, the BBC and the rest of the liberal media cannot get enough of Lt General Ben Hodges who has warned we Brits that we must not vote for Brexit as it could damage NATO. What on earth is a US Soldier doing intervening in a British Election rather defies belief, how would Obama feel if a British General made the equally factually innaccurate claim that Mrs Clinton was a lying, deceitful old dyke and so urged folks to back the GOP this November?
Hodges, who is the top yankee soldier in Europe, seems to think that without Britain the EU could unravel. And if that happens NATO will unravel. Frankly it does not make much of a case for staying in the EU if we are told that if one of its 28 members quits it will fall apart.
Moreover do you need the EU for NATO? The latter was formed in 1949. A small common market did not get going until 1957 but the vast majority of NATO members were not part of that. The Evil Empire itself
2966 days ago
You might think that pop singer Pixie Lott is just another brainless airhead. Au contraire. Apparently she got straight A's at GCSE despite having to record her first album at the same time and thus she can probably tell President Obama all about events in 1776 which the American leader seems to have forgotten all about.
Back then, the folks in the USA resented bitterly being ruled by an empire over the water. They did not like a man for whom they had not voted ( As Ms Lott knows I refer to George 3rd) stiffing them with taxes which exceded expenditure in the colonies or imposing a lot of unwanted new rules and regulations. And thus the Americans declared their independence.
With no sense of irony, George 3rd, sorry I meant President Obama is planning to fly to the UK to lecture us on why we must vote against Brexit and not enjoy our own independence day on June 23rd. Obama can
2967 days ago
I speak as someone who supports - with one massive caveat - free immigration to the UK. But on the matter of EU immigration to Britain the Government is lying to us all and refusing to tell us the real figures. There are two possible reasons for this and either means that Brexit is the only way forward.
2972 days ago
Turkey's record on human rights, free speech on committing genocide against the Kurds on backing ISIS is disgraceful. Ignoring all that, the EU (with Britain involved) is doing a deal with the Turks on the migrants which will still see Europe having to take in millions and will cost us a packet and will see millions of Turks also now heading for Northern Europe. It is an awful deal at every level and Call Me Dave Cameron is at its centre. This should make every waverer decide today to vote for Brexit - the UK cannot afford to be part of the EU Club any longer.
2978 days ago
The Government of David Cameron has today published a document considering the impact on trade and food prices of an EU Brexit. This dodgy dossier contains lies from start to finish as I explain in this podcast.
3105 days ago
A busy day with my daughter beckons. In the evening it is the new James Bond film. But first a lunchtime bootcamp with Uncle Chris (Booker) to put her straight on the Evil Empire, the EU. In the podcast I ask if InternetQ (INTQ) is the new Globo (GBO)? Then I look at Chemring (CHG), Dialight (DIA) - another win for the bears - Afren (AFR) gets a mention as does LGO Energy (LGO), BP (BP.), Union Jack Oil & Gas (UJO) and - just to niggle Wildes - Premaitha (NIPT) whose shares are moving ahead nicely - more to go there!
3107 days ago
In today's podcast I look at the Portugal Coup and what it means for the EU and the Euro. Then onto profits warnings and where I see equities going and finally a note on Mark Carney, UK base rates and UK house prices.
3136 days ago
Rather unusually it was in my Bearcast today that I discussed some of the myths pushed by those opposing offering sanctuary to refugees from Syria - that can be listened to HERE. In this postcard I despair at UKIP ahead of the 2016 Referendum on staying in the EU and express support for President Putin's policy - as opposed to that of the West - in Syria.
3213 days ago
61% of the people in the country that invented democracy last Sunday voted to reject an austerity deal. Five days later, the new Ephialtes, PM Alex Tsipras strong-armed the Parliament to allow him to propose an even worse deal. But it is this weekend when Greece really needs to lube up as the Germans and the Troika prepare for the final humiliating shafting.
For it is clear that as EU finance ministers meet that many of them (the Dutch, Latvians and especially the Krauts) as well as the Troika seen the new Tsipras capitulation (ooops I meant plan) only as a basis for negotiations. That is to say they want even more concessions.
3216 days ago
I note the attack on me by my colleague Euro loon HERE. Like the heroic ex finance minister of the Hellenic Republic Yanis Varoufakis I regard such an attack from a supporter of the EU and Euro as a “badge of honour.” The zealots who believe in the Euro concoct facts to support their religion. They show no humanity in the face of undeserved misery. The Euro and EU is a dream for crony failed politicians, big business, useless parasitic bureaucrats and banksters. It is a combination of crony capitalism and socialism which screws ordinary taxpayers and benefits the elite. My analysis and solutions are pure capitalism – my critic (a bankster) is a crony capitalist. I care about the poor. My critic is heartless.
3219 days ago
I am horrified to see today’s Mail on Sunday spout complete lies about Greece. It saddens me that this paper pays folks like Liz Jones to write sensationalist crap.
We were both (apparently) at the same mass rally in Syntagma Square on Friday. I encountered nothing but calm and peace and a duck among the 50,000 crowd. I did not feel threatened for a second. Liz Jones reports Police firing stun grenades and seems to have got into a bit of a state. There might be the odd hothead everywhere but the Oxi rally was call, determined and dignified.
Liz reports that the Oxi camp want to turn their backs on the Euro and EU. I wish. The Oxi camp want to say in the Euro but believe they can do that without austerity and with debt relief. I do not think Liz has been listening to anyone here.
Liz and her colleagues report that shops are running out of food. Sorry but, overwhelmingly, that is not true. That PM Alex Tspiras
3227 days ago
High drama tonight as Greek PM Alex Tspiras has called a referendum for July 5: should Greece accept the misery of the latest proposals from the banksters or go bust? Events will move rapidly during the next eight days - we may well see the banks shut down as soon as Monday. Already there are long lines outside ATMs in Athens. Is Tsipras right to call a vote? Yes. What should my neighbours in Greece vote? No! They should vote for default and I hope that Tsipras will lead a campaign for such a vote. July 5th could be freedom day, independence day, a glorious day for the Hellenic Republic. It is time for Greece to tell the EU and the banksters where to stick it.
3232 days ago
I don't support the fruitcakes but am 100% Eurosceptic and say what you like about UKIP its latest video advert, below, is superb. Bring on the referendum!
3250 days ago
In March 1821 the Greek war of independence began as the folk in the Mani launched an uprising against the accursed Turks. The Mani, where the Greek Hovel is situated, was always quasi independent anyway but its warlike folk started a fire that could not be supressed. The first major triumph was the storming of the Turk held fortress at Kalamata. No Maniots died but the entire Turkish garrison was slaughtered.
Right now I sit opposite that fortress, in Kalamata bus station having just purchased one more ouzo for the road, to Athens. Tomorrow
3312 days ago
We are being told that business does not want a referendum on our membership of the EU. That is a lie from a multinational elite as I explain. Moreover even were that true that does not mean that we the people, should not be allowed our say - after all are we not meant to live in a democracy? That is the subject matter of this podcast extra.
3417 days ago
A UKIP voter tweeted out a UKIP image suggesting that immigration causes, among other things, crime. I disagree. There is not a causal connection per se between all immigration and increased crime in the UK. And so I challenged this thesis.
I now face a volley of abuse from UKIP tweeters. Apparently I am a “leftard”. Hmmm… the various libertarians with whom I discuss shrinking the state in a way that deficit denying UKIP – happily announcing a raft of new spending pledges all paid for by the cost savings from leaving the EU – will be surprised to hear that I am “leftard”.
I support immigration because it makes Britain richer and it makes it more diverse. I am partly descended from Irish immigrants and my wife’s parents came here from India. Had UKIP been in charge sixty years ago, the parents-in-law would not have been able to pay taxes here for fifty years supporting the NHS (as a doctor) and small businesses as an accountant.
We can debate the economics of immigration all day. To assert that immigration causes crime and that anyone who disagrees is a “leftard” may win UKIP some votes. But it is sort of poison that means that, even though I am dyed in the wool Eurosceptic, it will never gain my support.
3471 days ago
In my weekly personal video postcard I look at the issue of the EU’s money grab on Britain, why UKIP is not the answer but why leaving the EU is.
In my financial video postcard I look at the kerfuffle and all the allegations about David Lenigas, Brokerman Daniel, Horse Hill. Neither of the two men are angels. For the avoidance of doubt neither do I claim to be a saint. However both Lenigas and Dan have come in for unfair stick in recent days and I explains why some of that criticism is so wide of the mark.
Yes both men are my friends but if you do not stand by your friends when they are under siege you are no friend. And some of the attacks made are well out of order. That video can be watched HERE
3576 days ago
Greetings from the Greek Hovel. Actually it is not too bad. The Mrs says that it looks quite clean from my photos. Well that is the one habitable room anyway.
I am yet to fit a shower (you might call it a hosepipe and sprinkler attachment) – that is a Monday job so pro tem I am not exactly in pristine condition. I start with a discussion of my first night in the hovel listening to the wildlife trying to get in.
I then move onto the relationship between Church and State here in Greece. As EU taxpayers are bankrolling this country perhaps we should demand that a quite ludicrous arrangement comes to an end?
My weekly financial video postcard discusses how one should revisit your perceptions of a given stock in light of new information coming to light. It can be viewed HERE
3583 days ago
Poor Phorm (PHRM). It has woes aplenty. First up it runs out of cash and unless some sucker gives it more it will go tits up in six weeks’ time. Secondly it appears unable to tell investors the complete truth about certain of its problems, like being shut down by the regulator in Brazil as I revealed HERE a few days ago. And thirdly it sees that it is not just Brazil where it has problems with regulators.
I noted in my prior piece that whenever Phorm seems to be getting any traction at all in a territory those darned regulators just shut it down. The UK, the US, the EU, etc, etc, etc. But there is always the same pattern of hype (pre fund-raise) and then disappointment.
Right now Turkey and China are in the hype phase. But what are the odds that the regulators will act there at some stage. Maybe the US, the UK, the whole of the EU and Brazil was just a fluke? So let’s look at last year’s hype story …Romanian, birthplace of Mr Nastase, the coolest tennis player in history.
According to Phorm’s latest RNS:
3627 days ago
And so the old parties run by the political classes are running scared of UKIP. After UKIP wins the Euros on Sunday there will be more hand wringing and talk of “we must listen.” Of course they will not. UKIP is not going to win the Westminster elections and so there is a pretence of listening to the voters but it is a sham. Which is why UKIP may not win any or many Westminster seats but it will not go away.
LibLabCon could neutralise it at a strike with just two announcements which negate the poisonous issues of sleaze and Europe.
3663 days ago
For the next two weeks I am on holiday in the remote Mani region of Greece, an area with a colourful history of blood feuds and murder. But on the 29th I drop the Mrs off at the Airport and head into Athens and the very next day we have results from Globo (GBO) whose headquarters are in the Greek capital. Oh what joy.
I do not know where Costis and the boardroom motley crew will be on results day but as a bear who has been vindicated to date I thought it only fair to pay homage at the temple of Globo in downtown Athens. My man on the ground says that it is a “mixed” neighbourhood which, given the impoverishment of Greece by the EU, I take to mean a tad on the rough side. Google Maps indicate that Globo towers is on a side street but only a short dash to a main road should I not be well received.
It all sounds rather interesting
3681 days ago
In my weekly video postcard I discuss the three reasons why I plan to hold my nose and vote UKIP in the Euro Elections on May 22nd. The only thing that might dissuade me from this is some of the utterly bogus scaremongering that some of the fruitcakes following UKIP Fuhrer Nigel Farage over the top come out with. For scaremongering to work it has to be vaguely plausible and that brings me to UKIP loon of the day, Councillor Suzanne Evans who is apparently UKIP’s National Communities spokesperson (whatever that is).
Cllr Evans (@SuzanneEvans1) tweets today:
“So it has finally come to this: Euro-court outlaws criticism of EU - http://fw.to/MGg3gIM Be afraid. Be very afraid. #EUSSR”
Cripes will I be sharing a cell with Uncle Chris (Booker), Ms Evans and Farage before long? Time to be fearful.
But then hit the link. It is to an article published on the 7th March 2001 – more than 13 years ago! Since then myself, Booker, Farage, Evans and hundreds of thousands of other folk have been bashing the Evil Empire on a daily basis and none of us have been prosecuted. The article was clearly rubbish back then but to cite it as evidence of a new threat today is incredibly amateurish scaremongering indeed.
Councillor Evans is UKIP fruitcake of the day. Her party can have my vote in the Euros but if halfwits like her came anywhere close to achieving real power I would view the matter rather differently.
3681 days ago
My weekly video postcard is longer than usual as I will probably not record another for two weeks.
I am now 100% focussed on preparing for the UK Investor Show on Saturday April 5 and I touch on what I am looking forward to next week most, notably the shareholder activism session. You can still grab one of the last 50 seats going by clicking HERE.
After that I am off to Greece and I shall be sending back a few videos from a country which, I shall argue, has suffered both from being in the Euro but also from EU membership.
In that vein the meat of this video postcard covers the three reasons why, holding my nose, I shall almost certainly vote UKIP on May 22nd.
Tom’s weekly financial postcard covers Minoan, EMED, Globo, Gulf Keystone and more on the UK Investor Show. To watch that video click HERE
3694 days ago
The EU and USA are not recognising the referendum in Crimea. In both zones the political classes simply fail to understand that democracy is the will of the people and that for almost 100 years an abiding principle of international law has been the principle of self-determination.
Today I feel more strongly as ever on this matter.
The referendum in the Crimea was not perfect. I am not sure that 95% of Crimeans really wanted to rejoin Russia. But the vast majority clearly did. And as such let the people have their say.
In contrast when the people of, say, Ireland have voted no to the concentration of powers within the EU, the leaders of the Evil Empire have simply bullied them and told them to think again.
In Kosovo the 1991 referendum was clearly somewhat flawed. Would you as a minority Serbian have rushed back to your burned out village to vote? But most Kosovans wanted to be free of Serbia – that was clear and so the EU recognised the result. Natch the EU did not recognise referendums held in Northern Kosovan districts in 2012 which – with a Serbian majority population - voted to leave Kosovo.
For the EU referendums are only valid if the little people vote the right way. Otherwise they are either not recognised or the little people are told to vote again. This is not democracy. What has happened in Crimea is democracy. And as such we should be supporting it and the principle of self-determination without reservation.
The UK should today be imposing sanctions on Belgium and confiscating the assets of anyone employed by the Evil Empire at a senior level in order to show our support for democracy and self-determination and our opposition to those who seek to deny the wishes of the people if those wishes are “inconvenient.”
3702 days ago
It did not gain much coverage in the UK press but last week the Israeli Navy intercepted a boat called the Klos C which was on its way from Iran, carrying a very special cargo, ultimately destined for the Hamas regime in Gaza.
This is the regime which receives vast amounts of funding from the EU every year. It is a regime which, according to the EU and other apologists for any crime committed against Israel is peace living and only acts in defence. So what was the Klos C carrying?
It was carrying missiles with the ability to hit any spot within the State of Israel and to kill Jews. For that is what Hamas is committed to. Of course when the Israeli Defence Forces intercepts ships with cargos ultimately bound for Gaza to stop deathly weapons getting through this is viewed as an act of aggression by its apologists in the West.
And so I ask you for suitable captions for this picture, the winner getting a discount voucher to Maribelle's
For what it is worth my entry is: “Fresh from creating harmony to the Ukraine, EU foreign minister Baroness Ashton issues a message of thanks to the people of Iran for their assistance in creating a one-state final solution to the problems in Palestine.”
Last week I asked you for captions to this picture of a man born with a silver spoon in his mouth who has never done a useful day’s work in his life and also of Prince Phillip.
The impartial judge (my cat Tara) reckons that the best entry came from me, viz:
"Okay that is Fergie taken care of now where should we put Boris Johnson?"
I hope that you can do better than me this week – post your entries in the comments section below.
3706 days ago
The democratically elected President of Ukraine was a prize rotter but was ousted in a coup. The EU supported that coup because the old guy was not so keen on joining the warm embrace of the EU.
The Ukraine is bankrupt. It is set to default on its debts because a) its bloated Government spends too much, b) it was and probably still is run by crooks.
Large parts of the Ukraine do not want to join the EU. Sadly those large parts are generally the economically viable Russian speaking parts in the East. It is the unviable Western bits that wish to sign up to the joys of the EU. And, having prompted this mess with its meddling, the EU now wishes to send 11 billion Euro off out east. But hang on a sec? The EU has its own deficit. It has only just asked the UK to pony up an extra couple of billion quid to cover that black hole. Several of its existing members (Greece, Spain, Italy, etc) are themselves bust.
Where is this 11 billion coming from? The bloody Money Tree of course. That is to say taxpayers in the not yet bust EU countries now. And future generations of taxpayers in any EU country that is still solvent in years to come.
Grotesquely overpaid politicians love spending other folk’s cash and the EU serves up the worst offenders in this respect – step forward Cathy Ashton, for example. When will it learn its lesson: a) stop meddling outside the EU, b) sort out your own near-terminal problems before trying to fix those of others?
The EU fostered the coup and now wishes to send your cash to support a regime containing a good sprinkling of Jew hating neo-Nazis. It should instead be apologising, firing the lead meddlers and allowing Ukraine to go bust and market forces to work their magic.
Which country has done better since it faced bankruptcy Greece or Iceland. The former gets the EU bailouts, the crooks stay in charge and is still bust with its population facing economic Armageddon. The latter went bust, sent the crooks to gaol, reconstructed and is now the fastest growing economy in Europe.
I guess Ukraine wishes to follow the Greek model.
3709 days ago
I doubt that this will be popular but the mess that is the Ukraine today is not the fault of Russia but of liberal leaders in the West who just cannot stop meddling in other folk’s affairs. As for the response of Vladimir Putin and Russia, I have every sympathy with the old tyrant. On this occasion his actions are utterly defensible.
Let’s start with the overthrow of the crooked former President Yanukovych. There is no doubt that he was looting state coffers and was not a very nice man. He was, however, democratically elected. The EU has been trying to get the Ukraine into its orbit with a treaty of co-operation for a couple of years. The President was not helpful. So the West meddles.
The West does not really understand that the Ukraine is not exactly a homogenous block. It should perhaps have looked back to the last War when most Ukrainians fought alongside the Russians but a good number fought either for an Independent Ukraine or actually fought with Germany. But heck that is history so who cares, the EU marches on.
And so we supported tacitly and indeed verbally those who wished to overthrow the President. Senior EU politicians flocked to Ukraine to offer support. Why? It was none of our god damn business? Look at the speeches of US Politicians such as John Kerry but also the truly abysmal EU Foreign Secretary Baroness Ashton. As in Syria we back the rebels against an unpleasant regime just assuming that your enemy’s enemy is your best pal. As in Syria we are wrong.
I accept that many of those who protested in Kiev are good folks who would feel at home in a liberal Western democracy. But the hard-core, the ones that held firm against the riot police? Think again. Those hard core are the militant wings of political parties that are now represented in Parliament. Watch some recent interviews. I quote the leader of one of the largest militias (interviewed on the BBC) “We are nationalists, we want a country for Ukrainians…that means without any Russians…or Jews.” These are the folks
3752 days ago
UKIP Councillor David Silvester has written to his local paper in Henley, arguing that the recent storms to hit Britain were God’s punishment on David Cameron for legalising gay marriage. Hmmmm.
UKIP says that this is not official party policy but that every party member has his or her right to express their beliefs. Well how jolly tolerant. For that I applaud UKIP but it could have gone one step further and added that on this matter Councillor Silvester has views which can only be described as completely bonkers bordering on offensive in a bigoted way.
UKIP claims to be a libertarian party. One would have thought that to describe Councillor Silvester’s views as libertarian would be pushing it a little. As libertarians we should support the rights of this bigoted old fruitcake to say whatever he wants. But we should also be allowed to and instinctively feel the need to express the view that such views are pretty repellent and clearly do mark Silvester out as a bigoted old fruitcake.
UKIP keeps on having these episodes where party activists are exposed as bigoted nutters. The UKIP line – as expressed to me by a national organiser – is that “we have one or two backwoodsman who will embarrass us now and again.”
The trouble is that it is not one or two but rather too many UKIP members who clear hold some rather unpleasant views about homosexuals, immigrants, Jews and other minorities.
You can bet your bottom Euro that Silvester will not be the only UKIP nutter to emerge in 2014. I suspect that will not deter many of us from holding our nose and voting UKIP in the Euros just because the established political parties are so awful and because we hate the EU. But when it comes to a REAL election will quite so many folks really want to send some of the loons who fly the flag for Fuhrer Farage to Westminster? Somehow I doubt it.
3766 days ago
I stumbled on this video today where Tory MEP Dan Hannan, who is easily the cleverest Tory going, puts three Euro-loons (headed by the almost comical Lib Dem MEP Sir Graham Watson) utterly to the sword. This is a breathtakingly good indictment of the Evil Empire.
3793 days ago
High profile defector to UKIP Victoria Ayling is now exposed on camera saying about immigrants that she wants to “send them all back.” UKIP Fuhrer, Nigel Farage says that this is “slightly odd”. No, Nigel it is despicable. What do you not understand about that?
3816 days ago
If you were not short of reasons to leave the Evil Empire…here is another one. There is little doubt that the good folks of Gibraltar want to remain British. But bankrupt Spain has other ideas and has been turning up the heat on this issue with ludicrous border restrictions. And whose side is the EU on? Obviously..
The EU commission today states that it
“has not found evidence to conclude that checks on persons and goods as operated by the Spanish authorities at the crossing point of La Linea de la Conception have infringted the relevant provisions of Union law.”
What the fuck? But it gets worse. The EU has decided that if anyone is doing anything wrong it is the wicked British and is demanding that we:
“develop risk based profiling (in particular Gibraltar should ensure non-systematic and risk analysis based checks on travellers and their belongings upon exit from Gibraltar, optimising legislationand safeguards in view of contributing to an efficient fight against tobaccosmiuggling; and develop the exchange of intelligence on tobacco smuggling with Spain.”
So what is that about a single market? Jeux sans frontiers, etc.
3841 days ago
Why do these fools set themselves up for humiliation? Well if you are President of the Evil Empire you are used to it. And so this afternoon Herman Van Rompuy (@auHvR) tweeted: Welcome all to this live Twitter Q&A on innovation. I may not answer all Qs, but will try to answer as many as possible #Askthepresident – if he was expecting not to get any questions he was in for a shock. Tosser! You deserve it. Here is the best of #Askthepresident
The day the Evil Empire met British twitter users at their best and was trashed:
3882 days ago
I think you know that I love Greece as does the Deluded Lefty, I mean the Mrs. What is there not to love about this place? Hmmmm.
There is the Greek two kilometres. How far is it to the nearest taverna from our hotel? We asked the man at the local taverna which did not actually serve food and did not seem terribly strong on the drink front either. Two kilometres he said. Our hearts sank.
3925 days ago
Last week the EU took three decisions regarding Israel which are in short despicable and take the Jew hating stance of the Evil Empire to new levels. Led by the former CND activist and total non-entity Baroness Ashton (the EU Foreign Secretary), the Evil Empire has plunged to new depths.
The first two measures impose trade sanctions on Israel. Any goods produced beyond the 1949 Armistice lines will now have to be flagged up with specific labelling and any entity with an address beyond those lines will be deni8ed any EU contracts or funding. The 1949 Armistice lines are not Israel’s borders but merely the point at which Arab armies were halted as they tried to wipe out the Jewish state at birth. So areas which the UN recognises as Israeli and which are Israeli under International law will be targeted by the EU.
Frankly, economically successful Israel does not need money from bankrupt Europe and so can stand on its own two feet. But having to wear a “yellow star” on your goods has kind of sinister undertones.
The third measure is the truly vile one. You will remember that in the West we are meant to be fighting a “war on terror”, tracking down the sort of evil which sees rockets fired on innocent men women and children and suicide bombers head onto buses? Remember that? Well I guess it doesn’t matter to the EU if those innocent men, women and children are only frigging Jews.
The EU
3944 days ago
All Governments across the globe have an appalling track record when it comes to picking stockmarket losers when it comes to handing out grants and loans. Ask President Obama about Solara? Remember John De Lorean? And with the EU unable to get its own accounts signed off without qualification you would expect that it would be the worst stock picker of the lot. You would expect correctly.
In light of Avanti Communications (AVN) profits warning today, I offer up a list of PLCs that have secured EU grant funding. It seems like an ideal short portfolio. The list may not be complete but it is a starter for ten.
3947 days ago
Larissa is the birthplace of Achilles and the provincial capital of Thessaly. It is a fairly sleepy town of 162,000 people which is nor rich, or certainly shouldn’t be, since the mainstay of the regional economy is small scale farming. How odd then that ownership of Porsche Cayenne’s per head of population in this town was twice the OECD average. Hmmmmm.
Welcome to the 100 sheep trick from the good old days. Each Greek farmer got a large EU grant per sheep. The EU did have to inspect the sheep but had to pre-arrange its visits with the local Mayor. There are ten farmers each owning 20 sheep. The inspector arrives and finds that farmer A has 100 sheep. The mayor takes him to a farm on the other side of town owned by farmer B where there are also 100 sheep. Back to farmer C where there are also 100 sheep and so on. The inspector is not Welsh so fails to twig that by the end of his visit he has seen the same 200 sheep five times each.
The grants are duly handed out to all ten farmers. They then employ one Albanian on peanuts to look after 200 sheep and head off in their Porsche Cayenne’s to the village square to drink coffee.
Everyone in Greece knew this was going on but no-one complained. The EU was spending other people’s money (er yours and mine) and so did not care. It was great that Greece had joined the Evil Empire which now reached from the Shetlands to within a couple of miles of Asia. Party on…
Yes I feel sorry for the Greek people and for poor Hellas. But it is worth remembering that in the good times more than a few Greeks trousered it big time and we paid for that.
3961 days ago
Is it time to sell everything? Probably not but it is quite possible that all asset classes will fall sharply in the coming weeks and months. – Well that is the theme of my financial video postcard this week which you can watch on Shareprophets.com here.
The political postcard focusses on the Euro, the EU, State sponsored theft and the end game. I sense that we Eurosceptics are about to be vindicated big time and soon.
3972 days ago
Trying to find out how much money the EU has given to Gaza in aid is almost impossible but you will be delighted to know that we are the biggest backers of this regime. And so just what sort of regime are we shovelling cash to? In that vein I read press reports this week where senior court official Khaled el-Batash argued that Gaza courts should have their own police, who would implement court rulings by publicly executing condemned criminals.
Public executions would serve to deter Gaza residents from serious crime, he argued. The Hamas regime has already reintroduced the death penalty for a number of crimes, among them murder, rape, drug dealing, and - the most heinous of all, "collaborating" with Israel. That charge is appled to those who who provide information on terrorist activity that is used to assassinate terrorists or otherwise thwart attacks. In other words if I report a potential suicide bomber or the site of an illegal rocket launcher to the wicked Jews I can be executed.
Some of these executions have indeed occurred without a formal trial and in public but it seems now that the “moderates” are on the back foot and that there is a push for more public executions. And this from a regime that is only solvent because of EU aid. It is always good to know that my taxes are going to such good causes.
3972 days ago
The world has got cooler since 1998 – even the Met Office admits this. We have skiing in Central Europe in June. But the last bastion of global warming nutters is predictably enough the EU. I bring you a real delight – the EU long range weather forecasts 2071-2100. As you can see “The rain in Spain falls…nowhere” We can all look forward to no rain, stacks of tropical nights and the Sahara desert crossing the Mediterranean and creeping up towards Switzerland. Sheer fantasy. Your money.
The link is here
3981 days ago
In four weeks’ time the happy band of brothers that is the EU will welcome a new member – its 28th. Welcome aboard Croatia you do not know all the fun you have been missing.
The unemployment rate in Croatia is 20.9% (against a Eurozone average of 12.2%) while youth unemployment is already 51.8%. So in terms of making this a greater “common market” what will be the added trade benefits to Britain of welcoming this economic basket case on board? Er…exactly.
But of course it means that Croats can now pack their bags and seek employment or claim benefits elsewhere in Europe. The first flight (one way) out of Zadar, Croatia to London Stansted after July 1st is on July 3rd and costs 47.99 Euro with Ryanair. You kind of sense that it will be sold out soon.
As an employer I welcome more cheap labour. Persuading a native Brit to come off welfare and earn £16,000 as a waitress is pretty much impossible and so the EU provides an answer. I gather that there are some good looking birds in Croatia and so I am not grumbling.
But I am not sure that on balance, the addition of another country which will be a net taker from EU funds really makes the case for the UK staying in the Evil Empire any more compelling.
As for Croatia presumably with its economy already fucked it can do a few Greek style fiddles and compound its misery by applying to join the Euro. At which point youth unemployment of 51.8% will seem like the “good old days.” Although perhaps not quite as good as the the glory days the last time it linked up in an Axis lead by Germany.
3983 days ago
I see that the EU is lifting its embargo on arms sales to Syria at the insistence of Britain and France. Why UK trade policy should be dictated by the Evil Empire escapes me but that is not the issue here – the concern is that the UK is set to give weapons to the FSA ( the coalition fighting President Assad). This is sheer insanity.
For the past few months the Western powers have tried to show that Assad is a truly evil man committing war crimes on a daily basis. It is surely only a matter of Time before Tony Blair pops up to suggest that he has Weapons of Mass Destruction capable of hitting Britain in 45 minutes. The agenda all along has been to supply arms to the rebels.
Of course evidence on the ground shows that both sides in Syria are committing atrocities on a daily basis. William Hague may feel able to play God and decide that one side is better than the other but I cannot. Both seem utterly loathsome.
One thing that is clear
4011 days ago
David Cameron: an out of touch, principle free, liar – a Godsend to UKIP
147 net gains for UKIP on Thursday was a political earthquake. The political classes are scared. They do not like it up ‘em.
Like most folks I was first attracted to UKIP over the EU. It wants out of the Evil Empire and so do I. Does it have any other policies? Yes. Do I agree with all of them? No. But where we disagree on matters like immigration UKIP at least accepts that the current system (easy entry + free welfare) is a joke and unworkable. UKIP would make entry impossible & keep welfare, I would make it automatic but scrap the welfare.
My point is that UKIP is instinctively right in that it sees – as do – most folks in Britain – that there is a vast problem. In its DNA UKIP is on the right track. The established parties have – for years – made it clear that the immigration system needed minor adjustments. They have lied about the scale of immigration, tarred anyone who questioned the system as a racist and then occasionally made tiny changes which stop skilled workers coming here ( who we want) in order to win grubby votes and Daily Mail headlines.
And so when David Cameron or Ken Clarke or any of the other mainstream politicos of all three parties tarred UKIP as racist in the past they meant it. That is what they actually believed. When they now say they are “listening” and must “connect with the views of those who voted UKIP” it is just another big fat lie. It is a lie born out of desperation.
And that brings us to David Cameron
4012 days ago
As I sit at Bristol Temple Meads preparing to head up to London it is 8.30 AM and just 7 of 34 councils have declared the local results from last night. But already it is clear that the ONLY clear winner is UKIP. There is little doubt that Nigel Farage’s party will make further big gains from the other 27 counts and that it is a triumph. But does it mean much?
The results are pretty spectacular given that four years ago UKIP stood in few of these seats. In other words they have come from nowhere. As things stand UKIP is on 42 seats (level pegging with Labour) and a net 42 ahead. The Tories are 66 down, the Lib Dems 15 down and Labour 30 ahead. Where UKIP has stood it has averaged 27% of the vote and should gain c20% overall – well ahead of the Lib Dems and not far behind Labour.
So what does it mean? The easy calls first.
Together with its abject result in the South Shields by-election (the worst by a major party since 1948) the locals are a disaster for Nick Clegg and the Lib Dems. There will be yet more angry beardy weirdies
4014 days ago
At 8 degrees - the swimming temperature is chalked on a board each day – these intoxicating waters, sparkling and dancing in the early morning sun of an early May morning have the coolness and body of champagne; perhaps a Dom Perignon 55 in deference to Ian Fleming, who once lived nearby and who may have had a swim or two here in his days living on the edge of Hampstead Heath. All Etonians are taught to swim after all. The idea of 007 swimming in champagne seems perfectly normal. The water clinches you in a thrillingly cool embrace that would have pleased Her Majesty’s secret agent, as it does me. Did not 007 seduce some gorgeous foreign agent by a river whilst sipping the classic vintage? I trust the lady was stirred but not shaken.
Pond swimming prompts the imagination. I consider the policies of our Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne - wondering if he could in fact be a vampire
4017 days ago
Christopher Booker founded Private Eye, was campaigning journalist of the year several times in the 1970s and as a columnist on the Sunday Telegraph and ( sometimes) on the Daily Mail he is a scourge of global warming nutters, the EU and all things that right thinking folks despise. He is also my uncle and godfather. And he knew the late Margaret Thatcher well. His speech at UK Investor Show on April 13 reflects on that and on Maggie’s U-Turns on Europe and on global warming as well as setting the record straight on her attitude to apartheid. It is a stormer.
4030 days ago
In Greece youth unemployment is c60%. Ditto Spain. In Eire 30%. But these figures dramatically understate, yes I repeat understate, what is going on and it is the Euro that is to blame. An entire generation across much of Europe is being pulverized, systematically smashed and it is the Euro worshipping leaders of the same countries who are to blame. This is almost a crime against humanity.
Why the understatement?
4044 days ago
Cyprus is a small island and it was easy to ignore or play down events at first but the situation is now out of control. We live in a new world order, the post Cyprus order and you need to wake up to the reality of that fast.
The Euro was never an economic project. It was a political one. And as such the “believers” brushed aside any economic objections and sought to ensure that everyone joined the club. Some countries were not fit to join (Portugal, Eire Spain, Italy, France, Greece, and Cyprus) but that mattered little. The leaders of those countries and the ECB agreed to lie in order to gain entry.
This was a concerted lie by the political elites across Europe – a class distinct from the folks they nominally represent. And so today as the Euro collapses the political elites of Poland, Rumania and elsewhere are still applying to sign up. Hey, I know the Titanic is going down but is there any chance of me jumping off a floating currency lifeboat and getting on board your fine vessel? Madness.
And one reason that it is madness is that we have no idea how Cyprus will play out. The initial plans for state bank robbery have been shelved and so if you have less than 100,000 Euros in your bank account that money is, pro tem, safe. But it is impossible to withdraw it in more than small tranches. If you have more you will lose some of it. Perhaps 40% or 60% or potentially all of it. The idea that bondholders should lose everything if a bank fails seems fair to me. The idea that depositors should lose cash is just obscene.
What will be the effects?
For one you will see a growing scandal of how the political elite looked after its own and its friends.
4049 days ago
For all the posturing by hopeless and useless Tory wannabee leader Theresa May and others the reality is that terrorist Islamofascist hate preacher Abu Qatada is staying in the UK. The Court of Appeal has backed his claim to stay. And that means that he will stay here in a large house (funded by you, the taxpayer), receiving thousands of pounds of benefits for him and his family each month ( funded by you), making no effort to work or get a job, preaching hate and almost certainly assisting evil terrorists. The UK law is quite simply a joke.
There are those who say that the Government should simply over-ride law and stick him on a plane back to Jordan or just get him bumped off. But once you give the State the power to ignore the rule of law for one individual (albeit a total scumbag) it can then use such arbitrary powers as it wishes – the Rubicon has been crossed. Pretty soon you will find whistleblowing bearded scientists lying dead in the woods. Oh, okay we have been there already. You will find folks arrested for shouting dissenting views at the Prime Minister. Oh, okay we have been there already. But you get my point – you cannot trust the state with arbitrary power to break the law.
And so we just have to recognise that the law sucks and get the daft Human Rights legislation driven through by the Wicked Witch and her husband the war criminal Blair amended. If that is not possible within the EU then the case for leaving gets ever stronger. But change the law and then kick him out. Meanwhile, sickeningly, we all pay for his benefits.
As for Theresa May. Heck we all know that she wishes to lead the Tory party and she talks tough. But does she actually do anything useful at all?
4057 days ago
The prime focus of AIM and TSX Listed EMED Mining (LSE:EMED) is on restarting the huge Rio Tinto copper mine in Spain but it was set up in Cyprus (it initially targeted a small copper deposit there) and so lo and behold it still has some Cypriot bank exposure. And yesterday the company announced that as a result it will fall victim to the great EU bank robbery. The following explains...
4057 days ago
Turn down the volume, this chappie makes my language in the kitchen on a busy Friday at Real Man Pizza Company look like the output of a Swiss finishing school. I think he is mad and a little confused. But enjoy..
4059 days ago
I think sound and vision nailed once again. I am finally getting the hang of this. I am meant to be celebrating St Patrick’s Day with some Irish-for-a-day folk which means just mindless drinking. Since they were not Irish yesterday they will not understand why there is nothing to celebrate today. And so I may dodge that for some more writing. Pro tem here is the video postcard for this week
On the Agenda
Approximate Running time 10 minutes
4059 days ago
Cyprus has become the fifth Eurozone nation to get a bailout but this one is different. At the insistence of the Germans one condition of the bailout is that private citizen’s pay and they will do so via a tax of up to 10% levied on all bank deposits in the Mediterranean island. This is pure socialism in action – the idea that the legitimate savings made by an individual as a result of fully taxed income can just be seized by the State. It is a horrific precedent.
For having established that the State can effectively seize whatever it wants whenever it wants you rather accept that you have no private property or savings. You can work your socks off, pay taxes to support those who do not work, save prudently so that you will not be a burden on the State or your family in the future and then one day the State just seizes your money. Heck why stop at 10% of bank deposits? Why not seize land, houses, etc.? The precedent is now there and this is an EU precedent.
David Cameron wishes to remain part of an organisation which thinks that State sponsored theft of private wealth is acceptable. I do not and nor, I suspect, do most British people. If the Conservative party and for that matter the Lib Dems and Labour support State sponsored theft that is fine they should be honest about it and we can all vote UKIP. But will the established parties stand up to the political elite in the Evil Empire and say
4071 days ago
The answer to the 1998 financial crisis was to slash borrowing costs across the globe so that we all over-leverages and misallocated our capital. On that occasion it was junk dotcom investments and property. In 2008 another crises and the same solution. The fact is that the world has been misallocating capital for decades, led by Governments freed from prudence by the abandonment of the gold standard in 1971.
With each crisis that crops up, the solution is simply to print more money and to get folks to take on even more debt. You owe too much – heck borrow some more. And so capital is misallocated and bubbles grow ever bigger. But at some stage the party ends. It will. The current set up is simply unsustainable.
And so what will be the black swan event that causes the mother of all reality checks? If offer four runners and riders. Inevitably if one occurs it will trigger the others. And it will probably be a fifth black swan that no-one has thought much about that starts the party. But here goes.
1. The Chinese property bubble. I have written before on numerous occassions about just how mammoth this is and how it really can knock the Chinese (and thus the worlds) economy for six. The answer of the authorities to the slowdown in the PRC in 2012 was to pump more hot air into this bubble. It has to be my top black swan bet. Read this piece out yesterday on Zero Hedge if you doubt me.
My major work from September 2012 on China, the misallocation, fraud an inevitably of a crash is HERE
2. A market refusal to buy US T Bonds in an auction. The US Government is three years away from having a balance sheet like that of Greece just before the crisis. An economically illiterate President and, to show balance, a spineless Republican party in Congress just cannot get to grips with what is happening. The US today is like sick Britain at the end of WW1. But it will take the US far less time than we took to see its currency tank. At some stage folks will refuse to stump up cash for a debt that yields sod all and is clearly unrepayable and unsupportable.
3. Sovereign default across Europe accompanied by widespread Civil unrest. The only folks buying Spanish debt right now are the Spanish state pension funds. Oooh lucky Spanish state pensioners. But those funds are tapped out. Spain is bust and its economy is enjoying an EU austerity driven spanking session which Max Mosley could only dream of. It is not just Spain. Italy, Greece, Portugal are in the same mess. The Irish economy and society has been beaten to a pulp in the name of fiscal responsibility and yet could still collapse. France is heading the wrong way fast as is the UK. The collapse of the Euro as we know it has to be an odds on bet it is a matter of how it occurs.
4. The Arab spring moving to Saudi Arabia. A regime with no legitimacy is kleptocratic, autocratic and barbaric. It bribes the people with a fraction of the nation’s wealth and panders to radical Islam in a most unhealthy sort of way but it is unloved. One day it will fall. Revolution in the world’s largest oil producer could perhaps trigger unforeseen events elsewhere.
Hey, maybe we can all carry on spending beyond our means, leveraging up as individuals and as States for a good while yet. We have been kicking this can down the road for decades so maybe we can carry on for another few decades. Or maybe not. One day something will happen and we will find our noses against the wall at the end of the Cul-de-sac. That day may be sooner than we think.
For more thoughts from Tom Winnifrith follow him on twitter @tomwinnifrith
4075 days ago
The Lib Dems held on but UKIP was surging. A couple more days and UKIP would have snatched it. In the end it was wasted Tory votes that let the Lib Dems in as Call Me Dave’s party came third in what is his 40th target seat. Labour was always irrelevant here, its own disaster is not an issue.
The Lib Dems will be greatly relieved to have held onto what should be one of their safest seats albeit in very tough circumstances: Chris Huhne off to do porridge and the current sex scandal. For now Clegg hangs on but if he is shown to have lied about his knowledge in the sex pest cover up he may still face the chop. This is not the start of a Lib Dem recovery, Rennardgate may well still drag that party to Thorpe style lows.
UKIP is now coming second in both leafy southern towns like Eastleigh but also GMSH’s like Rotherham. There is a growing disgust with the entire political class and UKIP is the big winner from that. All the established parties should be worried but they are so arrogant and out of touch that the corrupt establishment will not change tack.
But the big losers right now are the Tories. As long as Call Me Dave stays as Tory leader it is only a matter of time before UKIP gains an MP. For the Tories are in trouble.
4083 days ago
In a sense this a daft question. Spain IS bust. We are just not admitting it yet. The Euro fanatics at the EU will not admit it until it has happened. But the day of truth is almost upon us. Spain will go bust and we will see a Sovereign default this year, taking the Euro down with it -or at least forcing a two speed Euro upon the Evil Empire.
Greece was small fry. Spain matters.
I suggest that you read this brief note from Phoenix Capital on the Zero Hedge website and think very carefully about what happens next. You can read that note HERE.
4084 days ago
Like all politicians Boris Johnson likes signing off on big grandiose projects. He looks good at the opening ceremony. The ego is swollen. And heck he is not paying. I have noted before (here ) how BoJo has rather lost the plot in advocating that a bankrupt Government swells its deficit for “capital projects”. So far the Labour party has rejected his leadership application. But now in small detail we see one of Bojo’s little “capital projects” for London unravelling in a most embarrassing fashion
I refer to the £60 million cable car which links the Greenwich Peninsular to the Excel Centre. It was promised that this obvious folly would be self-funding thanks to passenger fares. Oh dear. Check out the graph below. It does not seem like many folks are using it. And apparently it is now pissing away £50,000 a week of taxpayers’ money off to money heaven.
So who will rescue BoJo? Well it is unlikely to be his non-pal Call Me Dave. Who likes pissing away cash big time? Yes, of course. Someone once said:
The EU budget will never be properly policed because the cash doesn’t properly belong to any nation — it belongs to “everybody”. And since it belongs to everybody, each individual country cynically reasons that there isn’t that much harm if its own citizens quietly loot as much of it as they reasonably can.”
Very wise. Who was that? Oh.. A Mr Boris Johnson. And so later this year Bojo will be picking up a cheque for £8 million from the European Regional Development Fund. Bingo. Happy days. How exactly does this encourage sustainable development? Er… as Boris would say…cripes..that’s a bit of a beastly question. You stinker.”
It is simply another white elephant conceived by a vain politician being bailed out with taxpayers cash. Well done Boris. What with your new found love for the EU you become an ever more credible party leader every day. That is of the Labour party.
4087 days ago
I am not a UKIP member nor can my support be taken for granted – generally I despise all politicians and which they would just stop introducing laws and go away. And with that caveat I approach the looming by –election in Eastleigh with the conclusion that the ONLY sane and the ONLY honest vote is for UKIP.
The election is caused by liar and criminal Chris Huhne (Lib Dem) having to stand down because he is almost certainly heading for prison. In terms of Government and policy it will change nothing. We will still be ruled by this wretched Tory Lib Dem coalition and Labour will still be offering a principle free crackpot populist opposition. And as such an Eastleigh resident can vote with a clear conscience and on principle.
I start with why each of the candidates from the main three parties does not deserve to win a single vote before turning to UKIP.
4091 days ago
This is the annual letter sent out by my friend Richard Poulden. This year – as every year – we wil hold a 10 minute debate at the UKInvestor Show – I am not sure of the subject matter yet but it is always sparky. I am not sure that I agree 100% on China but on Europe we are at one. No debate there. Over to Richard:
“In the absence of the gold standard, there is no way to protect savings from confiscation through inflation” – Alan Greenspan, 1966
“Keep a clear head and always carry a light bulb” – Bob Dylan, 1965
Yesterday morning in Dubai was foggy: thick, gooey, 12-metre visibility stuff. As I drove my daughter to school , I said: “Let’s see how many cars we can find driving without lights”.
“Come on”, she said, “no one could be THAT stupid”
“Oh yes they could”, I said, “I’m going for a starter of three”.
Well we found three cars in the space of a few blocks. As we hit Sheik Zayed Road where the traffic in the fast lane was still doing 120km, she said: “OK, this is crazy, let’s go for 8 or 12”.
“That’s fine”, I said, “but I want to go for the big one: I want to find the European Union…. I want to find a bus..or a large sewage tanker”……and we did.
The gurus at Deutsche Bank published a study
4091 days ago
Just a reminder that my Tomograph Newsletter goes out bi-weekly and the Wednesday shares edition containing that free share tip.
It will be out by 4 PM today and will also include an article on the double Standards of Call Me Dave on the Scotland and EU referenda & on the Philpott Trial and what it says about the mess that is the welfare state.
Want that free share tip plus an Editor’s Choice of the best of the past week plus these two exlusive articles? There won’t be a link on the site!
The only way to get all of that is to
REGISTER HERE
Planned delivery time on Wednesday is 4 PM.
Tom
4095 days ago
David Cameron tells us that he has secured a deal which will ensure that the maximum the EU is allowed to spend between 2014 and 2020 is lower than in the previous seven years – that he has secured budget cuts. This is a lie. And here is why.
The headlines look impressive. The total number falls from £994 billion in commitments (how much the EU is allowed to spend) in the 2007-13 period to £952 billion next time around. Great. Well done Dave. But then look at the fine print and GNI ( essentially inflation since there is never any real terms growth in Europe) adjusted numbers. The last budget was originally set at 864 billion Euro. But each year there us an annual locked in GNI adjustment. And so that 994 billion Euro number is adjusted for 2011 prices.
And the 2014-20 numbers will also get adjusted as time goes along and thus you can bet your last pound that the total number by the time we reach 2020 will be way over a trillion and way over what is projected now. In other words when Call Me Dave talks about a cut what he in fact means is an almost slam dunk increase. And in absolute terms
4101 days ago
The EU has announced that it is to spend £2 million “monitoring” twitter and other new media outlets in the run up to the 2014 European elections. Of this around 40% will not come from existing budgets in the Evil Empire’s Ministry of Truth but is new cash, part of the EU budget increase. The aim of this is explicitly to counteract Euroscepticism. In other words the EU is pissing away your cash to monitor folks like me who write and tweet stuff pointing out what an inefficient, misguided crook factory this edifice is. The stated aim is in persuading voters not to listen (and I presume vote UKIP or for other sceptical parties in Europe) but to “see the light” and vote for Eurofanatics (i.e. Labour, Lib Dems or Call Me Dave’s Tory party).
I quote from a document produced by the Evil Empire:
“Particular attention needs to be paid to the countries that have experienced a surge in Euroscepticism…Parliament’s institutional communicators must have the ability to monitor public conversation and sentiment on the ground and in real time, to understand ‘trending topics’ and have the capacity to react quickly, in a targeted and relevant manner, to join in and influence the conversation, for example, by providing facts and figures to deconstructing myths.”
But what is a myth? The EU tried to tell us that the bent banana directive was a myth until it was shown to be true. Would it say that my statement “The EU is the world’s largest donor of foreign aid and much of this cash is wasted or stolen” is a myth?
4101 days ago
Apologies for the delay in the Friday caption contest – it is all Zak Mir’s fault.
I really cannot think of anything particularly important to prompt tasteless caption entries this week and so fall back on the issue which George Osborne says will be at the heart of the next Tory manifesto and which is guaranteed to bring the faithful back to the Conservative fold.
As you know, I would allow gay marriage. But I cannot say that it is the number one issue on my mind right now. The way that the Tory party is tearing itself apart with half its MPs revealing themselves as knuckleheaded bigots while the other half show themselves as being even more out of touch by making this such a number one priority is almost comical. If the Tories are to tear themselves apart at least they could do it over something that matters like the EU or the fact that Britain is going bankrupt.
Anyhow, to win an “It’s time to leave” T-shirt please post your captions in the comments box below (Jon Pickles, this has to be an easy Prince Harry one for you)
You can, of course, buy your own It’s Time to Leave T-shirt, hoodie, mug or thermos flask here.
For what it is worth my entry is:
4101 days ago
Two years ago the EU ceased to subsidise tobacco growers in Greece, Poland and Bulgaria – folks who received £260 million a year as recently as three years ago. The problem is that their tobacco is a) not very good and b) costs far more to produce than tobacco from the third world so they need subsidies to stay in business. Now the EU wishes to restart subsidies. This is patent nonsense on three levels.
1. This is the same EU that is spending £27 million a yet trying to stop folks smoking. It claims that its campaigns are helping hundreds of thousands of people quit the habit. That is 100% unprovable and I would argue that this money is also being pissed away. But if they want to stamp out the habit why subsidise producers?
4106 days ago
It is quite clear that, as things stand, anyone in Romania or Bulgaria will be able to celebrate New Year’s Day by coming to live in Britain. We are after all brothers in arms in the EU. Given that the average net wage in Romania is £275 a month, with many earning far less, while in the UK families can trouser up to £500 a week tax free on benefits you do not need the brains of Lloyd George to see what is going to happen next. Yet our political elite seem either not to care or not to have an answer and so they resort to lies and smears.
Is it unreasonable for you and I to object to the idea that Romanians and Bulgarians will in very large numbers make a sensible economic choice and move to the UK? Are we racists for objecting? Of course not. The fact is that the UK has mammoth debts and is running a huge budget deficit. So having to pony up vast amounts in benefits for folks from out East is beyond our means. We cannot afford it. This is not an argument about race simply basic economics. Britain is going bankrupt and this could accelerate that process.
4112 days ago
I think this says it all about the Evil Empire.. Pythagoras' theorem - 24 words. Lord's Prayer - 66 words. Archimedes' Principle - 67 words. 10 Commandments - 179 words. Gettysburg address - 286 words. US Declaration of Independence - 1,300 words. US Constitution with all 27 Amendments - 7,818 words. EU regulations on the sale of cabbage - 26,911 words
4112 days ago
Just a reminder that my Tomograph Newsletter goes out bi-weekly and the Wednesday shares edition containing that free share tip.
It will be out by 3 PM today and will also include an article on today’s spineless promise sod all speech from Tony Blair, oops I meant to say David Cameron on the EU plus another piece on the latest fascist edicts from the Evil Empire.
Want that free share tip plus an Editor’s Choice of the best of the past week plus a the EU special? There won’t be a link on the site!
The only way to get all of that is to
REGISTER HERE
Planned delivery time on Wednesday is 3 PM.
Tom
4113 days ago
One Term Dave says:
I dream of German-themed spanking parties. I have a fantasy where I grovel at Angela Merkel’s feet, and she shouts “Schweinhund” and makes me give her £19.2 billion of your money, every year, and then she gives me sheets and sheets of new laws designed to destroy our economy whilst benefiting hers.
In fact, it’s not a fantasy..
4114 days ago
Motor giant Ford has signed an open letter to Call Me Dave saying how disastrous it would be if the UK left the Evil Empire. Quite why the words of the boss of a foreign corporation should carry any weight at all escapes me but to be lectured by this company on the benefits of EU membership is like being told off by Jimmy Savile for not looking after your kids properly.
4119 days ago
Just a reminder that my Tomograph Newsletter goes out bi-weekly and the Wednesday shares edition containing that free share tip.
It will be out by 4 PM today and will also include an article in the latest jobs destroying insanity coming from the EU. Is the Evil Empire not satisfied that there are already 27 million unemployed in Europe?
Want that free share tip plus an Editor’s Choice of the best of the past week plus a the EU lunacy piece? There won’t be a link on the site!
The only way to get all of that is to
REGISTER HERE
Planned delivery time on Wednesday is 6 PM.
Tom
4131 days ago
I would scrap all Foreign Aid tomorrow as most of the cash is wasted, few poor folks benefit and Bankrupt Britain cannot afford to piss away £11 billion a year. In the greater scheme of pissing away cash £27 million is not a lot but to hand that money to the frigging Argies who are demanding that we hand over British Land lived in by British Citizens (viz the Falklands) just fills me with the despair.
Of the £27 million, £20 million is our slug of a£450 million loan from the IMF. That the Argies need an IMF bailout at tall shows why its demented President Fernandez is sabre rattling: because under her stewardship the economy has gone down the pan. But why Bankrupt Britain should have to bail the old trout out is beyond me. But it gets worse.
4133 days ago
In case you missed it, yesterday was the 40th Birthday Party of what we used to know as the European Economic Community (EEC) but is now simply known as the Evil Empire. No doubt in the slums of Athens and Madrid as youth unemployment hits 60% they were having a party to celebrate. Back here in the UK our political and media elite were strangely quiet on the matter because they are – for the most part – supporters of the EU in one form or another but aware that the plebs feel rather differently.
In years gone by, we Europsceptics were a minority. Our predictions that the Euro would be a disaster on economic grounds and that the Evil Empire would seize powers from Britain were dismissed by the bien pensants as the rantings of a crazed Xenophobic, little Englander, sort of racist minority. Yet sadly for Lords Howe, Hurd, Pantsdown, Mandelson, etc and for Tony Blair himself we sceptics have been proved 100% accurate in our predictions. And consequently popular opinion among those who pay for this folly (the pleb, taxpaying class) has moved strongly our way. As such the “guilty men” can no longer equate euroscepticsm with racism etc as they know they are insulting well over half the electorate.
The debate among the political/media classes in the UK
4139 days ago
Okay this is from the Parliament of the Evil Empire May 2011 but I have only just stumbled across it thanks to Nigel Wray (a man with sound views on the EU). It is truly superb stuff.
Wait for the Question from Euro-loon MEP Mr Goebbels after the main speech and to Bloom’s wonderful answer. Great stuff.
Sorry if you have seen this video before. If not it is worth spending three minutes watching.
Ideally you will be watching while earing an “It’s Time to Leave” T-shirt, Sweatshirt or Hoodie and drinking Contra coffee from an It’s Time to leave coffee mug.
You can purchase all of the above items only here, in my online store.
4143 days ago
Some young chap from UKIP was running a “Christmas carols opening two lines for the modern world “ chat on twitter tonight. His first entry was:
“Once in royal David’s city, Stood a lowly cattle shed, But when the Palestinians Bombed it, We build 200 new settlements instead”
To which I countered:
“Arrest you merry gentlemen from the BBC
You’re all screaming perverts it is now plain to see”
Naturally this got me started. And so ( in either English or German) I offer you the Evil Empire’s Silent Night
4143 days ago
The weekend Tomograph Newsletter will go out on Sunday Evening. This will be an abridged Christmas issue but will also announce the winner of the 2012 Pig of the Year award (EU & Westminster category).
To ensure that you receive the newsletter and these articles which will only be in the newsletter and not accessible elsewhere for some days click HERE.
The newsletter should be out on Sunday Evening.
4146 days ago
This article first appeared in my Tomogrraph Newsletter a couple of weeks ago but prompted my an angry response or two to my article of yesterday (Being on Welfare is NOT a Job) I am goaded into republishing the piece to a wider audience. One chap thinks I am “ bitter and twisted” and a “sad man” for arguing that taxpayers have no obligation to support a life of Sky, fags and booze on welfare. Whatever…folks need to face up to the problem.
This piece deals with those deficit deniers who cannot accept that Britain is heading for bankruptcy and offers up a 13 point plan to deal with the issue – needless to say I do not expect the cowardly Conservatives to adopt even one of my suggestions.
The Autumn statement came and went. George Osborne laughed and smiled. Ed Balls stammered. The left bleated on about wicked Tories and even more wicked cuts. The Tories claimed to be satisfied with the job being in hand. But we are as a nation kidding ourselves. We are all deficit deniers.
Two and a half years into this Parliament, Osborne has missed his forecasts again. Government spending has, in absolute terms risen year on year since the election.
4153 days ago
Hooray, the UK is once again to allow fraccing. This is a process that allows gas to be released from shale rocks. And we are sitting on vast reserves. We could quite plausibly have discovered a new resource equivalent to 25% of our North Sea gas reserves. Perhaps there is even more as exploration to date has been limited. So I guess that means that gas bills ( $10 mmBTu) will fall to US levels ($3mmBtu) – in the US fraccing means that the country has massive supplies of gas. Er…no. If we exploit this gas fully gas prices will go up. Such insanity can only come from global warming nutters and the EU. Of course it does.
David Kennedy of the “Climate Change Committee” a Quango which spouts hot air on climate change to validate the coalitions’ crackpot wind farm policies explained it all on radio 4 this morning. If we exploit no gas then fuel bills will increase by £100 by 2010 because we are being forced to pay to subsidise wind and solar power projects. These projects are far less efficient producers of power than natural gas power stations.
If however we use that gas then bills go up by £600 per family
4154 days ago
I am back with my family in Warwickshire. Being deluded lefties they appear to only get two channels, Pravda One and Pravda 2 and so on the latter I have just found myself watching Newsnight debate the great European question. It was a slam dunk win for the team of Nigel Farage, Terry Smith and a sensible woman from the No campaign in Norway. The only good thing that can be said for the yes side is that their blonde bird talked utter rubbish but was quite fit. That really is it.
The arguments for staying in were utterly spurious. Is Spain really going to kick out the 400,000 Brits living on the Costa del Crime if we quit? Really? Crash the housing market even more. It is not as if those folks take any local jobs they just spend money there. That is rather different to the 27 million Bulgarians and Rumanians who come 2014 can come to the UK to work, claim benefits and use the NHS. Do we really think then Britain is a huge net importer from the EU that the Evil Empire would defy WTO agreements and try to put tariffs on British goods? It is just plain rubbish.
Boris Johnson’s idea that we can stay in the Evil Empire but opt out of CAP, fisheries and anything else we please is spurious.
4159 days ago
The weekend Tomograph Newsletter will go out on Saturday with all its usual material plus an exclusive article on the deficit deniers of Bankrupt Britain a comment on how AIM placings are rigged and spun and another piece of EU madness – the lunacy of the Evil Empire. there is my editors pick of the week.
To ensure that you receive the newsletter and these articles which will only be in the newsletter and not accessible elsewhere for some days click HERE.
The newsletter should be out by early afternoon Saturday.
4163 days ago
We have just massively expnaded our range of incredibly offensive “It’s Time to Leave” ( the EU ) merchandise.
We were inspired to launch the original range by those deluded lefties who were setting up an operation to sell organic, ethical eco-friendly T-shirts with messages about what a jolly good thing the Evil Empire the is.
following readedr feedback we have now expanded the range with more colours on offer (true diversity awareness) and also to produce Hoodies and sweatshirts just in case global warming does not happen.
Any orders will be produced by good capitalists (and they are German owned capitalists). The T-shirts are cotton but there is no claim of eco-nonsense- the shipping of them uses lots of carbon. And the message for the Evil Empire is clear. It is an oppressive, authoritarian, anti-democratic organisation and it is time we left.
My problem of what to get my deluded lefty family for Christmas is solved at a stroke.
You can place your orders now here.
4166 days ago
You may remember those deluded lefties who were setting up an operation to sell organic, ethical eco-friendly T-shirts with messages about what a jolly good thing the Evil Empire the is. They are my inspiration as I launch my new range of It’s Time to Leave T-shirts and Mugs. An ideal purchase for any UKIP supporter or EU-realist.
Any orders will be produced by good capitalists (and they are German owned capitalists). The T-shirts are cotton but there is no claim of eco-nonsense- the shipping of them uses lots of carbon. And the message for the Evil Empire is clear. It is an oppressive, authoritarian, anti-democratic organisation and it is time we left.
My problem of what to get my deluded lefty family for Christmas is solved at a stroke.
You can place your orders now here.
4166 days ago
UKIP was never going to win any of the three by-elections last night. The mainstream press knew that but happily suggested it might in order that the political and media establishment in the Westminster bubble could say that UKIP had not done as well as expected. UKIP is not a party of the establishment and it will thus get no favours from the established media. The way that papers such as the Telegraph took the spin from the established parties is the sort of dirty trick UKIP will have to get used to as it grows. And it will grow.
I write this not as a UKIP member or indeed committed supporter. Pro tem I am clearly a sympathiser. I think that the party has a good few loons in its ranks. Don’t they all? It strikes me that it can appear not to be libertarian at times on social issues. That may be unfair on it, but it is the impression one gets. However on a range of issues, notably the EU, smoking in public places and deficit reduction it is, for me, bang on the money. And though it wants to have MPs, right now it has nothing to do with the sleaze club of Westminster to which the other three main parties all belong.
4172 days ago
EU Leaders held a crisis summit last week to try to agree a budget. Our own David Cameron was told that there was no way that the Evil Empire can save money. We all know that this is utter bollocks. It is the little things that give it away.
At the summit the leaders were offered as a drink Chateau Angelus Premier Grand Cru. It is red Bordeaux and a bottle of 1992 (not the greatest year) costs £120 a pop. The Evil Empire is no doubt congratulating itself on its restraint in not serving the 1982 vintage which costs £220 a pop.
With waste it is the little things that give away the attitude of the wider organisation. Does a CEO doodle on used envelopes or on expensive embossed headed notepaper? One shows a keen respect for cost, the other shows that someone cares not a jot about spending other folks cash. The EU wine menu says it all. I would recommended a nice ChapelDown Pinot Noir from Kent which can be bought at a trade price of sub £10 a bottle for the next summit.
That the world’s largest donor of foreign aid, an employer of 40,000 people in Brussels, an organisation that spends 60 billion a year subsiding uneconomic lifestyle farmers in a continent with too much food thinks it needs to spend more is patently ludicrous. The decadence of the crisis summit says it all.
4172 days ago
Whether Rotherham Social Services is run by incredibly stupid folks or human beings created by genetically modifying former members of the Stasi with Guardian reader genes does not matter – either is a scandal. The case of the UKIP foster parents marks another sad landmark in the death of free England.
By way of background I have never been to Rotherham but I gather that this grim Northern town has suffered far more than its fair share of child abuse scandals. And so you would have thought that finding a pair of responsible foster parents would be a dream for its hard pressed social services department. Step forward an un-named couple in their late 50s who live in a neat detached house in a village in South Yorkshire. The husband was a Royal Navy reservist for more than 30 years and works with disabled people, while his wife is a qualified nursery nurse.
These are socially caring folk who for seven years have taken in kids of all races and been praised for being fantastic foster parents. Their record of work and service should provide the poor kids with role models and stability. They have had an exemplary record over 12 placements.
Until the other week they were looking after three kids, a baby girl, a boy and an older girl, who were all from an ethnic minority and a troubled family background. The three thrived. The baby put on weight and the older girl even began calling them “mum and dad”.
But then the Stasi arrived and said that they had received an anonymous tip-off that they were members of Ukip.
4180 days ago
An IPSOS Mori poll out yesterday shows that 48% of Britons agree with Call Me Dave that the EU budget should rise only to match inflation. 31% want the EU budget to be cut. But 14% want it increased in real terms.
Cripes. As you walk down the street today be warned that 1 in 7 of those you pass are certifiably mad. They want to hand over more money Britain does not have to the Evil Empire. I wonder what percentage of our fellow citizens believe in the tooth fairy. Or in Santa Claus. Presumably the same sort of headcases. About 14%. How many believe in Nick Clegg’s promises? You are aving a larf. No-one can be that mad surely?
4182 days ago
For once the BBC and the Guardian do not stand in the dock alone. It seems as if the entire Western liberal elite and press corps are united in condemning the wicked Jews, oops they meant to say Israel, for taking out Ahmed Said Khalil al-Jabari today. Old Said was the head of the military wing of the Islamofascist Hamas organisation that runs the Gaza strip today and thanks to a precise strike from the Israeli Defence Forces he is now on a one way ticket to hell.
I support the brave IDF 100% and am this evening celebrating the death of this bigoted murderer. It seems that deluded lefties across the planet have a different view.
The BBC coverage stands out for its extreme bias. No surprises there. On its website today the lead story reports:
4183 days ago
Under its super crackpot socialist loon of a New President Frances Hollande France is going bust even more quickly than bankrupt Britain. As such, nothing the Froggies do should surprise you. In France government spending is already 56% of GDP (OECD average 46%) The debt to GDP ratio at the end of 2011 was 85.8% and with a whopping budget deficit it is rising fast. 90% is the point at which debt stifles growth – a point of no return. Pretty soon you get to 120% and you are Greece.
So faced with a country going bust and spending too much what does a Socialist do? Yes, of course. He spends more. And he pays for it by a) borrowing, while he can and b) by imposing new taxes. And this brings us to the great Nutella tax. According to France 24, the latest wheeze from the loons comes in the form of an attempt to hike taxes by 300 percent% on a key ingredient in Nutella. A bill to push through the tax was adopted by a Senate commission and heads to the National Assembly this week for review.
The key ingredient is palm oil which comprises about 20% of Nutella. So how do the Froggies justify this tax hike?
4183 days ago
Post the defeat of Romney it was inevitable that “modernisers” within the Tories would draw the conclusion that the way to win in 2015 is to be more socially liberal. And so today George Osborne insists that the “nice” Conservative Party will put gay marriage at the centre of its next election manifesto. Oh saints preserve me. I think I am emigrating.
As a social liberal I actually support gay marriage as well as legalising drugs and a whole raft of other measures which would horrify traditional Tories. If gays want to sign up for marriage with a one in three chance of an acrimonious divorce to follow why not allow them that right? But do I really regard it as a key issue? Does anyone outside certain metropolitan circles (where they are never going to vote Tory anyway) regard it as a key issue, one that should be central to a manifesto? I doubt it.
4186 days ago
I think I got the sound and the video right this time. I have been thinking in the New Year that I might start doing two short daily audio reports on a) the markets and b) life in general – the world, the evil State and the Evil Empire. I am investigating the technology. Whaddya think?
4187 days ago
The Greek General strike has come and gone. A few riots, a few more businesses closed than usual but no real change. Unemployment creeps up. The 4th Reich imposes more austerity and society falls apart. And so as the workers ( or in the case of Greece, non-workers) of the world unite who is next to strike? For a range of reasons I urge some of the lead candidates to go ahead – comrades I stand along side you.
Starting with the poor oppressed editorial team at The Guardian newspaper – average salary no idea but with some highly paid columnists (Polly Toynbee on £300,000) pushing up the mean. My guess is that most of the writers on the Guardian are on £50,000 plus and heck you do not get to live in Islington and Camden if you are on the minimum wage.
4187 days ago
So much in the news, if not yet in the newspapers, this week I am spoiled for choice. Surely a few cheap Obama/Romney jokes, Greek strike jokes, Angela Merkel jokes, EU diktats on children’s gender neutral TV jokes or just David Cameron again spring to mind? I am spoiled for choice.
So, to win a Piss off Argentina T-shirt I offer you this picture and ask you to post your non entries in the comments section below
For what it is worth my entry is:
4187 days ago
A map appeared the other day showing how Britain had invaded 90% of the countries on this planet at one stage or another. Generally the 10% had suffered from missing out. The longer the British stayed the better off a country was. I am no apologist for Empire. It is a matter I will be covering at some stage.
I just looked at my Google analytics map and I see that this blog has now been read in 117 countries around the world during the past two weeks. So I still have a way to go to catch up with the British Empire in bringing the message of hard line small state libertarianism to the world. Most of the planet now looks green. I seem to have a good few readers in Belgium. I wonder if it is the articles on their national hobby of paedophilia that attracts them or perhaps, noting that members of the EU press office now follow me on twitter, it is just the Evil Empire tracking members of the rebel alliance?
4194 days ago
And so, 51 Tory MPs showed they have some principle and voted against their party. Call Me Dave Cameron is now mandated to reject the 6.8% proposed EU budget increase. Will he show backbone? Will he show principle like when he promised us all a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. And then, er … defined promise in a Nick Clegg manner and changed his mind? All will be revealed.
But in honour of our great leader this week we invite suitable captions for this picture – “I vow to thee, my Country”:
4195 days ago
Sir George Young is the new Government chief whip. As it happens I know a bit about him as he is also my second cousin once removed and, rather more importantly, brother of my step mother Helen. And I see that he is now a founder member of a new group of Tory MPs which wants to “reach out” to “blue collar” Tories. The sort of people Young’s predecessor Andrew Mitchell might have described as “plebs.” Young’s qualifications?
Born in a stately home at Cookham, like his grandfather, father and brother he went to Eton then
4196 days ago
You could not make this up. Just how stupid are the men and women who run the UK and Ireland? The Irish have just suspended its aid to Uganda after a £10 million package from the Irish, Norway, Sweden and Denmark meant to help the poor and needy somehow ended up in the personal bank account of Ugandan Prime Minister Patrick Amama Mbabazi.
No British cash was nicked by just as a precaution the £4 million in aid we already give to Mr Mbabazi’s office has been suspended. However other aid programmes (another £94 million) will continue. Where does one start?
Let us start in Ireland. In case whichever midget is running Eire today has not noticed your country is frigging bankrupt.
4199 days ago
Once again both the sound and picture are all okay. A pity about the window occasionally banging in the background but almost there for the latest video postcard which is fairly wide ranging.
Back in London on the first train Tuesday I plan to record my first CEO Videocast this week. Hopefully no banging windows there. And I cannot say where it will appear. But it will.
The video lasts 12 minutes
4240 days ago
As official attack poodle for David Cameron, the Daily Telegraph has today had a go at UKIP and its leader Nigel Farage.
“Any mockery of UKIP has to be balanced by due respect. The low handicappers are now the only game in town when it comes to anti-establishment Right-wing politics. They hold 12 MEPs in the European Parliament and took 3.1 percent in the 2010 general election. If we had proportional representation, UKIP would probably own a batch of MPs and be a querulous part of the coalition. Smoking would be permitted in the House of Commons and the national anthem would be played in cinemas. Augusto Pinochet would feature on the £5 note.
So Farage believes that his movement stands a genuine chance of subverting the morally compromised Lib Dems and emerging as the new third party. But he’s mistaken if he believes that swapping the pound symbol for a Bentley or a bull dog will do the trick. UKIP still needs to confront that golf club stereotype.”
Well I guess that changing that stereotype is going to be simple when the Daily Telegraph presents such a mature and balanced analysis of its main policies isn’t it?
4247 days ago
JA Solar (JASO) has responded robustly to plans by the European Union to consider tariffs on Chinese solar panels as part of an anti-dumping clampdown but it and other Chinese solar companies such as LDK Solar (LDK) and Trina Solar (TSL) just cannot win and here is why.
4247 days ago
I have a bit of a sense of déjà vu as I read that new Tory Minister Michael Fallon is wants to scrap 3,000 bits of red tape to “help businesses grow”. I am sure that the man means well but does he really believe it? The problem is that I have heard it so many times before.
Michael Heseltine famously promised a bonfire to red tape to “help businesses grow.” No business minister actually promises more red tape. But
4281 days ago
The origin of the phrase Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics is usually attributed to Disraeli although it appears in none of his works and was first reported several years after his death. But it could be made for those who have convinced our leaders to spend gazillions tackling the threat of global warming. When I was a boy, the scientific consensus was that we were heading for a new ice age. Heretics who objected to spending vast sums tackling that “slam dunk cert” were pilloried. You cannot really win. But back to the graph below.
If you look at this it appears alarming. Frankly I can only conclude that we will all fry up by some time in April 2013. Okay, I exaggerate but there appears a clear trend. But of course this is a special from the global warming brigade so all is not as it seems. At this stage I bring in the assistance of Christopher Booker (Uncle Chris) who understands how these things are manipulated.
4313 days ago
I was going to run with something about Liam Fox thinking about coming out. That is to say about his comments this week about Britain coming out of the EU – I would not you to think I was suggesting anything else. But I just could not get my words out in a straight and open manner.
And so we turn to the man of the week: Bankster Bob Diamond (ex Barclays) for this week’s tastless caption contest. Tweet your suggestions (the more tasteless the better as long as they are remotely funny) to @tomwinnifrith – deadline is 4 PM Monday and the winner gets one of our special Piss off Argentina mugs.
For what it is worth my entry is: “ Yes I did say that Barclays was number 1 for fixed rates.” I am sure that you can do better. Competition, as ever, only open to those following me on twitter
4343 days ago
The EU has failed to come up with any solution to the crisis yet again. The Germans seem happy to go down in history as the volks who pushed Europe into a re-run of the 1930s (I still think they will blink before midnight) and everyone else is in denial. But prize idiot of the day award goes to French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius who is demanding that America sort this out (i.e. US taxpayers ignore their own gravity defying National debt/deficit and write a mega cheque) because:
“The crisis did not start in Europe. Lehman Brothers was not a European bank. We should not shift responsibility.”
4347 days ago
Gold raced ahead on Friday by almost $100 to $1625 oz. I have long predicted $2,000 gold for 2012 – I actually think we are heading rather higher. For weeks gold has been slipping (to a low of $1525). This has not been the fault of gold but of the morons who run (I use the word loosely) the EU. As the Euro has tanked there has been a flight to the US dollar and gold has slipped in dollar terms as a result. But now there are worries about the US.
