Sunday 17 July 2011

There are none so blind as those who will not see, there are none so deaf as those who will not listen

"Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you"
Pericles (attributed)
A quotation to which the people of this nation need to pay serious - and immediate - attention. Do the people not notice the gradual and continuous loss of their freedoms and if they do, why do they signal their consent by their silence on the issue?

David Blackburn ,in an article on the Coffee House, in which he writes about the apparent rise of Ed Miliband in connection with the Murdoch affair and that the Murdochs are just the start of the necessary renewal he [EdM] envisages for British public life, quotes EdM thus:
"We've seen it in politics with the expenses scandal, we've seen it in banking. We have got to be willing to speak out because it is damaging the fabric of the country, the ethic of the country. We can't have the responsible country that I think we need if this is going on among the most powerful people in the country."
As with most, if not all, politicians, EdM is extremely seIective on that he wishes to speak out. Is not membership of the European Union damaging the country? Is not the influx of immigrants from the EU damaging the fabric of our country by the additional burdens it places on our social services? Is not the social engineering practised by the last government, of which EdM was a member, a practise continued by the present government, not damaging the fabric of our country? Is it not impossible to have the responsible country that EdM envisages whilst the powerful politicians in the land refuse to be open and frank with the people? Is it not impossible to have democracy whilst the powerful politicians continue to act as if the country was their personal fiefdom, to do with as they wish regardless of the will of the people?

We have William Hague with two articles in today's Sunday Telegraph (here and here) suggesting that we should be in Europe but not run by Europe and that we should make the EU work to our advantage. Has this fool not realised that we are run by Europe? He may prattle on that the EU offers a lot for Britain, in which case why have successive governments failed to publish a cost/benefit analysis? Surely if, as polticians of all parties maintain, the benefits are obvious, does not logic dictate that if they did indeed exist politicians would be showering us with statistic after statistic proving the fact? As for his much vaunted Referendum Lock which he maintains will allow the British people a say over any further treaty change or a so-called "ratchet clause" – the self-amending provisions brought in by the Lisbon Treaty – that shifts further powers from the UK to the EU, he conveniently omits to state that the decision whether any such transfer of power exists, rests with government ministers.

That the EU continues to have an ever encroaching say in how our country is 'managed' is beyond doubt, a process which as always occurs with stealth, the possible ramifications of which are always denied by our government. An example of this is the story in the Mail on the subject of the UK Coastguard service. It is reported that the EU has a plan, one to be voted on by the European Parliament in October, resulting in an EU Coastguard being created to 'effectively combat current or future dangers at sea such as terrorism, piracy and trafficking'. The article quotes an EU spokesman stating that once it is approved by the Parliament as a whole, it will be forwarded to the Commission, Council and Member States. The Commission then may come up with legislative proposals or take measures based on the content of the report. This is followed by a statement by Tory Shipping Minister Mike Penning stating that the proposals would be resisted by the UK Government, whilst adding that a European Coastguard is not a concept that the UK would support. Now where have we heard all that before?

To continue on this theme of invidious encroachment where the governance of this country is concerned, consider two articles recently published. The first, courtesy of the Albion Alliance, links to an article from the European Police College about a recent meeting in Rome at which the importance of CEPOL was pointed out in relation to the training of the “European policeman” aimed at safeguarding EU citizen’s security. "European policemen"? The second item comes from Politics Home in which it is reported that Cathy Ashton will present a proposal for a new permanent headquarters to "command and control" future civilian and military campaigns. "Command and control future civilian campaigns"? Both terms; "European policemen" and"command and control civilian campaigns" rings alarm bells with this blogger as I am sure it does with any person who considers his own freedoms to be paramount.

Goodnight Vienna, CallingEngland, writes that she used to talk of authoritarianism and communitarianism but now believes we're moving on now and wandering into the realms of a totalitarian fascist state. More importantly, as she says: it's there for all who have eyes to see and ears to hear; which brings me back to the heading of this post and the initial quotation.

Unless the people of this nation immediately arouse themselves from their own self-centred little world, they will find in the not-too-distant future that they no longer have a voice, they no longer have a vote and they sure as hell won't have a country to call their own.

8 comments:

LJH said...

Bravo, Witney. We're trapped. The bureaucracy trapping us is expensive to run. The financial hole under all the western societies signed up to this totalitarian vision is ever enlarging. Financial collapse is the best chance of breaking that control. Unless the alternatives are out there, ready for an orderly unwinding, it will be chaos not liberty.

Anonymous said...

Get Ready
We Have To Kick Off

Anonymous said...

Nothing can be achieved while the collectivists and totalitarians command the BBC.

Destroy the BBC and all sorts of things become possible.

Now, why hasn't David Cameron done anything about the BBC?

Hmmm, difficult one!

Paul Coombes said...

The problem, as I see it, is that you are talking about topics that don't matter to the vast majority of people. As far as I can tell there are a large number of people who don't care as long as they can continue to live, eat, breathe and have fun. This is inextricably linked to the number of people who rely on the state for their survival be it through work or benefits (see http://yourfreedomandours.blogspot.com/2011/07/welfare-state-in-its-beginning-is-its.html).
So the question becomes when will these people realise that politics has started to take an interest in them? Or, how do we alert them to their loss of liberty?

PeterCharles said...

It truly is unbelievable, quite simply people do not care enough to get active in politics outside of holding forth in the pub after a few beers, or shouting at the telly when some fatuous prat spouts yet more rubbish.

As I have said here before, until life gets uncomfortable nothing is going to change. Even if they stood up in parliament and said we are now fully integrated into Europe and there is no need for a UK parliament any more most people would simply shrug. Even worse for our own politicians most would probably say, 'well, they can't be any worse than the last lot.'

As a people we have become totally disconnected from politics, reduced to nothing more than voyeurs hoping things don't get worse.

LJH is right, when the crash comes there will be a window of opportunity for meaningful change but if there is no alternative out there nothing will change but aside from lone voices crying out in the political wilderness there is little evidence there is any organised alternative. UKIP is probably the closest and if the eventual crash is seen to be triggered by the EU then they may get sufficient boost to have a real voice. However, overall control would likely be well beyond possibility which then makes them just another player in the same old political game.

No, I fear it will eventually come to bloody revolution and who knows where that will end.

TomTom said...

Why anyone takes William Hague seriously beats me. He is a bag-carrier for money men like Lord Ashcroft, Guy Hands and Bamford and spouts whatever drivel Conservative duffers like to hear at garden parties. He is nothing and is fully neutered by his private life. Who knows what News International filing cabinets hold ?

We live in a Fascist State. Jean Monnet was a Fascist and his acolytes like Spinola were Red Fascists. Just look at this in Turkey Koc

A University named after Turkey's billionaire industrialist full of EU Religion.

Britain waged TWO World Wars FOR France having never been at war with Germany indeed it was Prussia that saved Wellington at Waterloo. Yet a Liberal Government and Edward VII shackled Britain to France and destroyed British Power squandering 25% Britain's wealth in the first war and the rest in the second.

Had Monnet shouted Cartago Delenda Est it is hard to see how he could have watched the British destroy themselves to French advantage quite so completely. Now they propose to subsume themselves into a Southern European embrace.

Germany will NOT follow. Britain is locked to France, Germany is destined to forge its links to Russia where raw materials and energy lie. Britain will be part of the North Africa/Mediterranean
Confederation instead.

Anonymous said...

WW

Great post.

Gandalf at UP Pompeii is also up in arms

http://uppompeii1.uppompeii.com/2011/07/17/the-fifth-reich.aspx

and Raedwald needs to be read

When MPs gather in committee on Tuesday they will be unable to contain all the built-up frustrated narcissism, the bloviated self-importance, the caustic self-interest and the barbs of rock-bottom public opinion; they will expose themselves as snarling, vicious, hateful, splenetic and spiteful bullies. If Heston Blumenthal applied his Nitrogen cylinder to human faeces to produce a frothing turd mousse of righteous indignation, the result would be indistinguishable from a committee-member MP next week. Their faces will bloat and empurple, veins will throb, sebaceous glands will drip grease from their lank locks, spittle froth will coat their lips and their pudgy little fists will clench as tightly as if holding an expenses form. These, readers, are our elected members.

http://raedwald.blogspot.com/2011/07/im-backing-murdoch.html

The writings in the above are of a calibre that MSM cannot approach.

WitteringsfromWitney said...

LJH: Thank you. Agreed when the EU ecnomy goes tits-up, as it surely will before liberty will come chaos. The only problem is the chaos will be preceded by further stupidity of our polies trying to forestall the inevitable collapse!

A: You mean take to the streets?

A: Not only the BBC but also the Guardian?

psc: Agreed but they bloody well should do! When will these people take notice. As I said when they do wake up and find that they have no voice and no bloody country.

PC: Agreed and your final thought is one that I have been saying is the only option we will have.

TT: Fair comment, although I hope and pray your last vision does not come to pass. Not too sure about your alliances either as if and when the crash does come I believe the cry will be for independence and isolationism....

DP111: Thank you too. Read Gandalf and Raewald - both good posts.