Ramanisblog

Tag: Britain

  • Why Queen Elizabeth is Not Behind Bars, Irish Mock

    We know the Irish hate the British.

    The vehemence of hatred has not dimmed with the passing of centuries.

    I was talking to a colleague of my son who is Welsh.

    Queen Elizabeth, Britain
    Queen Elizabeth.

    He was saying the Welsh also hate the British.

    Surprising how the nation has remained and how they ruled the world!

    “If the Queen of England were an elected position, Elizabeth II  would have been forced out long ago,
    Her sixty-year reign has coincided with the total loss of the British Empire and a deeply reduced place for Britain in the world.

    Just consider 1953, the year she came to the throne.

    It was still the aftermath of the Second World War and Britain was first among all countries in Europe.

    The detested Germans were defeated and partitioned and their economy and country seemingly in ruins.

    Fast forward 60 years and the Germans are running Europe again and Britain is back to being sick man of Europe along with Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, and Ireland of course.

    They hardly have a voice in European affairs which are now basically overseen by France and Germany.

    Back in 1953 the new Queen oversaw an empire that governed vast tracts of land in Africa, Asia, Europe and elsewhere on the globe.

    During her reign the British were reduced to fighting Argentina over an utterly nondescript island called Malvinas/Falklands and playing second fiddle to American forces just about everywhere.

    The decline and fall of the British Empire under Elizabeth in another era would have resulted in a trial and the Tower of London for a goodly spell methinks.

    Indeed, like the Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland, there would have been cries of “Off with her head.”

    (Many of her predecessors were topped for far less. See Anne Boleyn etc.)

    Instead, she is becoming more beloved as she gets older; the sheer longevity of the woman and her ability to carry out her duties at the age of 86 is impressive even to the most avid Republican.

    But she must wake up and wonder sometimes where it all went wrong, She came into office as a hugely significant figure on the world stage, with giants like Churchill in her government.

    Now it’s the nondescript David Cameron she meets and now the monarchy may even lose Australia and Canada at some point in the near future – not to mention Northern Ireland given the shifting demographics there.

    She has become a symbolic figure, which she always was to some extent, but she no longer wields true power.

    Unlike the fall of the Roman Empire, it was not the Barbarians at the gate, rather it was the enemy within, as the British simply lost out to Germany in Europe and the US in the world in terms of the scope of their power and influence in the post industrial revolution age.

    Rule Britannia, indeed, but nowadays only on a small sliver of the earth, unlike when Elizabeth came to reign in 1953.

    Royalty’s new reality was summed up wonderfully by  the Guardian editorial writer describing the celebration on The Thames on Sunday as a flotilla of ships and boats honored the Queen;
    “Sunday was a day for dressing up. But it was hard to watch the royal men in their sometimes preposterously over decorated uniforms — lord high admirals of ever-declining fleets, commanders of air forces whose future effectiveness hangs in the balance, fighters of wars about which middle Britain has deeply mixed feelings — and take any of it too seriously.

     http://www.irishcentral.com/story/news/periscope/why-the-queen-who-lost-the-british-empire-is-still-revered—-elizabeth-ii-lucky-shes-not-locked-in-the-tower-of-london-156952235.html#ixzz1xaRj4ZiE

  • Are the bailouts working?

    Bail out is akin to lending more to your debtor to collect your old debt.
    If you borrow less the you are afraid of the creditor;if you borrow huge sums the creditor is afraid of you.
    Bail out is a political gimmick to give the impression that all is well or at least shall be.
    The past year has seen the global economy on a life support machine, otherwise known as the bailout. Just as the scars seemed to be healing, Iceland’s decision to hold off repaying billions of dollars owed to the British government has reopened last year’s wounds.

    If they don’t pay it back, it may well become yet another bailout – even if that wasn’t the intention.

    Should Britain cut the noise and accept that whilst this might be the bailout they never wanted, it succeeded in calming things down?

    Likewise, with the dust settling and things not looking as bleak as we might have predicted- should we accept that the bailouts did work?

    Many experts are certainly impressed at the speed at which the economy is getting back on its feet.

    The crisis has even resulted in some winners according to these economists for whom Asia, Australia and…urm…journalists have come out on top.

    Have a read of James Altucher on the Huffington Post. He slams every reason posed by Republican Congressman Ron Paul for why the economy is doomed.

    The bailouts have given banks a free ride and they should be more grateful according to this article.
    ‘Last summer, somebody put a bale of hay on a country intersection north of New York City, with this sign taped to it: “I got my bail out.” ‘ With bonuses back on the scene, have bankers learnt any lessons or has the money been taken for granted?

    The bailout has been in vain writes Rabbi Shmuley on the Huffington Post
    “Welcome to Wall Street, whose bankers, after nearly collapsing the global economy, have learned nothing from their greed and who have become more voracious than ever.”

    Has the bailout just fueled bankers’ bad habits?

    “Leave bankers alone,” says British banking’s most senior representative.”There are literally tens, if not hundreds of thousands of British jobs directly and indirectly related to banking – bringing billions of pounds in tax income.”

    When the bailouts were first announced many of us were fuming. Is it now time to congratulate our governments for making the right decisions? Were the bailouts a risk that paid off?

    On Air: Are the bailouts working?

  • From The Times December 2, 2009 We are in charge now, Sarkozy tells the City-Times.

    Artificially brought under one umbrella,Nationalistic feelings are showing up.Clan mentality is Natural.You can not wipe it out by idealistic dialog or by misplaced idealism,especially between UK and France,considering their history.

    Alistair Darling has delivered a blunt warning to the EU’s new French finance chief against meddling with the City of London.

    As Nicolas Sarkozy gloated over impending curbs on the City, the Chancellor said that such moves would drive financial services out of Europe.

    The French President’s glee at the appointment of Michel Barnier as Commissioner for the Single Market took on an edge of menace yesterday when he said that unfettered City practices must end.

    “Do you know what it means for me to see for the first time in 50 years a French European commissioner in charge of the internal market, including financial services, including the City [of London]?” he said yesterday.

    “I want the world to see the victory of the European model, which has nothing to do with the excesses of financial capitalism,” he said.

    His implicit threat was just what Downing Street had feared when Mr Barnier, formerly an agriculture minister, was given the portfolio last week.

    Mr Darling, writing in The Times today, says that it would be a “recipe for confusion” if firms were supervised by the EU as well as national watchdogs and that Britain would not accept new laws that could lead to taxpayers picking up the bill for bailouts ordered by Brussels.

    He rejects claims that the economic crisis was the fault of the “Anglo-Saxon” model, pointing out that French and German banks were among the biggest creditors of the failed US insurance giant AIG.

    Terry Smith, a prominent banker, said that the threat of increased regulation was already threatening the City’s future.

    “I’ve never seen so much work going on by companies, individuals and teams of people to evaluate relocation out of the UK,” he said.
    http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6939895.ece?&EMC-Bltn=GEIAF1F

  • Libya talks over IRA compensation -BBC.Accepting Blood Money?

    Accepting Blood Money from Libya?Is this an offshoot of the deal of releasing Lockerbie Bomber? What message are you sending out?-that if you have money you can kill people and pay compensation later, when the bereaved come abegging?Where is your National pride,Ireland?Forget Britain,if they can get a few pounds , they shall compromise any thing.
    Look at Iarael and learn to deal with terrorists.    Story:
    Libya will come under renewed pressure to compensate victims of IRA violence later when Northern Ireland politicians arrive in Tripoli for talks.

    Colonel Gaddafi’s regime secretly supplied the IRA with weapons and explosives in the 1980s.
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/8335199.stm

  • Nick Griffin uses BBC appearance to attack Muslims and gays.

    One need not agree with Mr.Griffin;but certain points are to be noted.
    The language he used ,may be incorrect.
    1.Islam is not only incompatible with British Society of today,but of most societies in the world of today as well.Many of us are scared to voice this opinion because it does not seem to be the right thing to say.
    2.Homosexuals are definitely an aberration;accept it;they are abnormal and sick;do not justify them,but treat them.
    His remarks on coloreds are not appropriate.
    If people were to retaliate they can say that ,in fact Britain was colonising the world till yesterday.May be, sins of fathers are visiting sons!
    More over, Britain today depends on coloreds for their survival, Brown in paritcular.If they decide to leave,you shall be in a bleak island, a US surrogate.
    3.His remarks on Holocaust is totally abhorrent.Totally inhumane.
    4.However ,BBC has done a good job of interviewing him.Democracy is all about discussion and clarification and no gagging.

    Story:
    Mr Griffin said Islam was not compatible with life in Britain, while describing homosexuals as “creepy”.
    The remarks provoked indignation from other members of the BBC panel and hostile parts of the audience, some of whom booed, calling him “a disgrace”.

    The BNP leader could not explain why he had previously sought to play down the Holocaust and defended his use of Sir Winston Churchill on BNP literature on the basis that his father had fought in the Second World War.

    He claimed that Churchill would have been a member of the BNP and was “Islamaphobic” by “today’s standard”.

    Asked whether he denied that millions of Jews and other minorities had been killed by the Nazis, Mr Griffin would only reply: “I do not have a conviction for Holocaust denial.”

    He was then chastised by David Dimbleby, the host of the programme, for smiling.

    The controversial statements were made in response to intense questioning by members of the audience from ethnic minorities.

    BBC Television Centre in west London came under siege as filming took place, with MPs joining hundreds of protesters behind lines of police. There were six arrests as dozens of protesters attempted to storm the studio.

    BBC studios in Hull, Scotland and Wales were also targeted by demonstrators. The cost of the police operation was estimated to be more than £100,000.

    The BBC was certain to be questioned over why it allowed Mr Griffin to air such controversial views but executives were hoping that the intensive questioning that he faced would justify their decision to invite him on the Question Time panel for the first time.

    The BBC, which Mr Griffin denounced on the programme as “ultra-Leftist”, had claimed that impartiality rules meant that it had little choice but to invite him on to the programme after the BNP won seats in the European Parliament in elections earlier this year.

    He was joined on the panel by Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary, Baroness Warsi, the Tory spokesman on community cohesion, Chris Huhne, the Liberal Democrats’ home affairs spokesman, and Bonnie Greer, a black American playwright.

    Mr Griffin was seated next to Miss Greer.

    One of the most controversial moments came when Mr Dimbleby asked the BNP leader why he had been pictured with David Duke, the former leader of the Klan. Mr Griffin claimed that parts of the racist group, officially classed as a “hate organisation” in America, were “non-violent”.

    However, he insisted: “I’m not a Nazi and never have been.”

    He claimed that he was “the most loathed man in Britain” among British fascists.

    He was questioned over his views on Islam and said it had “good points” but “does not fit in with the fundamental values of British society”. He was also attacked for describing white Britons as the “indigenous” population who faced “genocide”. We are the Aborigines here, he said.

    Amid angry scenes, one Asian member of the audience asked Mr Griffin where he would like him to be sent and then suggested that he himself might find the South Pole a good destination because it was “a colourless landscape”.

    Mr Griffin boasted to BNP supporters before the programme that he was “relishing” the prospect of “political blood sport”. “I will, no doubt, be interrupted, shouted down, slandered, put on the spot, and subjected to a scrutiny that would be a thousand times more intense than anything directed at other panellists,” he said. “It will, in other words, be political blood sport. But I am relishing this opportunity.”

    Speaking after filming had finished, Mr Griffin claimed that he had been able to “land some punches”.

    About one million people voted for the BNP at the European elections, leading to Mr Griffin taking up one of its two seats in the European Parliament. As a result, BBC executives said strict impartiality rules effectively forced them to include the party in Question Time.

    Mark Thompson, the director-general of the BBC, said the Government should ban the BNP if it felt that Mr Griffin should not have been allowed to take part in the broadcast.

    “If there is a case for censorship, it should be debated and decided in Parliament,” he said. “Political censorship cannot be outsourced to the BBC or anyone else.”

    He said the BNP had “demonstrated a level of support that would normally lead to an occasional invitation to join the panel on Question Time”.

    Politicians from minor parties, including George Galloway, the Respect MP, and Caroline Lucas, the leader of the Green party, regularly appeared on Question Time.

    Mr Thompson insisted that Mr Griffin had been invited so that the public could challenge his views, rather than any “misguided desire to be controversial”.

    Speaking before the programme, Gordon Brown said the BNP’s appearance was a matter for the BBC and that he was confident that Mr Griffin would be exposed for his “unacceptable” views.

    “I hope that the exposure of the BNP will make people see what they are really like,” the Prime Minister said.

    However, there were fears that Mr Griffin’s appearance would lead to an increase in support.

    He had said he was hopeful his party would be propelled into “the big time” as a result of the broadcast and described his appearance on the show as “a milestone in the indomitable march of the British National Party towards saving our country”.

    Ken Livingstone, the former mayor of London and the chairman of Unite Against Fascism, claimed that the broadcast could lead to an increase in racist attacks and views.

    “For the angry racist it’s a trigger that turns into an attack,” he said.

    “We first saw this when Enoch Powell made his Rivers of Blood speech. There was a huge surge of attacks on black conductors on our buses, and that is why I think you apply a different standard to the BNP to those parties that do not legitimise this sort of violence against minorities.”
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/6410764/BNP-on-Question-Time-Nick-Griffin-uses-BBC-appearance-to-attack-Muslims-and-gays.html#