It is general knowledge that there are two broad groups in Northern Ireland, the Protestant /Unionist /Loyalist (PUL) community and the Catholic /Nationalist /Republican (CNR) community. Historically the PUL community has been the majority and the CNR community the minority, but they are now getting very close to par. Nationalists tend to see themselves as… Read more
Category:
European Union
Is Italy the white hope for European reform?
The radical reformist and largely Eurosceptic coalition parties in the Italian government are declaring radical views. They have asked for 250 billion of Euro debt to be written off. Although it has been subtly since denied, it is entirely in character with their previous pronouncements and they still maintain that a pre-Maastricht system would be… Read more
Canada & Modern Money
I came accross this interesting, historical chart indicating how Canada’s debt and interest has boomed since it stopped getting its Central Bank to issue money. I believe the change was much influenced by US political pressure but it does prove, as I am sure that our Canadian Bank of England Governor, Mark Carney is well… Read more
The EU is the only ‘spring’ Europe has had in its entire history
A tweet that arrived yesterday is well worth sharing – a short speech by a Spanish MEP on what, he considers, the EU is: Yesterday I had to teach my students, in under 3 hours, what the EU was and why #Brexit was happening. It seemed like an impossible task. Then I found this MEP… Read more
This Island race
Given that we fail to train enough doctors or nurses, provide sufficient carers, or even structure our jobs, such as in the food industry, to be generally appealing, then I think we can conclude that Britain is set up, structurally, to depend on immigration. It is therefore crazy to try to restrict it. But that… Read more
Picture for the side of a bus
This is from MapPorn (I know, it’s sad, I cannot manage the real stuff). It shows the actual major trading import partners of European countries. The German takeover of European trade, including those countries not in the Euro, is pretty much complete… This indicates the flimsiness of Brexiters assumption that Britain is such an important… Read more
Président Macron’s government to sell Paris’s airports
I was most impressed with a journalist’s summation on France 2 of the proposal by Président Macron’s government to sell Paris’s airports. They are currently owned by just a shade more than 50% by the state.. The Prime Minister has said it is not part of the government’s purpose to extract dividends from infrastructure. Though… Read more
Continental Differences – again…
Thinking about my legal reflections on Napoleonic Europe, differences are very often about philosophy. This sounds grand but isn’t really. We just need a little more thought. When I worked in France I encountered roadsigns that seemed to me completely doolally. Some pointed across the roads to which they were supposed to indicate the destination,… Read more
Napoleon’s heritage
Even those of us, like me, who consider Brexit would be a disaster for the UK have to admit that the UK and the rest of the EU often do not get on very well. One of the main reasons for that is legal. Whereas British, or rather English, Law is Common, Continental Law is… Read more
At last! The Japanese speak out (but too late to stop disaster)
And so, at last, members of one of the major manufacturing sectors in the UK – Japanese car makers – backed up by their government, meet with our powerless Prime Minister to publicly express their concern at the direction in which Brexit is heading. In so doing they unambiguously emphasise that should it come to… Read more