Power switches as Europe flounders
SOCIAL media firms could be banned unless they remove dangerous posts that promote self-harm and suicide, says Health Secretary Matt Hancock. This follows 30 families accusing the companies of contributing towards the death of their children due to their failure to remove distressing material.
Excuse me, but why the “could?”
AVON and Somerset Police have been criticised for urging women to go jogging in groups to avoid sexual abuse or harassment. The advice was to stay alert, not be anxious and to enjoy the exercise.
Campaigners say it is heavy-handed and even an attempt to restrict women. What nonsense. Just as you’re warned not to leave valuables on display when you park your car and signs warn of thieves in the area, this is valuable advice and an attempt to prevent anyone becoming a victim.
WITH much fanfare, the Government launched a crackdown on youngsters believed to be carrying knives by introducing Asbo-style restrictions. One measure is that anyone caught could be barred from social media.
Do they really imagine that barring from Instagram some lawless thug who would stab someone for their trainers or because of their postcode will make the slightest difference?
SAINSBURY’S in Dartford, Kent, is under fire after an animal welfare group claimed it has used air rifles to cull pigeons which got into the supermarket. Seeing as the birds can carry fatal diseases, the actions seem entirely appropriate to me.
After all, what else were they meant to do? Ask them nicely to leave?
INTERNATIONAL Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt has suggested we need to “have a conversation” about the ludicrous amounts of cash we waste on overseas aid. We splurge £14billion on projects such as contraceptive clinics in Malawi and investigating flatulence in cattle in Colombia. Therefore the conversation should proceed as follows: “Just stop it. Now.”
THERE has been no shortage of criticism over how the Government has woefully mishandled the Brexit process and one of the most repeated allegations is that Theresa May and her team have continually “kicked the can down the road” during the entire frustrating process.
That changed dramatically last week when Mrs May kicked the can fairly, squarely and firmly in the direction of Brussels and “zut alors!” how they hated it!
It would be no exaggeration to say Tuesday night was the PM’s finest hour to date since she took on the job twoand-a-half years ago. At long, long last the tin ear and leaden-footed style was replaced by someone displaying a certain élan as well as a nimble and determined approach, and the Conservative Party now looks about as united as it has in years.
Her screechingly abrupt U-turn over the despised “backstop” is what allowed her to triumph in all but one of the crucial votes last week – and even the one she lost on the ruling out of a no-deal Brexit is not legally binding. But it might well come with a cost.
Before Valentine’s Day, she is due back in the Commons to outline what progress she has made with the EU over dumping the mechanism that ensured there would not be a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic.
No surprise the votes had hardly been counted at Westminster before prominent Eurocrats were queuing up to trash the notion that the withdrawal agreement could be revisited. The unholy trinity of Jean-Claude Juncker, Guy Verhofstadt and Michel Barnier displayed the warm manner of a surgeon telling you that you’ve one week to live as they comprehensively scoffed at the idea of going back to the backstop.
It is, however, worth remembering that this is the same organisation that vowed it would never, in any circumstances, allow funds to be used to bail out a member country using the euro currency. It is now impossible to put a precise figure on the billions of euros that have been pumped into Greece during its financial meltdown.
Not known for her gambling prowess, Mrs May must now hope a sizeable dose of reality breaks out in Brussels. Because the need for so many of the European countries that have sought to make the Brexit process a bigger deal than the dawn of time to focus on domestic affairs grows by the week.
On Thursday Italy slipped into recession. The level of debt there stands at a staggering 130 per cent, more than double the limit set by the EU. The economy has not grown for 20 years and only Greece fares worse.
The European Central Bank (ECB) had to step in and take control of one bank, Banca Carige, and many others in France and Germany have what is termed “massive exposure” to Italian debt.
At the behest of ECB President Mario Draghi (himself an Italian, by the way) they simply print money ceaselessly to try to buy their way out of the crisis. However, he leaves office in October and will his successor be equally inclined to continue the quantitative easing programme?
In Germany last week, the government’s optimistic estimate that the economy would grow by 1.8 per cent was dramatically scaled down to just one per cent growth, the lowest in six years.
The Economy Minister (very similar to our Chancellor) said it could drop even lower due to fears of a hard Brexit and he said that Berlin must do everything it can to avoid a no-deal Brexit. Music to the ears of Mrs May.
In France, the economy has slowed by almost a full percentage point and the country is still riven every weekend by the “yellow jackets” protests that have caused 10 deaths and cost billions of euros.
IN SPAIN, unemployment stands at 15.2 per cent – in the UK it is four per cent. Youth unemployment in Spain is at a record 35 per cent, meaning that one in three young people there is out of work. For Ireland, a disorderly Brexit could cause the loss of around 55,000 jobs and dent the economy by 4.25 per cent, according to official government figures.
Suddenly, the Eurozone’s fascination with seemingly wishing to “punish” Britain for seeking to leave a ship that might not yet be sinking, but certainly isn’t making great headway, is clearly insane.
The game could, at last, be coming towards the UK. Now is the time for Mrs May and crucially, Parliament too, to stay strong and keep their nerve.