The EU, Britain, Cameron, Churchill, Orwell, Pigs & Love Actually are the subjects of today's post, even though The Blandford Buzz is primarily a website dedicated to Blandford Forum and the surrounding area, sometimes a story breaks that is just too BIG to not blog about - even on a locally inspired blog. Ok so before I go any further I'm sure you've already guessed the subject matter of todays post by it's title and this introduction...no reader don't be put off, this affects you and I as well as everyone else on a local, national and international scale - though you have my word that I will try to approach this matter in the most positive way that I can.
The European Union
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| Flag animation courtesy of abflags.com |
On Friday the 9th of December 2011, 27 politicians met in Brussels for a European Union summit meeting to agree to a new treaty which will legislate even closer monetary/fiscal union between it's member states - Germany and France believe that this proposed new treaty will put the brakes on reckless spending by some of the other member states and if any do so in the future they will be penalised, the treaty in the making will also implement legal rules on taxation. After almost 10 hours of talks 26 out of the 27 member states that form the European Union (agreed in theory) to the proposed treaty.
Britain
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| Flag animation courtesy of abflags.com |
Britain led by Conservative Prime Minister Edward Heath in with effect became a member of the EEC on the 1st of January 1973 though only after 2 previously failed attempts to join the EEC in 1963 & 1967 which France vetoed both times. After the second world war Britain's power began to diminish as it's former colonies including India broke free from the shackles of British imperialism, Britain knew that it had to set its sights towards Europe in order to maintain and improve it's economic standing in the world and it was easier to do so by being an accepted member of the EEC.
In 1975 the Labour party who were in power obviously felt uneasy about Britain's continued EEC membership and so under Prime Minister Harold Wilson a referendum was held to decide if Britain should stay in the EEC, 67% of voters opted to continue Britain's EEC membership.
On 30th October 1990 Margaret Thatcher opposed any attempts to have a centralised European Government in her famous "no no no" parliamentary speech (embedded below). The Maastricht Treaty gave effect to the European Union on 1st November 1993 however upon the advice of his predecessor the Iron Lady , Conservative Prime Minister John Major vetoed any attempt to towards the creating of a federal (one centralised government ruling) Europe.
Cameron
David Cameron our current Prime Minister whether rightly or wrongly, as only time will tell, made history when in the early hours of the morning on Friday 10th December 2011 he used Britain's veto to block changes to the European Union Lisbon Treaty at the EU summit he attended along with 26 other European state representatives.
A significant number of David Cameron's coalition government publicly support his decision to wield the veto, in the firm belief that to not have done so, would have undermined the Financial City Of London, the UK'S legislature (courts etc) and many of Britain's sovereign powers. So as of now Britain has seemingly become the black sheep of Europe - but hey there's nothing wrong with being a black sheep have you noticed that when a black sheep grazes in a field with its white counterparts, it still exists and it continues to be sustained by the land around it and sometimes it grows even fatter than the white members of the flock, so dear reader don't let Cameron's use of the veto fill you with dread or fear, what will be will be, Britain has a knack of always getting by, so have faith...
Churchill
Winston Churchill the great man himself and perhaps Britain's best known, most famous and popular Prime Minister, in 1951wouldn't allow Britain to join the European Coal & Steel Community and this is what Churchill, the most charismatic orator Britain has ever had, rather poetically said of Britain's relationship with Europe
" We have our own dream and our own task
we are with Europe but not of it
we are linked but not combined
we are interested and associated
but not absorbed "
In Churchill's 1942 speech, during world war 2 he voiced his famous poetical play on words
" Now this is not the end
it is not even the beginning of the end
but it is perhaps the end of the beginning "
Fast forward to 2011 and Churchill's rhetoric in reverse is a virtual metaphoric carbon copy of the status quo of Britain's role in the EU and possibly the whole of the European Union
Now this is not the beginning
it is not even the end of the beginning
but it is perhaps the beginning of the end
Orwell
George Orwell may be Britain's greatest political fictional author and as you probably already know, his literary master pieces include Animal Farm which he penned in 1945 and 1984 which he wrote in 1948, the former of the two being my personal favorite and it is to this great work of his, that I must dear reader draw your attention to, in regards to the European Union and true, real, pure, undiluted, sturdy and robust democratic process - or a lack of.
Pigs
The Pigs along with the other animals in George Orwell's famous book Animal Farm over throw mean spirited Farmer Jones and so for a while all of the animals seem to be in a much better position than before, however Napolean and the other pigs realise that to live in a prosperous and unified way, there have to be rules, so they make 7 commandments including whatever goes up on two legs is an enemy, no animal shall wear clothes and no animal shall sleep in a bed etc... slowly one by one Napolean and his piggy counterparts start walking on two legs, wearing clothes and sleeping in beds, they changed the rules to suit themselves...
Napolean and his band of pigs reminds me of Friday's (9/12/2011) European Union summit - namely the veto, have you or have you not noticed that they changed the rules to suit themselves - Britain's veto was ignored by the other 26 member states of the European Union ? The veto is a blocking mechanism and if even one member state wield's the power of the veto, a proposal is blocked, it cannot go ahead, er but the proposal to make changes to the European Union Lisbon Treaty did go ahead, despite Britain's veto...enough said - apart from that the European Union is on a very dangerous and precarious path
Love Actually
Love Actually is a romcom that you've probably already watched and if you haven't I recommend that you do, it makes great viewing, I wont go into too many details about the film, in case you havn't seen it yet and although I haven't checked the Christmas TV listings it will probably be shown on TV over the Xmas period, due to its yuletide feel. As I said earlier in this post and I will italicise my own words - dear reader don't let Cameron's use of the veto fill you with dread or fear, what will be will be, Britain has a knack of always getting by, so have faith...and I hope to put your mind at peace and fill it with a bit of good old fashion British cheer and team spirit by placing the link of a wonderful and very memorable clip from Love Actually below, (just use your imagination a bit and replace the US with the EU) ... Until I write & You read again...x