It's all about Vision Dave

If, in Government, you have a strong, clear vision that people understand, the odd cock-up along the way will not damage you too much.


But if you don't (have  a strong vision) then every cock-up just confirms your ineptitude. They become what you're known for; 'what you do'.


If you have no clear vision: Don't know where you're going - how can you possibly lead anyone anywhere? Time to help Dave to find the exit?



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Seems to me that Dave is not short of cock-ups; this Government is becoming known for its ineptitude because it has no clear vision.


If you know where you're going, you can drag the idiots & nay-sayers along. If you don't, they will control your direction & speed.


When we needed political giants in the UK and Europe, we got Dave and George, Miliband and Balls. God help us.

Euro tweets

If you 'Mr Responsible' (Germany) give your feckless cousin (Greece) money 2 fix his roof & he pisses it up the wall we sympathise with you 


But if you then give him a load more money even though he hasn't paid you back, and he pisses that up the wall too, who's the idiot then?


Regarding this latest German attempt to take over Europe.. (yes strictly speaking 'Brussels-based EU', but let's call a spade a spade):


Ironic that Germany is using the financial 'credit-to-dependence' model that was so reviled there not very long ago.


So reviled indeed, that they tried to wipe out an entire race because of it. 


Ironic that the first unelected head of state inserted by Germany is Mario Monti in Italy. Wonder if he'll make the trains run on time?


Now they're trying again 2 make Europe 'German'. More austere harder working less frivolous. Taking the 'fun' out of Fundamental economics.


Ok so this time it's with Banks not Tanks, Bonds not Bombs, the IMF not the Luftwaffe but the desired result is the same.


And Cameron comes back from Brussels saying: 'Greece in our time'. You couldn't make it up. Actually, you could,. I did. :-D


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When the smoke clears from the Euro débacle, some people will be surprised to find that France makes Greece look like an upstanding pillar of the financial community.


Germany just wants to punish people for having a nice lifestyle


So when you've done your hard work, abstemious living, austerity, saving for a rainy day, presumably you'll go on hiliday to Frankfurt, or Düsseldorf? No?


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I think we should replace the Euro with the Olive. Then Greece, Italy & Spain would be rich & we could all enjoy a mediterranean lifestyle  


And Olive's do grow on trees, so if we needed any 'quantitive easing' we'd just ask a greek man to go into his garden with a basket. 


Now you may think that's sillier than trying to turn Greeks, Spaniards and Italians into Germans, but it's not. It's about the same. #No2EU   

Disappointed that the EU hasn't yet taken up my suggestion to replace the Euro with the Olive. Frankly, I'm pitted about it. 

However, by the end of September, I'm confident that the Olive will be worth substantially more than the Euro. You heard it here first. 

In fact by October, the 1970 Esso world cup coin of Paul Reaney will be worth more than the Euro. Not one Euro, you understand, but all of them, combined. 

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The EU was designed after the last unpleasantness, to eradicate war in Europe & stop one country dominating others. How's that going Angela?


It was designed to preserve individual state sovereignty so smaller countries' voters could contribute to Europe-wide policy. Angela?


It was designed as a free trade area, not a fiscal or political union - that's what we signed up to in 1971. Didn't we Angela?


It was designed to protect democracy not ride roughshod over it- an antidote to previous German plans put forward, quite forcefully in 1939.


It costs £200million a year to move the whole EU circus between Brussels & Strasbourg: Benefit to the people? The square route of fuck all. 


Obviously the French signed up: Say anything forcefully enough to the French and they say 'Oui, bien sür' almost immediately.


Try the same thing with the Brits and they tend to say: 'Do fuck off, there's a good chap. We'll decide what we think if you don't mind?'


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Congratulations Angela: Germany prospers while the rest of the EU suffers and in the south they head back towards 3rd world status. Happy?


Greece, Spain, Portugal, Italy, soon they'll be needing aid rather than bills Angela. Food parcels not financial 'instruments'. Happy? 


Yes some of our southern European cousins are financially dodgy, lazy, corrupt..interesting. Fun 2b with. Thank fuck the world's not German.


Yes they spend more time with family & friends; eating good food & drinking wine; less time working than us. So who's got life about right?








Sometimes we can't see the pasta or paella for the parsimonious principles of the plutocrats. Think I'll leave it there :-)

Eurogeddon - the end-game has begun

More bail outs then. This time Spain. Then Italy, Portugal, Eire. Then France. That's assuming they've already written Greece off.


Thing is, if you have any personal money in Greece, in Euros. you now face the prospect of a devaluation and probably reintroduction of the Drachma at 50% of the Euro value. And since you won't want to lose 50% of your money overnight, you'll be wanting to move it to a safe location.


But you can't have it in cash because the banks only hold around 2.7% of the actual 'folding' that would be needed to pay out what people (think they) own.


So you'll transfer your balance to Italy maybe. But the Italian banks will only credit that amount if they're sure that the credit transfer is sound - i.e. the money will be honoured by the Greek bank making the transfer. I'm not sure that they would see this as being real. Greece is insolvent.


And anyway, the same situation will be facing Italy in a matter of a few weeks, so they will be trying to get their money out too. Spain is no different and nor, ultimately, is France which, although it has been very quiet in recent months, Monsieur Holland will be nationalising a major French bank in the next month or so - he has no choice.


You'll recall the 'run' on the bank that we saw at Northern Rock, with queues of people wanting their money out - which was when the UK Government had to step in and nationalise the bank. Only this time it will be on a much bigger scale. Not a relatively small UK bank, but whole countries including Italy, Spain, Portugal Eire, and France. 


There is now a serious prospect of wheelbarrows being a good investment - to carry round the banknotes needed to buy a loaf of bread.


The politicians continue to believe that they can continue to extend lines of credit - in effect, print more and more money (presumably forever) in order to stop this contagion. But with asset values tumbling and 97.3% of Europe's money to be 'found' (i.e. it doesn't exist) this would be impossible. And would, in any case, make the Euro virtually worthless as a hard currency. 


It looks like Germany has already decided that there is no value in throwing more good money after bad. They have no prospect of ever getting it back and yes, the IMF which has famously never lost money in the past, is almost guaranteed to do so this time, just on Greece, let alone the bigger countries' debts. 


But the Eurocrats are faced with losing everything - including their cushy jobs if the whole thing fails and they will, therefore, do anything to try to keep 'kicking the can down the road' in the hope that 'something will turn up'. But it won't. It can't. And the figures are astronomical. Europe's GDP is bigger than the US. Europe is effectively bankrupt and Germany will bankrupt itself if it tries any further to stem the inevitable tide of default and unpayable debt. 


In Greece, the organisations which step in when a country goes bankrupt, in order to provide a softer landing post disaster, are already holding the assets they would normally be taking over in a crisis. So they're already part of the meltdown and not able, therefore, to provide any sort of bail-out.


The prospect of civil unrest (and believe me it will be anything but 'civil') is now becoming almost inevitable. And we now live in a world where even talking about rising extremism is not the done thing.  The atmosphere is now ripe for extremism to not just grow, but potentially take over as Governments are virtually powerless to intervene in any way that would be acceptable to their populations.


So we're no longer talking about a few 'ineffectual muppets' in Brussels that might spend too much money on themselves but don't really do that much harm. We're talking about a clear and present danger of the whole European edifice falling apart because of their failure to keep to their own rules of membership in the first place. Their own unwavering desire to create a united states of Europe, even though fundamentally, it could never work without true political and financial union.


It's a busted flush, but because the leaders have everything to lose if it fails, they will continue to do almost anything to cling on to the prospect of them keeping their jobs. No matter what it costs their citizens either financially or in terms of lifestyle, employment and security.   


And there's no 'big brother' waiting in the wings to lead us out of this catastrophe. The leaders are all, already embroiled in the problem. 


It's coming. As night follows day. Best case scenario would be for the Euro to fail quickly so that we, and the markets could respond to a new world and then start to get on with what comes afterwards, ideally in as painless a way as possible while law and order still holds and gives us some chance of managing the change. 


It will certainly not be without pain nor without conflict, but if it happens quickly with Government apparatus still in place (just), it might just be possible to move forward with minimal violence and pressure on social cohesion and for a new system to emerge. The longer our leaders try to carry on and salvage something from the current shambles, the worse the disruption will be. 


As far as the UK is concerned, we will certainly not be immune to a systemic failure in Europe. It will have a significant negative impact on our own economy but as one of the world's financial powerhouses and as a country that does still have a strong (if small) manufacturing sector and a strong agricultural sector, we are massively better placed to survive this meltdown.


In the short term we will be a safe haven for investment and if we are nimble on our feet, we can take some advantages from the European crisis. Southern Europe will have an exchange rate advantage over us, but they'll be on their knees initially.  And German exchange rates will go through the roof - a singular Germany will have a currency that is 50% higher valued than it is now, when yoked to the rest of Europe, so we'll likely be much more competitive in relation to our biggest rival. Again, this will call for  an ability to be responsive and nimble, but there could well be some good news in the medium term for the UK. 


In any case we'll be able to sell our wheelbarrows. One hopes that we won't be selling too many of our other great export product - arms - to the new Europe.









  

Gooner Family: Are you sure about that?

One of the oft-made complaints about 'family' is that you cannot choose it. It's an accident of birth. Whereas you can choose your friends and, so the theory goes, that is more likely to work out well. But who do you go back to. When the wheels fall off? Who offers undying love and unquestioning support, almost whatever you have done? Your friends or your family? Bear that in mind when you read the following:


I hear a lot on twitter about the 'Gooner Family'. I like the idea. It sums up very well how I feel about the relationship. Of course some people use it as an 'arm-twisting' device for a follow-back, and that's just fine by me. Being a member of the Gooner Family is a good start in my book, but it doesn't make you a different person. You might still be a moron. Sorry about that, but we have to face facts. It is perhaps less likely than if, say, you were a Spud, but I also know some excellent people who happen to support a different team, yes even Spurs. 


I'm an Arsenal fan. I love the club, the team, the ethos, everything about it. It's bigger than me. And you. it's been here long before both of us. It will be here long after we're gone. I'm not a passing fan, something to do along the way. I don't go to the games at the moment because I can't for reasons of finance and distance. But that does not mean that I'm a lesser fan. My first Arsenal hero was Charlie George. It's been a life-long relationship for me.


For me, the team is like my kids. I see every one of them as one of my children: Some are great and I'm so proud of them. Some don't quite make it, but I still love them (like my kids). I wish they were better. I wish they were all heroes. That they all scored the winner in the cup final. Sometimes it just doesn't work out for the individual players. That doesn't mean they weren't trying their best. I don't think that anyone who ever played for The Arsenal has not tried to do their best. Although I have to admit that the (relatively recent) influx of big money into the game has made the mercenary scenario much more likely. 


However, I happen to take the view that, even if you are paid astronomical amounts of money to play for one club or another, you may well have gone to the highest bidder irrespective of your personal loyalties (it's a world game now after all); when you walk out onto the pitch you will give everything you have for the team, the fans and, especially, your team-mates. Yes, maybe as a 'professional' rather than a 'fan' but the result is the same in my view. 


I don't think we can expect footballers to behave differently from the rest of us on that score: It's true that some people (quite a few in my experience) will go to work, do just enough to get by, and take the pay-check. But these people are not the 'rain-makers', not the high-achievers, they are the 'also rans' and I don't think one can become a seriously good professional premier league player these days if that's your attitude.


Sometimes your own kids just aren't quite good enough, however hard you and they tried. You have to remember that other parents' kids are on the opposing team. And they're trying just as hard, for the same reasons. And sometimes they win. If that wasn't the case, it wouldn't be much of a challenge. And, therefore, not worth the levels of effort, sacrifice and determination that they - and we - put in every week and year. And winning, in the end, against all the odds, over the other family's 'kids' wouldn't be nearly as sweet.


Of course we all want to win. We'd give anything for Arsenal to do well. It hurts like hell when they don't. Today's society wants it all. Now. One can sometimes see this in the views of some of our younger fans - the 'Game-Over so start again and have another go until you win' mentality. But life's not like that. Even if you have virtually unlimited funds available, like Citeh or Chel$ki, it's not easy. What's that cliché? There's no 'I' in 'team'? But there is 'Mate'. I like that concept, trite though it may be. 


So if 'our kids' (your kids) don't win all the time, you need, instead of criticising them, to help and bolster them. To reassure them and to help them to win next time. Criticising them, calling them 'crap' and worse, doesn't help. These are our kids, our family. You might well be disappointed and angry. But remember who they are: 'Our kids'. Our family. Calling them names is more about you and your failings than it is about them. 


They're doing their best. Sometimes I think that you should ask yourself if you are doing the same? I hear a lot about 'Gooner Family' but sometimes I'm not sure if some people understand what 'family' really means. I'm sorry if this view offends you. Actually I'm not really. If, after reading, you're still of the view that some players are crap, and shouldn't wear the shirt. well I'd invite you, very politely, to fuck off.


You might well be a 'fan', I'll grant you that. But you're not 'Family'.