Yesterday Segolene Royal outlined her Pact with the Presidency, which includes 100 policies. It reminds me of Michael Helsetine's famous left, right, left, right speech...
-- Citizens juries will be created to monitor government performance.
-- Setting a target of 20% for renewable energy by 2020, reducing France's dependency on nuclear energy.
-- Promoting mass trade unionism.
-- Sending juvenile delinquents to military-style boot camps.
-- Providing free contraceptives to women younger than 25.
-- Incorporate into the charter of the European Central Bank the aim of growth and employment
-- Negotiate an institutional treaty, subject to a referendum, so that Europe can function more efficiently and democratically.
-- Control globalisation by working for greater efficiency and openness in the controlling regulatory mechanisms
-- Institute a tax on financial transactions similar to the Tobin tax.
Click HERE to read the full Pact with the Presidency and HERE to buy a biography of Segolene Royal.
The Telegraph thinks even the French will not be foolish enough to vote for this stuff. I'm not so sure. But then, they did have the good sense to vote down the EU constitution.
ReplyDeleteThe last thing France should do is discourage childbirth from the indiginous population. The present births-per-female in France is approx 1.3, miles behind the 2.1 required for population stability.
ReplyDeleteI do not wish to make a political point, but only throw in the fact that the immigrant population of France, overwhelmingly islamic is rather more gung ho in the reproduction stakes, averaging a fecund 3.5 or so.
I don't understand what your reference to Heseltine means ?
ReplyDeleteSome of these are very good policies, although I don't agree with all of them. Why wouldn't giving free contraceptives to people be a good idea ? And I personally think it is a travesty that the Tobin tax idea has not yet been implemented.
Point 73 is interesting 'Citizens who gather a million signatures will have the right to review of...a law'.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if Tony Blair will take that idea on board..?
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/news/
ReplyDeleteIn case you were wondering where Cameron was today..
I think Vladimir Putin's outburst in Munich has done immeasurable good for Sarkozy and destroyed Royal
ReplyDelete"Sending juvenile delinquents to military-style boot camps."
ReplyDeleteI thought this was already happening in France. I remember seeing a BBC news report about it last year.
A good idea, nonetheless, in my opinion.
og - what is your point ?? why are you using loaded language like 'gung ho' ? Are you suggesting that they are feckless ? Why should you worry if the 'indigenous population' birth rate is low if it is being balanced by other babies being born elsewhere?
ReplyDeleteAll the babies will be French, so what difference does it make ?
og - There is an easy way around this, if I understand your point.
ReplyDeleteBy converting to Islam the population of France will return to population stability ? Sounds like a good idea.
trumpeter - when you say 'this stuff' which policies do you mean ? I can't believe you can look at all policies, there are a 100, and say that every single one is bad ? Or maybe you can, because the 's' word is so vile to you that you cannot bear to think of the possibility that it might not be all bad.
ReplyDeleteIan this is a must read. Hitchins the Lib Dems leader on getting more females and BME as MPs, turns out another male chauvanist performance to prospective female candidates
ReplyDeletehttp://lindyloosmuze.blogspot.com/2007/02/in-pink-or-not-with-lembit-and-steve.html
OT - Miliband on NewsNight shortly..
ReplyDeleteAnd he don't look at all happy..
And it's Paxo - the rooster booster.
Tune in folks, it could be good..
"-- Citizens juries will be created to monitor government performance."
ReplyDeleteI would have thought blogs could do this very well...
"-- Setting a target of 20% for renewable energy by 2020, reducing France's dependency on nuclear energy."
How is this going to be enforced?
"-- Promoting mass trade unionism."
Uh oh. Let's shove wages above market rates and decrease employment shall we?
"-- Sending juvenile delinquents to military-style boot camps."
Not actually a bad idea.
"-- Providing free contraceptives to women younger than 25."
Paid for by who? Ah yes, the taxpayer, many of whom may not approve of this controversial policy.
"-- Incorporate into the charter of the European Central Bank the aim of growth and employment"
Trying to bring back Mr Keynes by the back door are we? Big Mistake.
"-- Negotiate an institutional treaty, subject to a referendum, so that Europe can function more efficiently and democratically."
AKA more power to the EU.
"-- Control globalisation by working for greater efficiency and openness in the controlling regulatory mechanisms"
AKA more restrictions on what private individuals and companies can do with their money thus preventing them from getting the best returns for investors.
"-- Institute a tax on financial transactions similar to the Tobin tax."
Because that will be good for savers. Or not.
no longer anonymous - clearly you don't have a clue what the tobin tax is as it wouldn't affect savers at all - this is the typical approach here, it comes from a socialist so it must all be bad.
ReplyDeleteThe problem with Royal's proposals is that there doesn't seem to be an element of prioritisation to them, to focus on which are the most effective. But to make out that they are all rubbish is just lazy and intellectually dishonest.
Contraception has always been free. Just cross your legs.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous at 10.18 said:
ReplyDelete"All the babies will be French, so what difference does it make?"
You mean just like the London bombers were British - get real!
Hmm, yes.
ReplyDeleteRight Left
as in
National Socialist
"no longer anonymous - clearly you don't have a clue what the tobin tax is as it wouldn't affect savers at all - this is the typical approach here, it comes from a socialist so it must all be bad."
ReplyDeleteTobin taxes are taxes on currency transactions. Many savers will have money invested in financial institutions that partake in such transactions.
anon 10.18pm
ReplyDelete'Are you suggesting that they are feckless?'
On the contrary, it's the deliberate policy of subsidised social welfare recipients, partout. In the west, more kids=more money+more
housing benefits.
'Why should you worry if the 'indigenous population' birth rate is low if it is being balanced by other babies being born elsewhere?'
Because we want the continuation of the indigenous culture, in France as in the UK. Because we've got rather used to it over the past few centuries. (Interesting that even you call it indigenous.)
Those grabbing the free contraceptives will be the ones who use them anyway, but are just too stingy to pay for them. You think someone says 'oh, free contraceptives, and I've never used them 'cos I don't want to, so if they're free I might try them for a change.' Nope, doesn't happen.
'All the babies will be French, so what difference does it make ?'
I'll tell you when you're older...
Anon 11.02 - if you want to post racist comments, piss off onto another blog.
ReplyDeleteanon 11.24pm
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't seem racist to point out that a large number of people within ethnic minorities settled in western countries claim to be British/French/German/Danish etc when they need a passport and access to services, but secretly (or openly) hate and despise the values of the country of their residency, birth and education, and spend their time plotting against its government, people and legal institutions, or else they secretly (or openly) sympathise with those who do.
One third of UK muslims canvassed claimed that the London bombers were 'martyrs' and that their act was understandable. This can't be simply explained away as 'racism'.
Anyone who has been to e.g. Whitechapel over the past few years and seen the extent to which sharia law is being promulgated, widely taught and openly campaigned for by the 'local population' can see the cultural creep. And no, we don't want the BNP, we want sensible dialogue with the sensible.
The US and Switzerland (for example) have excellent systems for ensuring that those who take up nationality genuinely accept its values. We have to get back to what 'British' means and stop the inverted cultural cringe.
And yes, I do live here. And I travel on the tube, and I'm not going to stop doing so just for a few murderous loonies.
Time to buy shares in Eurostar (ok, BA and National Express). London's already got more French citizens than Bordeaux, Lille or Strasbourg and with ideas like this, the British capital should overtake Toulouse or Lyon next. "Que le dernier a quitter la France eteint la lumiere" as The Sun would say.
ReplyDeleteThat said, mass trade unionism is a good idea. For the French. Right now far more Brits belong to a union compared to the French comrades. So the unions in France are run for a minority of workers and concern themselves with politics and not the prosperity of their members. Were their ranks to triple, they'd have to listen to their members and this would moderate their views and broaden the membership beyond the bastions of the state sector.
As for a Tobin Tax, it's a wrongheaded idea. I can only think of one other EU country that levies a tax on financial transactions: Britain, with its stamp duty on share dealing. Et oui!
Still, Mrs Royals ideas are mess and recipe for fudge francais, drizzled with coulis de chomage. Can't someone send them A-level economics textbook? Iain, surely Politicos could send some dusty copy of Nigel Lawson's memoirs?
The speech was Left,left,left..!
ReplyDeletePT
anonymous [10.22 PM] You ask, by 'this stuff' which policies do I mean?
ReplyDeleteI mean the dirigiste package taken as a whole. Maybe, like the curate's egg, parts of it are excellent. But it's not a menu, it's a package.
You suggest, the S word is so vile to me that I cannot bear to think of the possibility that it might not be all bad.
Not vile, exactly, but having lived through the Attlee, Wilson, Callaghan, and Blair/Brown administrations I believe that socialism invariably screws up the economy.
All this talk of indigenous people makes me think of the very useful history lesson over on Winchester Whisperer. It seems to explain that King Alfred's remains have had to be moved several times because he was such a naughty boy and burnt those cakes. Or is it the cakes that have been 'cremated' and whose remains are in the grounds of Winchester cathedral. The details seem a bit fuzzy - 1066 and all that...
ReplyDeleteWe have to get back to what 'British' means
ReplyDeleteWhat does 'British' mean? Does it mean tea and scones? Pimms and lemonade? Ecstasy and glow-sticks? Does it mean twelve pints and a punch-up? Fish-and-chips?
I think you are doing the classic "harking back to a golden age that never existed".
The that impressed me is that she made a 75 minute speech on her policies broadcast on TV. A century ago Gladstone won the 1880 election by going round the country giving reasoned 3 hour speeches to packed halls of ordinary people. Politics in the English speaking world now seems to resolve itself into 3 second soundbites & pictures of people on bicycles.
ReplyDeleteI think I blame the media for this even more than the politicians.
neil craig [11.48 AM] If you want mature discussion lasting longer than 3 seconds you have to go to Radio 4 (NOT the Today programme)or 18 Doughty Street. And yes, like you, I blame the media for our soundbite politics. Given the opportunity, politicians would talk for hours on end, and might even be able to construct a proper argument.
ReplyDeleteAnons of last night - the birth rate of France is c1.3 births per female notwithstanding the healthy immigrant reproduction. The difficulty I forsee is twofold:
ReplyDelete1. For the forseeable future, France (and Germany, Spain and Italy, for that matter) could have a welfare state crisis, with retirees outnumbering new taxpayers in every mini-generation;
2. When the French population stabilises, and then starts to grow again, in perhaps 50 years, it will be getting on for 50% islamic as a country. It seems to me to be unlikely that French culture will remain the dominant force in the long run, and more likely that sharia law will prevail.
I like the idea of Citizen juries. That's an idea to copy.
ReplyDelete