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Friday, November 20, 2009
Triumph of the Mediocre
No offence to Baroness Ashton and Mr Rumpy Pumpy, but seriously, is that the best they can do?
I have previously seen the EU as fundamentally undemocratic, politically unpalatable and deeply unpopular, but nevertheless a tent it was better to be inside of pissing out.
But I find myself this morning thinking that the great and the good of Brussels have somehow managed to make two critical appointments that are so intellectually and morally corrupt, so breathtakingly arrogant and undemocratic, and so humiliating to the citizenry of Europe (I mean, "send forth the best ye have"?) that they have managed to discredit an organisation that frankly, I thought was so despised as to be beyond such an outcome. As a bureaucrat myself, I can only salute them.
Surely the two appointments are exactly what William Hague demanded - people to facilitate EU business, not replace elected leaders? Blows a hole in the case of those who say Lisbon is about building a European superstate, which is maybe why UKIP's Farago was moaning on Newsnight that they hadn't appointed higher profile figures. It's shot his fox!
I thought Justin Webb was very rude on Radio 4 this morning.
Why was he so condescending when he was interviewing Baroness Ashton. I thought he was very unpleasant and I hope the few thousands that heard him agree with me too.
Mrs Kellner never had a proper job in her life, spent her life in CND, healthcare quango and of course supporting Nu Labour. Perfect person for this position. The more she is ignorant of the existence of other States in the world, the more she is suitable. Peter Kellner may even commission YouGov poll to demonstrate how good this pair are. Listened to her on Radio 4, sounded more like a local govt counsellor than some one which the world can respect. As a comparison, Hillary Clinton is so distingushed even though I had doubts about her. Listened also to the dreadful prattle of that Welsh Windbag Kinncck , whose clan member is this woman (all of them on the Euro gravy train)in Fivelive. Stupid of Major to putforward this idiot to the commissioner's job. I cannot help wondering what effect Cameron and Hague had on these 'selections'when they wanrned about Blair and highly visible president. Sarko and Merkel'd fix seems to agree with them. At least the Eurp President faced elections in the past unlike Mrs Kellner whose only qualification is a Nu Labour supporter.
I never liked the partisn reporting of Justin Webb. But this morning Radio4 he did very well. Asked the sort of questions I wanted to ask, atleast some of them. This woman came out as a typical quango member which she has been all her life. But then Hague wanted non-entities and he got them!
Criticism that Ashton has never been elected seems perverse - if she had, she would be a much more powerful figure in Brussels. I thought she came across as a competent administrator and no fool - exactly what is needed when representing 27 governments...
She is well qualified for the job. She was (is ?) CND and was honoured for her work on behalf of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transsexual communities.
norman said... "I never liked the partisn reporting of Justin Webb. But this morning Radio4 he did very well. Asked the sort of questions I wanted to ask, atleast some of them. This woman came out as a typical quango member which she has been all her life. But then Hague wanted non-entities and he got them!"
I see another old fart is reaching for his early morning tipple and spurtling utter claptrap.
Tee hee , well tough titty to you because she has the job and that's the end of the matter.
Herman is a Machiavellian operator, a man who has no time for nationhood or democracy, a man who once had the locks on the doors of the Belgian Parliament changed to stop a vote on a key issue. He is not undemocratic – he, like the EU, is anti-democratic.
Its not so much that Mr Rumpoy is the Belgian PM (it must have been a very quiet government formation, they did not have one for months at a time) but that Mrs Kellner is a former employee and later vice-chairman of CND. Witness the glowing testimonial by the chief Euro-trougher Lord Bedwelty and Ealing this morning.
It is beyond distasteful that anyone who actively worked for an organisation that sought to undermine Western security should be working in the public sector of the country they tried to undermine; let alone be put in charge of ‘Security Policy’ for the EU.
The entire need for the Labour movement has long since vanished in the post Butskillism era. But we are left with Socialism in action. The very party that seeks to strike at the hand that feeds it - the employer - are now the masters and with no understanding of how money is created and earned sets about destroying the state upon which it feeds. Browns mismanagement of the economy over the last twelve years is its triumph.
A few hundred thousand euros to yet another Labour luvee lickspittle?
Tis as nothing – mere dross, jetsam as tide goes out exposing the successful destruction of our country by the labour party. Their success is nearly at hand!
@Paul Halsall Once again the Euro-haters show themselves to be the Palinites of British politics.
I know it's so terrible isn't it to want to fight for democracy and...oh...wait, to want to have a democratic say in who governs us.
Don't tell me, that as a full supporter of an institution that is elitist, undemocratic, unaccountable and institutionally corrupt I bet you describe yourself as a 'moderate' or a 'progressive'?
True Belle Only stupid people like you Brownites support her. It tell your delusion and power at any cost. Yes, she has the job and you should join her or her husband Kellner.
I think golden_balls et al are somewhat missing the point. Neither of them were voted in by anybody. Therefore, by definition, that is NOT democracy. Just what the EU is all about.
@Jimmy 'Let me get this straight. Today's tory talking point is to attack the EU for not appointing Blair. Have I got that right?'
No you are wrong as usual. These mediocre duo emerging shows what a ridiculous edifice this EU is, and only Brown can recommend some one like Mrs Kellner!! It also says that the EU power brokers Sarko and Merkel took on-board what Hague and Cameron said ( that will be shocking for Gordo!!) and it is triumph for them
Er yes in fact they did. Large numbers of spectacularly ill-informed British hacks and shamefully stupid British bloggers kept ranting on about how Blair was a shoo-in when he quite obviously was a no-hoper,
Those who keep asking who elected Van Rompuy and Baroness Ashton.
What world do they live in where *cabinet members* are directly elected? Not the UK system; nor the US system; nor any system I know about.
The 27 leaders of the EU are elected. All those leaders serve in administrations that can be removed.
The principles of Representative Democracy must include the note that, while broad populations may know what they want, most individuals are *not intelligent enough to make rational particular decisions*.
The DT report report ( by James Kirkup and Bruno Waterfield in Brussels, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/eu/6617478/Gordon-Brown-accused-of-taking-wrong-EU-job.html) is produced the Yahoo page:
"Gordon Brown accused of taking 'wrong' EU job Gordon Brown has been accused of putting Britain's economic interest at risk by accepting the "wrong" European Union job. Critics said he had sacrificed a powerful economic post in the European Commission in favour of installing Baroness Ashton as the first EU foreign minister.
It opens the way for Michel Barnier, a centre-right French politician, to be named the next internal market commissioner overseeing financial regulation next month. The prospect has alarmed the City of London, where many banks fear the imposition of new EU regulations on the financial services sector"
Gordo is out of his mind by promoting Mrs Kellner of Kinnock's cabal.
No offence meant Iain? Why on earth not? Though credit where it's due - Miliband did the right thing for the first time since becoming Foreign Sec when he turned the job down, even if it was for entirely the wrong reasons.
Mr Halsall, you always seem like such a reasonable chap when discussing any other matter than the EU. I'm fascinated by how delusional you appear to be on the subject. Though I'm not convinced even you believe some of the viewpoints you put forth; are you really the Devil's advocate or merely playing it? If the former, you could do with some stronger material.
Although I am not a pacifist, I regard the avoidance of war in Europe (and thence the world, although that is pushing it I admit) as the highest of all achievable goals.
I do acknowledge the importance of NATO in this in the past 60 years, but now I see the EU as the best way forward.
norman said... "True Belle Only stupid people like you Brownites support her. It tell your delusion and power at any cost. Yes, she has the job and you should join her or her husband Kellner."
I say YOU are a prize plonker for assuming my politics. You are the sort of political bigot who would have denied Maggie Thatcher her amazing ascent into high politics, or come to think of it , blocked Iain Dale from even passing base leg!
And the EU's new President of the Council is a Belgian?
Surely they could have chosen from the many millions of UK right wing commentariat many far more qualified candidates to shout at foreigners and so forth?
It is now coming to light that STUPID Liebour got stitched up, qelle surprise! The French got the position of controlling the financial markets while we were passed the diversion of Ashton. Dumbo Gordo strikes again.
@Unsworth: Commenteers like Paul Halsall, Simon Gardener don't believe in democracy - they seem to feel all power and opinion should be firmly restricted to their own kind. These are people who align themselves with a group that has felt it imperative to craft the vacuous mega institutions of the EU/EC in its own image- as its own piss-ridden Barbican of the 21st century. This group believes itself culturally and intellectually superior to the provincial, backward - obviously racist - and conservative hoi polloi of the UK. Members are desperate to cleanse themselves of any trace of ‘Englishness’(which of course they have every right to do), even if this means selling out their own political voice and the democratic rights of their countrymen and women.
This class of blinkered Europhiles have as ludicrous and caricatured an idea of 'Europe' as their opponents on the right: a carefully cultivated image of cosmopolitan enlightenment, café culture, ‘peasant chic’; a new, borderless intellectual multiculturalism. The reality of this image is a bland, oppressive stasi-like superstate run for the benefit of a parasitic political elite and riddled with corruption, poverty and inequity.
norman said... "True Belle You language says it all about bigotry. About pretending to praise Thatcher, I am sure Sean Woodward would have had the same sentiments!!"
I don't understand the complaint about lack of democracy. The Commission has to be approved by the Parliament. How in the circumstances are they any more "unelected" than the cabinet?
We've been presented with our new Lord and Master and his new Lady and we should be grateful.
ReplyDeleteOh, my: more fun with those odd foreign names.
ReplyDeleteHow witty.
Just like all those contributors here and to ConHome who do not know the difference between the Shadow Foreign Secretary and a bottle of Scotch.
By the way, didn't Ted Heath employ "Sir Con O'Neill" as his main negotiator with the EEC? Now, to the francophones, that really was a laugh.
I have previously seen the EU as fundamentally undemocratic, politically unpalatable and deeply unpopular, but nevertheless a tent it was better to be inside of pissing out.
ReplyDeleteBut I find myself this morning thinking that the great and the good of Brussels have somehow managed to make two critical appointments that are so intellectually and morally corrupt, so breathtakingly arrogant and undemocratic, and so humiliating to the citizenry of Europe (I mean, "send forth the best ye have"?) that they have managed to discredit an organisation that frankly, I thought was so despised as to be beyond such an outcome. As a bureaucrat myself, I can only salute them.
Heads I win, Tails you lose.
ReplyDeleteYet another stitch-up arranged over a tax payer funded dinner.
I bet the Chinese are really worried!!!
The whole European project is a total farce. Billions p****d down the drain in order to massage the egos of an army of unelected Brusselscrats.
Sarkozy and Merkel were so terrified at the prospect of being outshone by Blair they contrived the appointment of two complete non-entities.
Germany and France maintain their influence and Brown smirks quietly in his office as his old boss is booted into touch.
Europe is drowning under the weight of the public sector. And now we learn that Mrs Ashton is to have a modest support team of 5000!
You couldn't make it up.
One Estonian voter said, "RumpyPumpy & Ashcroft? Are they a new Eurovision Act?"
ReplyDeleteD
Surely the two appointments are exactly what William Hague demanded - people to facilitate EU business, not replace elected leaders? Blows a hole in the case of those who say Lisbon is about building a European superstate, which is maybe why UKIP's Farago was moaning on Newsnight that they hadn't appointed higher profile figures. It's shot his fox!
ReplyDeleteI thought Justin Webb was very rude on Radio 4 this morning.
ReplyDeleteWhy was he so condescending when he was interviewing Baroness Ashton. I thought he was very unpleasant and I hope the few thousands that heard him agree with me too.
She has done well, and will be no ones puppet.
http://bit.ly/zeCVN
Mrs Kellner never had a proper job in her life, spent her life in CND, healthcare quango and of course supporting Nu Labour. Perfect person for this position. The more she is ignorant of the existence of other States in the world, the more she is suitable. Peter Kellner may even commission YouGov poll to demonstrate how good this pair are. Listened to her on Radio 4, sounded more like a local govt counsellor than some one which the world can respect. As a comparison, Hillary Clinton is so distingushed even though I had doubts about her. Listened also to the dreadful prattle of that Welsh Windbag Kinncck , whose clan member is this woman (all of them on the Euro gravy train)in Fivelive. Stupid of Major to putforward this idiot to the commissioner's job. I cannot help wondering what effect Cameron and Hague had on these 'selections'when they wanrned about Blair and highly visible president. Sarko and Merkel'd fix seems to agree with them. At least the Eurp President faced elections in the past unlike Mrs Kellner whose only qualification is a Nu Labour supporter.
ReplyDeleteI never liked the partisn reporting of Justin Webb. But this morning Radio4 he did very well. Asked the sort of questions I wanted to ask, atleast some of them. This woman came out as a typical quango member which she has been all her life. But then Hague wanted non-entities and he got them!
ReplyDeleteCriticism that Ashton has never been elected seems perverse - if she had, she would be a much more powerful figure in Brussels. I thought she came across as a competent administrator and no fool - exactly what is needed when representing 27 governments...
ReplyDeleteIt's the best they've got.
ReplyDeleteSays it all.
She is well qualified for the job. She was (is ?) CND and was honoured for her work on behalf of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transsexual communities.
ReplyDeletenorman said...
ReplyDelete"I never liked the partisn reporting of Justin Webb. But this morning Radio4 he did very well. Asked the sort of questions I wanted to ask, atleast some of them. This woman came out as a typical quango member which she has been all her life. But then Hague wanted non-entities and he got them!"
I see another old fart is reaching for his early morning tipple and spurtling utter claptrap.
Tee hee , well tough titty to you because she has the job and that's the end of the matter.
I see we have yet another tedious and po-faced post by Mr Redfellow.
ReplyDeleteAccording to EuReferendum:
ReplyDeleteHerman is a Machiavellian operator, a man who has no time for nationhood or democracy, a man who once had the locks on the doors of the Belgian Parliament changed to stop a vote on a key issue. He is not undemocratic – he, like the EU, is anti-democratic.
Nice! Democracy RIP
Its not so much that Mr Rumpoy is the Belgian PM (it must have been a very quiet government formation, they did not have one for months at a time) but that Mrs Kellner is a former employee and later vice-chairman of CND. Witness the glowing testimonial by the chief Euro-trougher Lord Bedwelty and Ealing this morning.
ReplyDeleteIt is beyond distasteful that anyone who actively worked for an organisation that sought to undermine Western security should be working in the public sector of the country they tried to undermine; let alone be put in charge of ‘Security Policy’ for the EU.
The entire need for the Labour movement has long since vanished in the post Butskillism era. But we are left with Socialism in action. The very party that seeks to strike at the hand that feeds it - the employer - are now the masters and with no understanding of how money is created and earned sets about destroying the state upon which it feeds. Browns mismanagement of the economy over the last twelve years is its triumph.
A few hundred thousand euros to yet another Labour luvee lickspittle?
Tis as nothing – mere dross, jetsam as tide goes out exposing the successful destruction of our country by the labour party. Their success is nearly at hand!
Did anyone expect anything different. I see the Conservatives especially Hague seem fairly happy. I don't see much opposition to the EU from them.
ReplyDeleteOnce again the Euro-haters show themselves to be the Palinites of British politics.
ReplyDelete@Gerry57: Well, as far as I no, the LGBT community has no nuclear weapons, so therefore she's done a good job ;)
ReplyDeleteMore seriously, RumpyPumpy is the perfect appointment for the Tories - a non-entity, a staunch federalist to attach, and a comedy name.
Any chance we can leave the EU and join that new East African Common Market?
@Paul Halsall Once again the Euro-haters show themselves to be the Palinites of British politics.
ReplyDeleteI know it's so terrible isn't it to want to fight for democracy and...oh...wait, to want to have a democratic say in who governs us.
Don't tell me, that as a full supporter of an institution that is elitist, undemocratic, unaccountable and institutionally corrupt I bet you describe yourself as a 'moderate' or a 'progressive'?
Where's George Orwell when you need him?
So blair was too high profile for this job and now ashton is being ridiculed because no one knows who she is.
ReplyDeleteSince you have thrown away your "cast iron promise" for a vote on the EU treaty who would you have voted for iain ?
The pleasure of being in oppostion and never having a view or policy will soon come to an end.
Let me get this straight. Today's tory talking point is to attack the EU for not appointing Blair. Have I got that right?
ReplyDeleteTrue Belle
ReplyDeleteOnly stupid people like you Brownites support her. It tell your delusion and power at any cost. Yes, she has the job and you should join her or her husband Kellner.
I think golden_balls et al are somewhat missing the point. Neither of them were voted in by anybody. Therefore, by definition, that is NOT democracy. Just what the EU is all about.
ReplyDelete@Jimmy 'Let me get this straight. Today's tory talking point is to attack the EU for not appointing Blair. Have I got that right?'
ReplyDeleteNo you are wrong as usual. These mediocre duo emerging shows what a ridiculous edifice this EU is, and only Brown can recommend some one like Mrs Kellner!! It also says that the EU power brokers Sarko and Merkel took on-board what Hague and Cameron said ( that will be shocking for Gordo!!) and it is triumph for them
Two useful idiots who only need the strings to be attached to make them the ideal puppets.
ReplyDeleteDid Baroness Ashton steer the Lisbon Constitution through the House of Lords perchance?
Talk about a nice sinecure as a reward. I wonder what Brown has been promised.
“And I mean that in a caring way...”
ReplyDeleteNo you don’t. It’s typically gratuitously offensive in the way that is that fashion amongst British Tories when talking about the EU.
How you buggers expect to be fit to govern is beyond me.
Road_Hog said... “Did anyone expect anything different.”
ReplyDeleteEr yes in fact they did. Large numbers of spectacularly ill-informed British hacks and shamefully stupid British bloggers kept ranting on about how Blair was a shoo-in when he quite obviously was a no-hoper,
Duh. I told you so.
Dumbest people commenting today?
ReplyDeleteThose who keep asking who elected Van Rompuy and Baroness Ashton.
What world do they live in where *cabinet members* are directly elected? Not the UK system; nor the US system; nor any system I know about.
The 27 leaders of the EU are elected. All those leaders serve in administrations that can be removed.
The principles of Representative Democracy must include the note that, while broad populations may know what they want, most individuals are *not intelligent enough to make rational particular decisions*.
Anyone else noticed that Mrs Ashton looks like Nora Batty!!!!!
ReplyDelete@ Simon Gardner
ReplyDelete"How you buggers expect to be fit to govern is beyond me."
Indeed.
As, it seems, are most things.
Who are "you buggers"?
The DT report report ( by James Kirkup and Bruno Waterfield in Brussels, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/eu/6617478/Gordon-Brown-accused-of-taking-wrong-EU-job.html)
ReplyDeleteis produced the Yahoo page:
"Gordon Brown accused of taking 'wrong' EU job
Gordon Brown has been accused of putting Britain's economic interest at risk by accepting the "wrong" European Union job.
Critics said he had sacrificed a powerful economic post in the European Commission in favour of installing Baroness Ashton as the first EU foreign minister.
It opens the way for Michel Barnier, a centre-right French politician, to be named the next internal market commissioner overseeing financial regulation next month.
The prospect has alarmed the City of London, where many banks fear the imposition of new EU regulations on the financial services sector"
Gordo is out of his mind by promoting Mrs Kellner of Kinnock's
cabal.
No offence meant Iain? Why on earth not? Though credit where it's due - Miliband did the right thing for the first time since becoming Foreign Sec when he turned the job down, even if it was for entirely the wrong reasons.
ReplyDeleteMr Halsall, you always seem like such a reasonable chap when discussing any other matter than the EU. I'm fascinated by how delusional you appear to be on the subject. Though I'm not convinced even you believe some of the viewpoints you put forth; are you really the Devil's advocate or merely playing it? If the former, you could do with some stronger material.
@troymolloy
ReplyDeleteAlthough I am not a pacifist, I regard the avoidance of war in Europe (and thence the world, although that is pushing it I admit) as the highest of all achievable goals.
I do acknowledge the importance of NATO in this in the past 60 years, but now I see the EU as the best way forward.
"Gordon Brown accused of taking 'wrong' EU job"
ReplyDeleteAh good old torygraph. Who are these critics? There are apparently two of them:
1. "Mats Persson, of the eurosceptic think tank Open Europe,"
2. A Mr. W. Hague, SW1
Apparently that constitutes "the City"
norman said...
ReplyDelete"True Belle
Only stupid people like you Brownites support her. It tell your delusion and power at any cost. Yes, she has the job and you should join her or her husband Kellner."
I say YOU are a prize plonker for assuming my politics.
You are the sort of political bigot who would have denied Maggie Thatcher her amazing ascent into high politics, or come to think of it , blocked Iain Dale from even passing base leg!
Good Lord . .
ReplyDeleteThis Baroness Ashton . . she . . . .she's a . .
WOMAN!
And the EU's new President of the Council is a Belgian?
Surely they could have chosen from the many millions of UK right wing commentariat many far more qualified candidates to shout at foreigners and so forth?
Strewth.
True Belle
ReplyDeleteYou language says it all about bigotry. About pretending to praise Thatcher, I am sure Sean Woodward would have had the same sentiments!!
Jimmy
ReplyDeleteThe Guardian has reported this. But for Gordo supporters what El Gordo does is the right thing as he 'fixed the boom and the bust'
It is now coming to light that STUPID Liebour got stitched up, qelle surprise! The French got the position of controlling the financial markets while we were passed the diversion of Ashton. Dumbo Gordo strikes again.
ReplyDelete@Unsworth: Commenteers like Paul Halsall, Simon Gardener don't believe in democracy - they seem to feel all power and opinion should be firmly restricted to their own kind. These are people who align themselves with a group that has felt it imperative to craft the vacuous mega institutions of the EU/EC in its own image- as its own piss-ridden Barbican of the 21st century. This group believes itself culturally and intellectually superior to the provincial, backward - obviously racist - and conservative hoi polloi of the UK. Members are desperate to cleanse themselves of any trace of ‘Englishness’(which of course they have every right to do), even if this means selling out their own political voice and the democratic rights of their countrymen and women.
ReplyDeleteThis class of blinkered Europhiles have as ludicrous and caricatured an idea of 'Europe' as their opponents on the right: a carefully cultivated image of cosmopolitan enlightenment, café culture, ‘peasant chic’; a new, borderless intellectual multiculturalism. The reality of this image is a bland, oppressive stasi-like superstate run for the benefit of a parasitic political elite and riddled with corruption, poverty and inequity.
norman said...
ReplyDelete"True Belle
You language says it all about bigotry. About pretending to praise Thatcher, I am sure Sean Woodward would have had the same sentiments!!"
I stand by my original comments, old bean.
Why are you hiding away as an anonymous twerp?
I don't understand the complaint about lack of democracy. The Commission has to be approved by the Parliament. How in the circumstances are they any more "unelected" than the cabinet?
ReplyDeleteThe EU has always been a mediocracy. I shoud know, I worked in Luxembourg, if worked is the right word.
ReplyDeleteMonty Python And The Brussels Sprouts