Negotiation, French Style

Le President de la Republique, Nicolas "I heart Carla" Sarkozy, apparently threatened to pull France out of the Euro during last week's negotiations on the EU rescue plan, if the other EU countries did not sign up to the deal. This was aimed particularly at Merkel, as German citizens are less than impressed at the idea of hurling yet more money into the black hole of the EU.

Sarkozy demanded "a compromise from everyone to support Greece ... or France would reconsider its position in the euro," according to one source cited by El País.
"Sarkozy went as far as banging his fist on the table and threatening to leave the euro," according to one unnamed Socialist leader quoted, who was at the meeting with Zapatero. "That obliged Angela Merkel to bend and reach an agreement."

Hmm, "bend and reach", hey? "Bend over and hold onto something" may have been a better description of how that situation unfolded.

Two comments:
1. The Euro really is not that stable. Even if it was just posturing, the fact he would say it all shows he feels it can be done. If France can, why not Greece, or indeed Germany.
2. Zealotry is alive and well in the Eurozone. Sarko was willing to sacrifice everything to save Greece, while Merkel sacrificed her political career by agreeing to these terms.

It strikes me that the Eurozone has a real problem at the moment. They believe they are "above the market", and should not bow to speculators. However, so many of the barometers they use are entirely market-driven - the strength of the Euro, the Bond markets, even the stock markets as an indicator of economic recovery. They seem to have forgotten that the "market" is just a bunch of people, many of whom are based within the Eurozone and thus are not disinterested, Soros-style investors crushing the Euro for personal gain.

Gold is now at over 1,000 Euros per ounce, an insane level, and if the Euro falls below 1.24 against the USD then it really could go all the way down to 1.00.

It's all very far from over.

The Fall of Farmville?

Please let this be true, this rampant goonery just has to end.

These are my friends, because I am a tosser

Mixed Feelings

A strange day today. Part of me feels very excited about the whole thing - I can sort of see the merits of a Libservative coalition, and I must concede parts of the manifesto are appealing. It would seem the Lib Dems are relatively keen on repealing some of the damage done to civil liberties in the last few years, while the Tories seem to have kept in place their ideas on schools reform, and knocked on the head the silly idea of losing Trident and thus our sway with the UN. No arguments with the 10k personal tax allowance either, and I believe ID cards will die a quick and painless death. So part of me understands where Charlotte Gore is coming from here.

However, part of me also knows where Herr Clown is coming from here (and he's not the only one).

I believed before the election that all three parties are fundamentally pretty much the same. I do not believe that this coalition will make any meaningful efforts to reduce the role of Government in day-to-day life, which is a huge problem for me. The Tories are apparently pleased to have kept their "£6bn cuts this financial year and a reversal of some planned rises in national insurance contributions" (from this article). Well, pardon me for not getting too excited, but last time I checked, the National Debt was £912,123,669,658, but that was 3 seconds ago so it is probably a few grand higher.

This debt is the defining issue of the next 5 years. As AngryTeen said, and he should know since he is a yoof, "their bailouts will leave me with an unbelievable debt to pay". His generation will be saddled with a humongous debt burden to pay. Christ, if we're not careful, my two sons, whose combined age is 19 months, will be saddled with this debt. It needs sorting, and until I see some honest figures and a plan of action, my joy at Brown's departure is heavily tempered by the concern that not very much will change.

I am stoked about Brown going though, I can't deny it. Time for a new tag I think...See Ya!

A tiny sliver of joy

Seems Brown is finally packing his bags. Believe it when I the locks are changed, but my word, it is nice to have something positive out of the shite of the last few days. Still not convinced much will change, but at least the scorched earth policy Brown seems to have operated, either intentionally or by accident, may be reduced.

Cameron, your time is now. Step up and prove us all wrong. Prove you have the stones to slash public spending. Prove you really will tear up the quangos. Prove there is some spine lurking there somewhere.

Gordon Brown's Legacy

Sure this will get taken down before long, so to be sure it is captured for posterity, here is the BBC view on Gordon Brown's legacy.

That is all.