It’s only money!

Have you ever lent anybody, say, fifty quid and then been frustrated when they dodge paying you back? After a while you realise they are avoiding you altogether and then, when you finally confront them and insist they cough up they become agitated as if it is you, not them who is in the wrong. A few more weeks go by and you see neither hide nor hair of them and the loss of that £50 made little difference to you in the long run. On reflection it turned out to be a cheap price to pay to find who your friends weren’t? We’ve all been there; at least I certainly have.

And think of all the stuff you’ve bought over the years, on a whim, on an urgent desire, on a craving, for this… this… thing that you thought would make your life immeasurably better but never did and now sits, unwanted, in a drawer you rarely open? Clothes you’ve never worn, gadgets you’ve used once, the oh-so-funny-at-the-time novelty holiday souvenir from a place you (ironically) can’t remember. How many old power adaptors and electrical leads do you keep in an ever increasing rat’s nest of obsolete cables and connectors… along with ancient audio cassettes, keys for forgotten locks and the odd undeveloped roll of film containing what may, or may not be precious memories?

What about all the stupid decisions you made over the years; jobs, homes, partners, cars? And the dodgy ‘investments’ that never quite paid off. Apart from the odd recollection that still makes your cheeks glow in embarrassment, all of this belongs in the past and with the exception of hard-learned lessons is worth, at today’s prices, nothing whatsoever to anybody or anything except maybe a small prick to your pride. It is past, it is worthless; you already threw away the money and wrote off the personal costs; put them down to experience.

Nobody will ever get back what Greece owes them, at least not in anybody’s lifetime, including the innocent Greek babies born this very day who stand to be punished for the sins of their fathers and their fathers’ advisors, manipulators and exploiters. The IMF knows this; they’ve said as much. WE know this; it’s been clear as day for years and years. Even the NewYork Times knows this; they wrote about it. So why isn’t anybody telling the Germans?

It’s time Germany put a faux-friendly arm around Greece’s shoulder, told them to forget what they owe but also that there would be no more; go find another sap to tap up. Leave it Klaus, let them go… however much they still insist on clamouring for a seat in the third class carriage on the gravy train… however much they try and clamp down on the EU teat. Just say that, for them, it really has run dry. And then forget about their stupid spending spree; it was only money after all and not even proper money at that.

New Euro design launched...

Isn’t it time to admit that the Euro was just a hobby currency; Monopoly money; funny funds? The Euro might work as a handy cross-border holiday cash, like traveller’s cheques, a bit of bitcoin, a parallel currency, that can be traded and spent alongside a nation’s true currency in much the same way you can use ‘pretend’ Scottish money on the civilised side of the border. But it’s hardly the real thing, is it?

Democracy or bust?

This could be fun; Georgie boy and Shiny Dave are going to pretend to fight the EU over the Greek bailout, are they?  My honest expectation? A highly publicised bout of paper waving and finger wagging, maybe the odd raised fist, followed by ‘negotiations’ behind closed doors. Shortly afterwards the matter will be dropped, UK will be presented with a bill dressed up as part of our annual fee for doing rather better on paper than the rest of Europe put together and everybody will claim victory.

But who’s going to believe it? A mixture of threats, sanctions and the good old Gallic shrug will ensure our political class remain securely attached to their sacred cow, the EU. You have to ask yourself why… so I am. When Ukip first started out they were dismissed as ‘Shire Tories’; disgruntled retired colonels and various other products of the old empire, still clinging on desperately to their childhood memories of a Great Britain. Nobody ever referred to ‘The UK’ in all its three hundred years until very recently and those who did indulgently let the old guard wave their little flags and sing Rule Britannia at the Proms. Doing no harm; just waiting to die.

But they didn’t and when ignoring them failed to consign them to their family plots in leafy country churchyards, the charge of fruitcakes and loonies was deployed, not without some substance. But the racist tag was deployed in haste because all around, Ukip aside, ordinary working people were seeing their country change and were bewildered when their simple, accurate observations were dismissed as the very worst form of modern hate speech. Written off as Little Englanders and branded ‘nationalists’ in order to make the association with Hitlerian motives a growing number of British citizens found they had nobody to represent them any more.

Worse, they discovered that it was systemic, a built-in, knee-jerk response from all who had been manipulated by that machine to see simple beliefs as regressive, backward, primitive and label those who displayed the most British of values as ‘not British’. Politicians, liberal broadcasters, the police forces, judges, trades unionists, teachers, lecturers and their charges were so vociferous in their condemnation of this rise in nationalism and what they labelled – and still do - as ‘the far right’ – that some faltered and questioned their own souls. Did they really ‘hate’ foreigners? Was love of your own country really an animal instinct, to be overcome and reviled? Why?

Which brings us right back to Greece and that ignored referendum. The Germans and the French are so afraid of democracy they will do anything to thwart it. Nazism was a popular movement, fuelled by a majority of the German public’s belief in the supremacy of their people. In the detached groupthink engaged in by left-thinking ‘intellectuals’ nationalism, driven by popular support, otherwise known as democracy, inevitably leads to extremism. But they conveniently forget there was another ideological component of Nazism… National Socialism and concentrated instead on eroding the national bit.

A direct democracy lets the will of the majority prevail and the majority know not what is good for them. Left to decide, a direct democracy would have the death penalty and fully actionable treason laws. It would act to repel invaders and any who threaten their way of life. Far better, thought the thinkers, to have the semblance of participation by only allowing a representative democracy to elect leaders who would then govern on behalf of the better instincts of the better thinkers. Relegate the popular will to a periodic exercise in bewilderment, voting for personality, rather than policy. The fewer voters the better, as long as they voted for more of the same.

But nationalism is encouraged in sport and in business too; the papers are full of commentary and reports about ‘British business’. And when we trumpet excellence we often put the ‘B’ word ahead as an adjective of pride – we were even once proud of British education. A collective love of country is never far away and so-called ‘leaders’ are always tempted to revert to following the will of the people – look how the dangerous ‘progressive’ idiots in Labour are abandoning their anti-nationalist stance and trying to appeal to we plebs by suddenly noticing the downside of uncontrolled immigration, like they had no hand in it.

A step forward, or one step back?

So, the demos can’t be trusted and their leaders are weak. Better then, that true government is removed a step further away from those stupid herds of human cattle who must be prodded into behaving the way their superiors just know is best for them. Come our own referendum on continued membership of the EU the voters will be manipulated by fear, but if enough of them vote the ‘wrong’ way, the EU will simply take that as an indication that we are really asking for more 'guidance' from better people. Nationalism is a bad thing? The EU commissars might just want to ask themselves where the blitz spirit came from – we rescued Europe from itself twice before. Don’t think we won’t do it again.