Origin North West

A lot of happenings on the broader stage for the UK. The EU announcing its commissioners to expressions of horror about a Frenchman in charge of finance, although his 2nd in command is British. UKIP announcing they’d wind up if David Cameron would guarantee a referendum on leaving the EU. Bits of prickliness emerging about the US attitude towards the UK. Scotland gaining further responsibilities in the union.

The worst case is; we are out of the EU and being stitched up in arranging trade. The US sees us as an inconvenient dot on the map. Scotland goes independent and stays in the EU. At that point England is back to the days of King Henry VIII breaking away from the European church. The eve of the rise of England some might say. In those days the world was very small and countries were fairly independent in terms of food and fuel and the like.

Although the US has played a large part in our defence, culture and mindset, the frequent grovelling of our leaders about the ’special relationship’ makes me squirm.  Much better to have a serious relationship as friends than a one sided love affair. Then again there is hostility about the rumour that 80% of our laws are being driven by the EU and the EU leadership is unelected. For some reason I can’t get worked up about either of these as the laws seem in the main to be ones we’d be putting into place anyway and the unelected leadership has been put in by elected Prime Ministers. As we aren’t familiar with most European politicians it would difficult to elect them anyway, not that I voted for our Chancellor or any member of the Lords,  for example. 

When looking at the world today and the way it is heading, it is time for the UK to start thinking seriously about its position.  How long will a position on the Security Council be held. We are a country that hasn’t got enough size to do anything serious individually. When it gets to the stage where if trade sanctions were put on you or you put them on another country and in both cases you come out worse then you know you’ve nothing to say. That’s how it’s getting with more and more countries. Also when the EU heads of state stand up at international meetings they nearly all say the same thing, how meaningful is that? One EU representative would be able to do it.

The anomoly then being that countries like Norway, Switzerland and Australia who are small in population are able to stand up and say their piece.  Although two of them are resource rich and the other has carved out a niche in financials. So have we a niche, does it need considering?

The other grouping we support in general is the Commonwealth, this enables discussion beyond more formal arrangements across a wide range of countries.  While Queen Elizabeth is on the throne her longevity gives her headship substance. What happens when she hands over to someone else might change this. Particularly if that member of the royal family hasn’t been playing much of a part in the Commonwealth to date.  It has been said that India may become the largest and most influential member of the Commonwealth and its head might move to there after Elizabeth. That doesn’t sound too far fetched although some compromise about the monarch and head might be discussed as well as an agreement on rotating the leadership. This in no way is a substitute for membership of the EU although the UK gives less support to the Commonwealth than France does to its similar countries, even counting them in its population in the EU in some cases.

Lets be a friend of the US without grovelling, play a constructive part in the EU, get closer to the Commonwealth, and Scotland can be part of the UK for as long as it likes. Sounds jolly.

Is this a  slippery slope the Scottish Mr Blair and Mr Brown have set the UK on.   Devolution; a parliament and government for Scotland within the UK.  Now a new report is offering further devolution and powers for the Scottish Governement including limited tax raising powers. It seems fairly obvious that this process will continue until all powers north of the border are owned by the Scottish Government.

The Welsh also have a proportion looking for independence and the first step is changing their assembly into a parliament. Although I don’t think there is as strong a feeling about devolution with as many people in Wales.

Personally I’m not wholly against devolution except that once fully in place the break up of the UK, Great Britain, will only be a very small step. Possibly for some minor event that might normally pass, and destruction is always easier than repair.

On the one side there appear to be no threats from abroad at least militarily.  The decline in power for the UK over the last 50 years perhaps makes a union seem less advantageous. More local power will give better manoeuvrability and more accountability to local needs, particularly not having to consider more distant factors. Some people think the English are paying taxes for the Scots in particular and the Welsh. Of this I can’t say and even if so I’m not particularly concerned as I doubt it’s significant, except RBS and HBOS.

On the other side there is the sentiment of a common past and country and what it stands for, common security around the island, a larger pot economically, more scope in a larger state and the ability to play a bigger British card internationally. These probably stand for which-ever country you come from and Northern Ireland caps off the northern approaches in security.

Many people have very strong feelings about the subject seemingly hard wired in.  Overall I feel no reason or desire for change and can empathise more with the pro-union case than I can feel potential gain from the anti-union case. That makes me pro-UK.

Kraft the US processed food makers are making a bid for Cadbury the Quaker founded British chocolate business. Whether it will succeed isn’t clear but it’s another well known British name going under the hammer. The market has no sentiment about that and maybe rightly so from its perspective. Also from what I read a significant number of shares are already held overseas. Cadbury has recently sold off its Schweppes arm under pressure from ‘activist’ shareholders. I don’t know much about these but they seem to be smallish shareholders who have a lot of say somehow. Selling off Schweppes may not have had any effect as a good deal can break up a company and sell bits to various others.

If it was a one off then maybe it wouldn’t be a worry but it’s part of a long stream of British companies that are going into foreign ownership. Names that have existed for decades: Rowntree, ICI, P&O, Pilkington, Blue Circle, Jaguar, Scottish & Newcastle, Marconi, also water, electricity, rail, the list goes on. Sometimes companies like Pilkington are taken over by smaller competitors. Sometimes the sale has knock on effects such as the giant ICI chemical works on Teesside is now split into small companies and the difficulties and manoeuvring of a few are putting a strain on the viability of the whole site. Sometimes the company hasn’t enough money anyway and it’s a good thing.

France created a protected list and Danone a food manufacturer was surprisingly added when a possible takeover resulted. It isn’t a clear cut case that there should be protection as taking a cash payment, usually at a price well above the level the share had been trading at, provides opportunities for other investment.  Also a British financial company often handles the deal and it’s lucrative work. Against that is loss of local control, prestige, movement of future profits overseas and one less large British share to trade.

How many of these businesses are left to sell and what happens when all large companies are owned overseas? A bit like eating all your stored food. Some people believe privatising companies is selling the family silver but it seems to me that selling major companies to overseas buyers is selling the family savings and gold and retiring. At a time of difficulty work is often ‘rationalised’ and ‘re-patriated’ closing the factories and offices in subsidiaries.  You can’t bring a power station home but a chocolate factory maybe. So I’m hoping Cadbury remains independent and I’m buying chocolate bars to push the share price higher.

A topic I feel strongly about. The government announced this week that innocent people will have their DNA stored for 6 years instead of for-ever. This is 6 years too long.

In Scotland such DNA is destroyed immediately. The European Court has said its illegal.  In England, mother of the free, the police can take a sample and keep it.

What would I do if mistakenly taken to a police station and told to give a DNA sample. In my imagination I refuse to give one but in reality probably would. It’s Catch-22, refuse to give a DNA sample and be guilty of an offence so you have to give one.

Why do I object? Mainly because if I’ve done nothing wrong I don’t want to appear on any police files. It isn’t too long a journey from your name being on a database to being on a list of suspects. Not much further from being a suspect to being questioned and people asking things that maybe stick.  Your wife saying “Why did he say were you in that pub three weeks ago” or similar.

Every time a law comes out to save us from evil it is mis-used so that dog-walkers are photographed and cash from foreign countries is with-held under terrorist laws. Do I trust government bodies to hold data on me and not to mis-use it.  Not at all!

Welcome to the new blog that is to bring an opinion on topical events as viewed from north west England. The opinions probably won’t be typical but they will be topical.

No axes to grind, only a few maybe, but no-one is paying me to do this.