David Beckham and the Olympics

I don't understand why some people think it is wrong not to ask D Beckham to represent London at the Openic ceremony at the Olympics. I for one totally agree that he is inappropriate. I don't see why someone who doesn't want to live in London and pays taxes in the USA should be representing our diverse city? He is better off selling cheap underpants at H&M and should stick to that.

Angela Merkel does a u turn

German Chancellor A Merkel went to the summit yesterday making it clear she will not give in to the south but she did a u turn following threats from Italy and Spain who made it clear that they would stall on all proposals within the EU if Germany did not give in. Seems like the Italians did not just win at the footbal last night!

Fiscal union

It looks obvious following the big Euro group meeting yesterday that what the German Chancellor is holding out for is for total submission to the idea for fiscal union. It will mean, in simple terms, that individual governments will no longer have as many powers as they have to set budgets and it will mean that expenditure, taxation etc will be done centrally. A Merkel should come clean and make her wish clear so that the whole of Europe can decide whether they can live with that or not.

PIGS states in the final of Euro 2012

Excellent game between Italy and Germany tonight. The Italian team played much better and scored two goals and they could have scored another two as they had more opportunities. The referee then decided to give Germany a panalty so they managed to score one but that did not prevent the Italians winning.

It will be two of the 4 PIGS countries in the final so Italy will be facing Spain. Spain of course won against another PIGS state last night, Portugal. Well done to the South, if you want to see it that way! We may have a financial crisis but we sure know how to play footbal!

Visit Greece in the summer of 2012

The bad news is that you can't rely on the British summer weather and as we are expecting to get more rain in July and August it makes sense to cancel that bbq you have been planning for with aunt Meredith and uncle Trolley and take a trip down to the Greek islands.

Greece has a plethora of islands to choose from (around 1200) each and every single one of them unique in a different way. In addition it is probably cheaper than spending a week in Scanthorpe or Bognor. Two friends who have just returned back from Skiathos (The Sporades) report great weather, cheap food and wine and no problems having to reserve your sun bed every morning.. wonder what they both mean?

So help the Greek resistance stand up to the Troika and visit Greece, you will not be disapointed. I recommend non tourist destinations like Skiathos, Skopelos, Samos, Chios or Mykonos. Go for it!

Greek default?

Many think that Greece and possibly Spain will end up having to default on their debts and if that happens then the affect will be catastrophic. It will seem that Berlin is trying to show the rest of Europe that it will get tough with the Greeks to ensure that the others, Portugal, Ireland and Italy, fall in line. I fear this is really what's going on. So the battle for supremecy is being fought on the streets of Athens and other major cities of Greece whilst Lisbon and Madrid are sitting back watching how it all unfolds.

There is an excellent entry on the Unison Active blog (always well written) which compares the situation in Greece with that of Argentina. They of course ended up defaulting on their huge debts but are now out of the worst and doing better http://unisonactive.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/greece-and-eurozone-lessons-from.html Unison Active think that Greece could do the same and whilst most of what they say is valid there are some major differences and other factos that can not be ignored.

Greece holds one of the most strategic positions in the South of Europe controlling the Agean sea. This is where the Russian fleet will first get to after it leaves the Black sea, Russias ambitions and aspirations are well known. The area is extremly volitile with some newly formed Balkan states waiting for an opportunity to settle old scores. The military alliance between Greece, Israel and Cyprus also means that tensions will rise if the region got further destabilised. In other words the picture looks quite similar to the one Europe had before the start of WW1

It follows that if Greece was allowed to disintegrade into chaos forces on the extreme could lead the country into civil war or they could get a government that will be looking for hostilities as a way to divert attention from internal economic problems. I don't think this will happen as there are enough democrats in the coountry to ensrue that this doesn't take place. But the EU leaders ( not a collective of intelligent people unfortunately) will be wrong to let the situation get out of control. If they do then we will be facing another 20 years of instability and recession or even war. We are so unfortunate to be governed by career politicians who are as intelligent as a bag of chips!

20 October day of action. Arm chair leaders?

I am just wondering whether the new tradition we have established of setting one day of action two or three times a year is actually going to have a major impact on those who are ruling us? We should all work towards ensuring that the 20 October is a success but wonder as to whether having long periods of inactivity in between dilutes the effort and the message??

I am also very critical of arm chair leaders at branch level where the membership has asked for serious action to be taken and where the leaders have done very little to implement their wishes. This is not the way to win what will be a very difficult battle for fairness and equality.