Friday, 16 December 2011

Snow

With snow now affecting much of the British Isles, I'm sure many people will use the weather as an excuse to have a day off work, stop the kids from going to school and batten down the hatches. As a consequence this means many shops and businesses are forced to close during such weather.

This attitude needs to stop. There are many ways for people to get to work during snow, and much of the time there no need for the bravado and stress that is experienced during in snowy weather. Scandinavian countries have snow for much of the winter months, and they cope fine - so why can't we?

We have experienced bad winters, and snowy weather, for the past three years now; so I am hoping the public are finally getting used to operating in these conditions. Obviously, when conditions are simply too bad to risk going out, it is completely understandable. But most of the time this isn't the case.

Jealousy from the French?

Anglo-French relations have never been strong, and it seems that tensions are set to grow, with a sharp attack from the French Prime Minister. Francois Baroin described the UK's economy as "very worrying".

Do I detect a little bit of jealousy from the French side of the Channel? I believe so. While the UK has a worthy deficit-cutting plan in place, that has been approved by the IMF, and a the Pound as a currency - where exchange rates and interest rates can be altered accordingly - the French are stuck with a single currency that is in the process of collapsing, and not having the ability to print money. Therefore, the UK is a safer place to invest, meaning the credit rating can remain higher.

It is forecast that the French economy - along with other Eurozone economies - will have their currency ratings slashed in the coming weeks.

Thursday, 15 December 2011

The Disaster That Is Europe.

As many of you will have heard over the past 6 days, the UK and Prime Minister Cameron issued its veto to stop a new EU treaty, which is being developed to save the Euro. Good for him, I say. It is about time the UK stood up for its own interests, instead of taking all the crap that the EU throw in our direction.

The crucial decider for Cameron was the inclusion of a Financial Transaction Tax. Now bearing in mind that the finance and banking sector accounts for 10% of the UK's economy, and that the UK has the biggest banking sector in the whole of Europe; it is quite understandable that many people feel this is purely  'a tax on Britain'. Of course, Mr Sarkozy and Chancellor Merkel would have you believe otherwise.

The primary reason for the development of a new treaty is to save the Eurozone countries, who are currently in an historic crisis, with countries such as Greece having almost a 100% chance of defaulting within the next 5 years. So, how does their crisis affect us I hear you ask? The UK never adopted the Euro? And quite right you would be. Thankfully, the UK chose to keep the Pound, but Europe still expect us to help bail out their currency - for something that really isn't our problem. The fools, who like to call themselves the Liberal Democrats, would still like the UK to adopt the Euro, even now!

I just wanted to express my sheer relief and pride that Cameron has stood up for the interests of his country and the people. I know that many of you will be thinking that the banking sector deserve to be punished for what they have caused - the recession - but it would adversely affect the UK's economy. That must be our primary thought.