I was actually by the looks of it member number 454 of the Referendum Party founded by the late Jimmy Goldsmith who I had the pleasure of meeting when he launched the Party at his club near St James Park.
My invitation to that meeting was the result of reading his book “The Trap” and then hearing about his interview with Frost on a Sunday morning on ITV (Channel 3 in the UK). + A letter that got to him by way of addressing it to the House of Commons!
The 1st of Janurary 2002 marks a special day of the people of the United Kingdom.
The Euro is now legal tender and the pound sterling will be phased out by 2007 as I remember.
When the UK had a vote on Europe in 1973 my parent’s generation seemed to have been “brain” washed into thinking that voting to join the EEC was something to do with NATO and standing together when the preverbial hits the fan.
Now I can’t think the next Referendum will be any different in the UK. Besides the Labour party have already lied to the British people by not giving us a vote in the last parliament 1997-2001. It was it not in their manifesto for that election? Then they just prompt forgot about it?
“We will give Britain leadership in Europe
Referendum on single currency”
http://www.psr.keele.ac.uk/area/uk/man/lab97.htm
Google cache incase it goes
The original appears to have been at :
http://www.labour.org.uk/views/manifesto/
But of course they’ve “removed” it. 1984/Brazil style.
Oi Tony it’s 2002 and you STILL haven’t given us a vote – LET ALONE A FAIR ONE.
Are you for a Federal Europe?
I am believe it or not.
What am I worried about?
The pace of the economic Union of the EU will give rise to Communism.
Instead of trying to get another 4 member States in by 2004. Why can’t we do the process over 20 years?
Instead the UK is looking at economic ruin.
FACT
The UK has more private pension money invested by private individuals than all the other EU countries added together.
What does this mean?
In 10/20 years time as the population of Europe gets older each EU state will have a greater burden to look after their old people. This will come out of current tax yields in each country. If European countries can pull us in they will use our budget surplus to pay for their old because more of our old will be self funding. Or they will print money.
Side note
If the UK state thinks that they can sell the homes of old people to pay for their care – that’s another “hiding to nothing”, because ulimately it will drive property values to freeze or even decrease. This will then inturn knock down annuity rates paid on those who tried to save for themselves.
I want a Democracy in Europe not a Dictatorship run by unelected representatives of the people.
Common Agriculture Policy
“Under the CAP, European taxpayers spent £4.5 billion annually subsidizing farmers to overproduce food that is then sold cheaply outside the EU, but not inside it (Purnell, 22 June 1998). In 1997 fresh fruit and vegetables from the glut, to a value of £213 million, were destroyed to prevent these same taxpayers buying the food they had already partly paid for in taxes, at lower market prices.”
– Ian Angell, “The NEW Barbarian Manifesto”
The European Union Common Agricultural Policy is vastly expensive and, it would seem, structurally corrupt. It is estimated that the C.A.P. adds more than £20 per week to the food bill of the average family in the “UK”. Scottish figures might well be higher, taking geographic and logistic factors into consideration.
http://www.siol-nan-gaidheal.com/agg.htm
Czechs reject CAP – June 1995
“The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is not an agricultural policy, but a social policy,” says Milan Svoboda of the Czech Agriculture Ministry’s strategy department. His viewpoint is consistent with the government’s view of CAP as a vehicle which serves the economic interests of one group (farmers and food processors) at the expense of the rest of society.
Prime Minister Vaclav Klaus in February told a gathering of 2,000 farmers and agricultural representatives that they cannot depend on government price guarantees. They will only enjoy the same conditions as farmers in the European Union when CAP is either changed or dismantled.
http://europa.eu.int/comm/dg10/eur_dial/95i2a0s1.html
“The Treaty of Rome creating the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1957 contained provision for a “common agricultural policy” (the CAP). This policy sought to increase the productivity of European agriculture, ensure reasonable living standards for farmers, stabilise farm produce markets and guarantee a stable food supply at fair prices for consumers.”
http://europa.eu.int/comm/dgs/agriculture/hist_en.htm
That’s from the Official Site – interesting eh? Or just plain !OLLOCKS?
CAP isn’t anything to do with a Federal Europe – I just personally suspect it’s a taste of what’s comming next…