Comments on: Poem – The Anglo Saxon Way

By: Macarnie

Macarnie — Wed, 15 Jun 2005 18:05:43 +0000

It’s good to see someone doing something for the problem of storing carbon dioxide, and hopefully to the benefit of the environment.Since coming back to the place of my ill spent youth, I have planted my garden; to superfluity; with trees and shrubs. The idea was to attract wild life, in all sorts of forms. Result was the fox cub in my utility / ironing room. I have, together with my neighbours, had to have tree surgeons to trim, / lop, some of the bordering trees, because they were blocking the light to such an extent that one part of the garden was in permanent twilight after the leaves were out.I am virtually surrounded by trees, and think I am lucky. Keep up the crusade Simon, but please not all conifers. There is , in the Trossachs, whence presumably my family originally hails, a wonderful diversity of trees: brilliant.

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By: Macarnie

Macarnie — Wed, 15 Jun 2005 08:22:12 +0000

Simon:When I go abroad , it is likely, as per Captain Oates, that I may be some time. Apart from funerals , the last time was for 23 years plus. The question of pocketsful of diverse shrapnel has never been a problem . My problem with the Euro is , one ended up paying more than pre Euro prices when the countries, in which I lived, changed to the Ecu. Prices , as they did in the decimalisation fit up , increased. I believe , as a large number of citizens in Europe that if the thing ain’t broke: don’t fix it. Should we be foolish enough to behave like a sheep and join , just to mollify some unelected jobsworth in Brussels, we would be worse off. Wewould have no power to alter interest rates to suit our economy, and no power on earth can persuade me that every country’s economic needs are the same. Our economy , thanks originally to the good husbandry of the last Conservative Government;’ and even more thankfully , that Prudence has prevailed in keeping us on an even keel. Our economy is reasonably healthy: is there any sense , merely for homogenisation purposes? Germany has something approaching 7 million unemployed;about the same number as when Hitler came to power, ring a bell? France has about 4 million unemployed , and rising. I know our unemployment figures are somewhat massaged, but they are still manageable. If we were not able to change our method of controlling money flow , and thereby having a hand on the economy’s tiller , so to speak ; we risk the same fate as theirs.If having a handful of DMarks; Francs ;Lira, or Guilders in their pockets was to be measured against the throttling of individuality in trading practices by the imposition of centralization: give me the small, but valued , change any time.I know that all over Europe , there is a swell against the Euro. They look toward Britain, Denmark et al, and see that we are doing better with our own money than they are with the Euro.

Now you see why I prefer to give replies in rhyme , they are shorter, more to the point, and don’t induce sleep quite so quickly as this long drawn out rubbish. I almost forgot what the subject, at the beginning of this blog was.

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By: Simon Holledge at The Skakagrall

Simon Holledge at The Skakagrall — Wed, 15 Jun 2005 01:23:41 +0000

Melissa: Thank you as always for your kindness. I enjoy this discussion about Europe as it reverses our usual roles. Instead of being the radical, I end up in the centre!

Macarnie: Popular resistance to the euro is much the same as that to metric money in Britain in 1971, isn’t it?

When you go abroad do you want to use a mixture of zlotys, shillings, lire, drachma etc. all making a hole in your pocket, or would you prefer just to have euro?

When you buy things on eBay do you want to spend all your time working out currency rates or would you prefer just to be using pounds, dollars and euro?

Commerce depends on convenience. If buying gets too complicated we don’t bother.

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By: Melissa

Melissa — Tue, 14 Jun 2005 22:44:56 +0000

Ke – Kevin – sorry you are right!

Mac and Simon H – I love you both and please keep going strong. You are right Mac in saying that we must get things off our chests and Simon you are right in listening so carefully to the points made. I welcome you both very warmly – you help balance the argument very cogently.

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By: Psimon

Psimon — Tue, 14 Jun 2005 22:26:47 +0000

Macarnie: When in northern Germany recently, i discovered they still use the deutschmark…local shops are running a “black” economy with old currency. How very Anglo-Saxon of them!

;o)

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By: Psimon

Psimon — Tue, 14 Jun 2005 22:23:25 +0000

Next week: Why the British invented Belgium as a place to fight the French and the Germans (a tradition we follow to this day!)

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By: Psimon

Psimon — Tue, 14 Jun 2005 22:19:39 +0000

Count…1066 and all that? The NORMAN invasion? Nor-men..norse men? Normandy didn’t become part of France until 1238. So, as I said, the FRENCH have never successfully invaded us!

Don’t they teach history any more?

(hehehe…i love it when people fall in my ickle trap!)

;o)

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By: Macarnie

Macarnie — Tue, 14 Jun 2005 21:55:17 +0000

Simon : you dare say whatever you really think. I was , and indeed still am, under the impression that the whole idea of blogging is to get things off your chest, as they occur. WSC’s jaw -jaw is better than war -war concept still applies.
I think that what the esteemed German gentleman was implying , was that one can’t join a club without complete compliance with the rules thereof, and subservience to a common leader, or perhaps less assertive: chairman.In other words , a state.It took seventy odd years for the Soviet bloc to become , as it were unblocked, but the blockage , under the rouble , was eventually cleared. At present, champing at the bit, to make at least an effort, to remove themselves from the open maw of the Euro, are Italy and possibly The Netherlands. The Germans , who have not been offered a chance to voice an opinion, are not happy that their beloved Deutsche Mark has been consigned to the waste bin of history either, and would , in extremely large numbers, welcome their currency back . Believe me , this is direct from those concerned.

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By: kevin b

kevin b — Tue, 14 Jun 2005 21:23:09 +0000

Mel

Chip On Shoulder Alert. It was Keith the Kommentee, not Kevin. Fine names both and easily confused, I know, petal. I’ll try not to get Prolier Than Thou.

Cheers!

Kev

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By: Simon Holledge at The Skakagrall

Simon Holledge at The Skakagrall — Tue, 14 Jun 2005 18:53:07 +0000

Macarnie: Once again I am pleased to read all your points and basically agree with most of them, but still feel the context is lacking, the big picture missing. Dare I suggest you resemble (blogwise) a melancoly beer drinker looking into your three-quarters full glass, and then announcing that it is ‘almost empty’?

With regard to your Issing quote: “There is no example in history, of a monetary union that was not linked to one State”. Was he implying that two states never use the same money without being unified? Surely not! There must be hundreds of instances of shared money all the way back to cowrie shells. In our own times, US dollars have been widely used as hard currency in many Asian countries. Currency is just a commodity. We all use gold, don’t we?

Melissa: Happy birthday to Boris! The day after the wonderful Aung San Suu Kyi!

P.S. My CO2 emissions/Free Planting Pledge Campaign is still open at the Pledge Bank. 52 places taken in 2 days! Only 47 left! Hurry, hurry!

http://www.pledgebank.com/treeplanting

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