Monthly Archives: June 2011

Brussels is rejoicing with unseemly relish at yesterday’s vote in the Greek parliament, approving the austerity plan.  But they rejoice too soon. Today the parliament will vote on implementation measures.  This too may go through.  But the big questions are: … Continue reading →

There was an important High Court Judgement on wind farm noise on May 25th this year which somehow slipped past my radar: I’ve just caught up with it. It’s likely to be a headache for wind turbine operators, but it may … Continue reading →

Saturday saw me at Braunston Marina for the annual Historic Narrow Boat Festival, at the invitation of organiser Tim Coghlan.  Braunston is near Daventry, and the same event in 2010 had also been attended by my former MEP colleague Chris … Continue reading →

It is an axiom of bien pensant opinion — à la BBC and Guardian — that capital punishment is always and everywhere a great evil, and that only ignorant, unreconstructed redneck fascists would support it.  If so, there must be … Continue reading →

Vote on the Eickhout Report on emissions reductions postponed Last Thursday (June 23rd) in a mini-plenary session in Brussels, the European parliament was due to vote on a proposal to increase the EU’s 2020 emissions reduction target from 20% to … Continue reading →

Last Wednesday I was delighted to host two constituents in Brussels.  They were James and Meriel Buxton, prominent members of the Countryside Alliance in Leicestershire, where they farm Dexter cattle, keep horses, and (of course) hunt. We took tea in … Continue reading →

Some time ago I wrote a couple of blogs dealing with the trans-national Arc Manche region, which takes in both Kent and the Pas de Calais. https://rogerhelmermep.wordpress.com/2011/05/06/bribed-with-our-own-money/ https://rogerhelmermep.wordpress.com/2011/05/03/lets-hear-it-for-the-trans-manche-region/ One or two comments on my blog suggested that I was making … Continue reading →

Last night I attended a briefing dinner given by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) in Brussels.  They confirmed that despite the continuing fragile economy, most auto companies in the UK were quietly confident, with major new investments … Continue reading →

On Tuesday, I took my Brussels office staff with me on a pilgrimage to the battlefields of the Somme, and to the Memorial to the Missing at Thiepval, near the French town of Albert.  The whole of the Somme area is … Continue reading →

On May 3rd, it was announced that the EU had achieved an enhanced status at the UN.  It had enjoyed observer status since 1974, but as a result of this new resolution it obtains, for the first time, speaking rights in … Continue reading →

Philip Davies MP is a good friend and an excellent chap.  He’s a prominent member of the Freedom Association.  But he seems to have got himself into a spot of bother with the media recently over comments on disability.  True … Continue reading →

I’d been to Riga, Latvia, to speak at a one-day energy conference organised by my Latvian ECR colleague Roberts Zile MEP, and I had a helluva trip back.  The Air Baltic flight out of Riga was delayed three hours, so … Continue reading →

Yesterday saw the launch in London of my new book “Sceptic at Large” in the former CCO building in Smith Square — now the headquarters of the occupying power in the UK.  The EP office it may have been, but … Continue reading →

to save the world from Global Warming Charles Moore in the Telegraph writes: “The other day, flying over the English Channel, I noticed offshore wind farms in the waters below.  They looked, with their rows of white crosses, like military … Continue reading →