Monthly Archives: January 2012

Today I was interviewed by BBC Radio Lincolnshire on my proposed resignation. To listen to the full interview click here.

BBC East Midlands have done an interesting piece on Rupert Matthews which I wanted to share with you. You can access the video here.

George Osborne has a very interesting piece in the Telegraph of Dec 16th. Some of the points he makes invite a degree of comment. He refers to the UK’s “full and committed membership of the EU”.  I’m sure that in using those … Continue reading →

When it comes to the financial crisis, the conventional wisdom is “blame the (commercial) bankers”.  But as is so often the case, the conventional wisdom is just plain wrong. My good friend Godfrey Bloom MEP has a colourful way of … Continue reading →

Incredible but true: despite all the wonderful declarations and charters of rights declared by Brussels, it now seems that asylum seekers and illegal immigrants are entitled to more rights than citizens in the EU.  A recent ruling of the European … Continue reading →

Today’s downgrade of France’s AAA credit rating was well-trailed, so they’ve had plenty of time to work out their rebuttal in advance.  And they’ve come up with a couple of glib but specious responses: comparison with the US dollar, and … Continue reading →

  Yesterday in Brussels, we had a debate between the three candidates for the post of President of the European parliament (for the second half of the current five-year term).  The vote takes place next week.  Bizarrely, the event was … Continue reading →

As we approach the mid-point of the European parliament’s fixed five-year term, we’ve been besieged by wannabes seeking our votes for the Presidency of the parliament.  But at our ECR Group Meeting yesterday we also had a visit from the … Continue reading →

Over my twelve years in the European parliament I’ve had some great people working with me.  I take a particular pride that quite a number of them have gone on to great things.   Sally McNamara has been working in Washington … Continue reading →

    The Readers Digest, that stalwart of dentists’ waiting rooms, used to run a column called “Towards more picturesque speech”.  Still does, for all I know.  (About forty years ago, I used to work for Reader’s Digest in Hong … Continue reading →

Yet again, overwhelming local opposition to a wind-farm proposal has been bulldozed aside by the government’s planning inspector, making a nonsense of promises of localism.   This time, it’s on a particularly sensitive site — the Civil War battlefield of Naseby, … Continue reading →

OK.  I’m probably going to upset a fair number of regular readers by taking a counter-intuitive position.  Many of those who would agree with me on the EU, or on climate change, or that “the facts of life are conservative”, … Continue reading →

I’m agnostic on HS2.  In fact I have to admit I probably don’t have the technical expertise to make a decision — so I’m glad I’m not called on to do so.  But I can recognise a duff argument when … Continue reading →

Was it only fifty years ago that Paul Ehrlich was warning that fossil fuels would run out in the 1980s, we’d all be starving, life expectancy in the US would be down to 42 years, and world population down to … Continue reading →

Eagle-eyed readers may have noticed that back in October I announced my intention to resign from the European parliament effective December 31st.  What, then, am I doing still in place on January 5th, in the Happy New Year of 2012?  … Continue reading →