Monthly Archives: May 2012

The Brussels institutions seem to have an unlimited capacity for self-delusion. We’ve had “subsidiarity”, which is supposed to mean devolving decision-making in the EU to the lowest possible level — while in reality the minutiae of our every-day lives are … Continue reading →

  Fritz Vahrenholt is a distinguished German politician (SPD) who gained a doctorate in chemistry in Münster, and started his professional career at the environmental protection agency in Berlin, and the Ministry of the Environment of Hesse.  He has spent … Continue reading →

At the Heartland Conference last week I had the pleasure of meeting Marita Noon, of the Citizens’ Alliance for Responsible Energy.  I had intended to do a general write-up of the Conference, but I see that Marita has already put … Continue reading →

When I got into politics in 1998, my first ever staffer was Sally McNamara.  She’s also the Gold Standard by which subsequent staffers are rated.  A new politics graduate from Nottingham University, she joined our euro-candidate team ahead of the … Continue reading →

I’ve always been a big fan of Scotland.  I had the privilege of working in Asia for some years with United Distillers (now Diageo), and I became “Mr. Johnnie Walker” in Korea.  I’ve also had them pleasure of meeting Alex … Continue reading →

Having spent a couple of days with the Heartland Institute in Chicago, I’ve been struck by the reaction to my recent move to UKIP.  These folk are not all card-carrying Republicans, but they mostly lean that way.  We’ve seen research … Continue reading →

Yesterday evening we were privileged to have Czech President Vaclav Klaus as our keynote speaker at the Heartland Climate Conference at the Chicago Hilton.  The man is a star.  He is absolutely sound on my two main issues — the … Continue reading →

I’ve just returned from a visit to Dublin with a delegation from the EFD Group, ahead of Ireland’s May 31st referendum on Merkel’s Fiscal Union (FU) pact. The group included two other UKIP MEPs — Nigel Farage and Paul Nuttall … Continue reading →

Dan Hannan just wrote an interesting piece with his predictions for the EU .  He believes that the Euro-Corporatists of the “centre-right” are realising that they can’t make austerity stick in the face of popular unrest and the revolt at … Continue reading →

There has been criticism from business leaders and organisations that the recent Queen’s Speech contained nothing that resembled a Growth Strategy, and that despite promises to tackle red tape, one of the key measures announced — transferable paternity leave — … Continue reading →

…may echo in O’Connell Street Across southern Europe, and especially in Greece and Spain, we’re hearing an inchoate cry of pain and rage from citizens whose lives have been shattered by austerity programmes.  We’re seeing EU flags (and occasionally German … Continue reading →

Last Wednesday I attended a “Non-Wine Tasting” in the Brussels parliament.  It was well attended, and was graced by the visit of a very senior, distinguished and well-loved MEP Astrid Lulling (Luxembourg), who is also inter alia Chairman of the parliament’s Wine … Continue reading →

Guy Verhofstadt is a former Prime Minister of Belgium, and now leader of the Liberals in the European parliament.  He is also the most splendidly unreconstructed €uro-zealot you could hope to meet. With the European House crashing about his ears, … Continue reading →

I’ve had a number of sugar-beet farmers from the East Midlands contact me about a problem caused by the end of beet quotas.  Normally, of course, removing quotas would be cause for celebration.  We approve of deregulation and free markets.  … Continue reading →