How did I get it right on the euro? Easy. I was racist

Wilhemina Bothwell

Rod Liddle - Don't you dare emigrate or die. What would I do with the rest of my life without your agreeable blogs.

David Jones

Sorry Rod. Ireland is in the north, while LMalta and Cyprus, far to the south, have significantly lower national debt than us.

Paul Worthington

It was not only the great majority of people in Britain who did not want the Euro; if there had been a referendum on it in Germany we would still have the deutschmark and the Greeks would not have been able to get themselves into such a mess. If we had a referendum here in Germany now, the euro would be dumped and the Greeks would be free to do whatever they like, which might be to return to the drachma, devalue, dump their corrupt political class, and start working their own way towards a better standard of life. Eurozone regulations prevent the Greek government from taking these, the only measures which might cure the illness. Bankrupting Germany will be a much bigger problem than Greece would ever be able to produce on its own.

The Euro was spawned by the control-freak Napoleonists of the EU, whose intermeshed political gaggle in both national governments and EU bodies represent nobody but themselves. Let us have referenda in all EU countries on just what the EU should be. And a big sweep out at all upper levels. Preferably before this bunch of smug incompetents re-introduce economic and political disaster 1930's style.

annc

Just confirms what was blindingly obvious at the time - at least in those days the Today program (RIP) used to attempt to put up an opposing view point, though when it came to anything to do with the EU, it was usually the most rabid person they could find, rather than someone with a reasoned argument. Now, we often don't even get 2 sides of the question, just an interview with someone who is in tune with the Beeb agenda. But, yes, you were right Rod, and I suspect we are now watching the disintegration of this totally undemocratic entity - may I live long enough to see it.

Jim Burfield

Paul Worthington

How would reintroducing the drachma make the Greeks better able to "dump their corrupt political class" than they can now?

Astonishing how almost everyone calls/called the German currency the "deutschmark". It was in fact called the "deutsche Mark". Not that this undermines your opinions, of course; it's just interesting how the mistake spread so far and wide.

j fraile

Oh Gosh. Had it ever passed trough Max Weber mind a thought about Bavarians or Belgians? Had it ever passed trough yours something about `level-headedī as well as `hot-temperedī You may drink at the original fountain in Macedonian Aristotle's Ethics.

rik

Isn't the Euro 20% stronger then the pound as compared to over two years ago ?
Could it be that we are in the mire 20% more then the Eurozone ?

Paul Worthington

Jim Burfield:

Part of the problem in Greece, as in other EU countries with relatively weak economies, has been the association with the richer economies and the feeling of reassurance that they would always be bailed out. Their politicians could claim to be bringing in standards of living beyond the means of their economy and thus buy short term popularity on the basis of inevitable eventual insolvency. Thus, ending this unnatural financial association would put an end to this illusion and might help to remove the most corrupt.

The term "deutschmark" was the common term for the German mark (in German "die deutsche Mark" and very commonly called "D-Mark"), as those of us involved in international trade and banking with Germany from the 1970s until today well know. Mistakes do spread, especially among those with unfounded senses of certainty.

A. MacAulay

Paul Worthington. Can you remember when the obnoxious Joschka Fischer stood before a camera and said that (whatever) Euro-Treaty was about to be forced down all our throats, that European integration was the only guarantee for peace and security in Europe? I recall thinking, oh, and if we don't sign what will you do? Start dropping bombs on us? Per Steinbruck also said something similar the other day. That much of Euro-politics, as formed by Euro-Elites including the Parliament, Commission and currency is founded on Pie-in-the-Sky assumptions is, and has long been clear. Anyone who dares question this is, as Rod Liddle points out, quickly, medially pushed into the crypto-fascist hyaena corner. There is no political Euro opposition in Germany but the average citizen dislikes and mistrusts and would never vote for practically any of it. And this is why they're never asked.

David Lindsay

Rod Liddle writes of the Protestant work ethic as the basis of any monetary union that he might ever support, yet he would wish such a union to include the Flemings and the Milanese. There may very well be a Protestant work ethic, but there is at least as much a Catholic one, forming and defining half of the Germans, more than half of the West Germans during their post-War economic miracle, half of the Swiss, half of the Dutch, and great tracts of the working classes of the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand during those countries’ industrial heydays.

Amanda Loves Sovereignty

Rod: I have just read this piece aloud to my husband -- with many interjections and secular hosannas from me -- and he and I think that you have got it, totally, and your arrow has pinned the subject right in the goolies, and it would not be wise for said subject to lurch in any sort of hurry.

We need more of you. Any chance of you and James Delingpole marrying and having babies? No, I rather thought not. Thank god for the printed word, at least.
As Churchill said, Keep buggering on. Ha ha ha!

Graphite

@David Lindsay

". . . great tracts of the working classes of the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand during those countries’ industrial heydays."

I can't comment on the UK, the US or Canada, but I know a bit about New Zealand, having been born there 66 years ago, and have spent a fair bit of time in Australia.

When exactly was New Zealand's industrial heyday? Or are you including pastoral industry? Either way, New Zealand's prosperity, won from a land lacking almost every natural mineral resource and far removed from its main markets, is pretty much a Protestant success story. Catholic influence is much more marked in Australia – possibly something to do with its beginnings as a penal colony – and its success is largely based on digging holes in the ground (a Catholic specialty) and shipping off whatever's extracted.

A Catholic Prime Minister did slip through in New Zealand, back in the interwar years, the main consequence being a tyke takeover of the civil service. The lingering effects of this were still being felt when I entered the workforce; one example being that school leaver applicants for Post Office positions were processed in the order of every kid from St Paul's or St Peter's was taken on, then those places that hadn't been filled were doled out to the graduates of the state schools.

I'm not, of course, saying the Catholic contribution is without merit. Our greatest racing family is the O'Sullivans, who number a Japan Cup among their successes (father trained, son rode), Sir Patrick Hogan operates the most successful stud farm in the southern hemisphere, and Dave Gallaher captained the Original All Blacks.

Alex Brown

Biggot.

JohnBUK

Alex Brown "Biggot" (sic). Priccck