You can be assured that, whenever the European Union debate reaches any level of prominence, up will pop the Confederation of British Industry on the wrong side of the argument, spraying out scare stories with gay abandon.

Right on cue, therefore, out of the woodwork comes CBI director-general, John Cridland, full of the wobblies about how the UK must stay in "Europe" to "boost business success".

What is so predictable and dire about the man is the leaden language and the total absence of imagination. The corporate bureaucrat thus tells us in his New Year address that "the UK has ensured its values of free and open trade have been at the heart of Europe over the last 40 years".

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Totally agree with this analysis.The CBI speaks for big business and the global corporates who would quite happily stand by watching our individual freedoms and rights disappear ...complete and utter bastards the lot of them.


As for protecting the financial services...does he mean that shady lot who have cost us in the region of £130 bn to date in bailouts(and counting)as well as requiring huge government backed guarantees against future failures just so they can stay in business.

We have reason to celebrate and defend this "nationally beneficial" state of affairs because....?

Edited by user 31 December 2012 14:50:02(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

It's a difficult one. So here's a little clue:

Cnuting Bastards Incorporated

I like to think the name will stick.

That's the problem ... the CBI is guaranteed an uncritical hearing from the media.

Posted by Richard: "as should anyone who projects their narrow sectional interests as representing the national interest. " I haven't figured out selective quotations yet.

This will form the basis of the attack of the 'philes, amply supported by the "legacy" media, 90% of public opinion is still formed by it, including the BBC and at this moment we haven't got the facilty to counter it
The whole damn entity rides on a tide of narrow vested interest and cosidering that <5% actually consider it as the major issue I don't know the best way forward. The trade deficit being what it is there's no way that trade will suddenly stop but that is not how it will be portrayed is it.
The terror campaign has begun.

Or possibly, I'm allright jack bastards.

And another thing, it seems some are hoping for a revelation from Cameron this mid Jan.

That boy, he doesn't have a 'revelatory bone', in his damned body. No, he is a consensus-managerial bod', a middle of the road, I can't make a decision without consultation - we'll see, in the meantime, nothing left to chance, all bases covered, angles etc, a maybe man.

And even if he does 'promise' something, we need some real conviction....... But then, miracles do happen, actually he could start the process, that he certainly could do.

Cameron knows, he sees the ground is shifting under his feet, the tectonic plates are sliding apart. A new reality is dawning on many people, the old politics of; everybody in the boat and a (Westminster claque of) left of centre liberal mush. Mingling its extravagant welfarism and public sector bonanza but it is going forever, the financial reality is beginning to bite and bite down extremely hard. We and the whole of Europe just cannot afford it. Unless it is stopped, it will result in an economic and social catastrophe, the likes of which have not been witnessed since the fall of the Empire of Rome.
Put simply. big state spending and opening the spigot, diffusing the money like a muck spreader. Sustainability and public 'investment' are the buzz words of the liberal cognoscenti, when actually they entail the economics of the madhouse. Slowly though, the nation comes to its senses [the rise of UKIP IS NOT JUST about the EU and Dave knows this] - and some [more than a few] are beginning to realize that a vote for ConLiblab = turning Britain into the dustbin of the world - which now we very nearly are. All helped, persuaded and encouraged from EU HQ @ Berlaymont.

So, whatever the Prime Minister 'promises' on mid January it is irrelevant to the Tory party fortunes, what Cameron could start though is point the way out of the maze of the EU entanglement, whether his mates [backers and cronies] will allow that remains to be seen.
He has an opportunity to grasp the moment and become a man who can make history, the man who helped to initiate the navigation out of the clutches of the jaundiced Brussels Empire.

Maybe.

Great post. Cameron could have wiped UKIP of the map with ease but that's not his stated position "I think Britain should remain in the eu" I realise that Richard has issues and history with Farage but without his input we would not be having the discussion for at least ten more years, the governments position would be it's all going swimmingly nothing to see here move along.
I'm looking forward to said speech but I don't hold out and hope for much change, a calculated minimum to placate the populace.
Only a miniscule percentage realise that without invoking article 50 there will be no meaningful negotiating at all.

On the former, yes I think I am, on the latter I don't have the literary eloquence to convey the gravity of our situation, on the incidental I leave with one of many of my in stock quotes:
"The good thing about not calling it a constitution is that no-one can ask for a referendum on it"
Giuliano Amato.
Meanwhile it's well past beer o clock, Happy and fruitful new year to you and all.