More FUD on its way ...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/new...-wales-politics-21248514

and ...

http://www.telegraph.co....ef-Mohamed-El-Erian.html

So, after politicians, now it's bankers saying that it would be bad for them if we leave the EU?

Great! We can't buy publicity like that. All we now need is the shade of Jimmy Saville saying that he is in favour of the EU...

Me too - so much has been lost in such a short time . . .

Perhaps he would prefer the certainty of the position of steelmaking in the Walloon part of the Eurozone. In 2012 steel making and steel processing lost 12,000 jobs. This included Carsid Chaleroi (Duferco) 1000 jobs with the closure of the blastfurnace and steel making (work stopped in 2008 but the workers were paid with the profits from the carbon tax). Closure was announced in 2012 with the works being offered for the nominal sum of 1 Euro but no takers. Bekaert 680 in various wire and wire products. Ford Genk 4264 (car making). Duferco and NLMK steel making and rolling La Louviere 459 and 882 jobs repectively.

Also Arcelor in Liege which has closed the whole of the hot division( coke, sinter, blastfurnaces (2), steel making and casting plus hot rolling mills). There is also now talk of closing the cold side which covers cold rolled coils, galvanised coils, organic coated coils, electrogalvanised coils and tinplate.

These closures cut deep into the Belgian steel industry, manufacturing and employment.

In addition there is the closure of the iron and steel making closure by Arcelor at Florange in Lorraine. There is talk of closures in Luxembourg at the Arcelor Rodange and Schifflange works. The Rodange steel plant is an electric arc plant which is usually more cost competitive compared to the blast furnace, steel converter plants that are closing in Belgium. It is a sign of the deep crisis in the steel industry when these plants are being closed.

Ravenscar said


However:
http://www.liberation.fr...oir-pour-florange_864375

Mittal has agreed to keep the plant in a fit state to be re-opened at some unspecified time in the future and to invest in the finishing lines at Florange (which was already planned). The state is to invest 150 million Euros in a carbon capture scheme for the iron and steel plant which has yet to be agreed by Brussels.

But the state is using unproved carbon capture as some sort of canard to keep the iron and steel plant open.

‘La voie finalement choisie par l’Etat ne garantit pas avec certitude l’avenir de la «filière liquide» de Florange (production d’acier brut), que les syndicats tentent de préserver depuis dix-huit mois.’
‘Ce compromis en forme de ni-ni (ni fermeture ni réouverture des hauts-fourneaux) évite donc à l’Etat de nationaliser temporairement le site pour le céder à un repreneur’

‘A Florange, les syndicats ne sont pas totalement convaincus. «C’est de l’enfumage. La seule alternative, c’était la nationalisation. Notre seul espoir, c’était le relais politique, et ils font confiance à un mec comme Mittal qui n’a jamais tenu ses promesses. On va vers un génocide social», réagit Lionel Burrielo, de la CGT.’

Mittal is known for closing plants that are not profitable. Given the state of the steel industry and the unfavourable position of Florange with regard to raw materials and the age of the furnaces it is unlikely that they will re-open. They have already been shutdown for eighteen months.
Steel making at Florange will not re-open.

There is however some good news in that the Redcar blast furnace and the Lackenby steel plant have reopened and are producing slabs for export to Thailand.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tees-17719747

Clarke's a bit like Paul Ehrlich. Forever wrong but always the go to guy for information.

"Blair said 3.5m jobs depended on British membership of the EU"

And now Clegg claims that 3 million jobs are in peril if we leave the EU.

So half a million jobs have been lost since 1999.
We'd better get out now before we lose the remaining 3 million

http://www.thetimes.co.u...itics/article3653562.ece

Niall wrote:



I was just about to comment about that too.

It was disgraceful.

I don't know whether it was Humphreys or the other one, but it all all very jolly .. lots of teasing and guffawing.
And as Niall said he wasn't challenged once .. well, only in very very gentle way and always followed by a titter.


In 1972, didn't The Times (on instructions from Heath) publish a pro-Common Market letter every day for 100 days or something like that? Or was it 1975?

Talk about deja-vu!


The BBC are a big problem.
Jo