Via Motorcycle Action Group: 24th June 2012 will involve 12 major demonstrations, to coincide with the 12 EU Parliamentary Constituencies that exist in the UK. Action will take place on main routes, mostly on Motorways. Start time will be 13.00 hours. The idea is to create a spectacle and let people see us, so blocking the roads will be self-defeating. Instead we’ll leave the outside lane free, which is also important for emergency services I’m not riding tomorrow – I [...]
Again this morning, I see Spain’s bond yields at levels which have sparked warnings, with Italy close behind. Did recent actions achieve anything but ladling more water into the boat? It seems not. The idea that we can all borrow our way to prosperity has run its course. Banks’ excessive lending, driven by central banks’ policy to prop up an easy money economy, has severely disrupted the worldwide economic system. More borrowing, more bailouts and more socialisation of risk will [...]
Today, The Times has coverage of Lord Owen’s sensible ideas on Europe but, as my wife has pointed out, his referendum questions are too complex. Instead of asking “Do you want the UK to be part of the single market in a wider European community?” just ask, “Do you want trade with Europe?” And not “Do you want the UK to remain in the EU, keeping open the option of joining the more integrated Eurozone?” just “Do you want the [...]
Tags: Democracy, EU, Europe, Referendum
The Bruges Group’s latest report has exposed that the UK is facing a maximum potential loss of €149.2 billion on its financial commitments to the EU and the Euro. The report reveals the full extent of our obligations in respect of the present and future debts of EU institutions including: How the Government’s defined position is questionable in law and therefore has led it to underestimate its full potential exposure to EU debt; and That the true extent of the [...]
Tags: Banking, Central Banking, debt, EU, euro, Financial Crisis, Referendum
As a way of supporting The Red Tape Challenge, the Government has created a new campaign called Focus on Enforcement. It will focus on working to ensure that we do not gold plate EU law and that we avoid British business being disadvantaged in relation to EU competitors. The Government want you to tell them about your experiences, both good and bad, in the area of business regulation. The best ideas and suggestions for review will be chosen for further investigation. In [...]
Tags: Business, Deregulation, EU, Growth, Red Tape, Regulation
Via France election: Germany rules out reworking EU’s ‘fiskalpakt’ – Telegraph. Mr Hollande has called for a shift in strategy toward more growth-oriented measures including more public spending. But Mr Seibert said Angela Merkel would not accept “deficit spending” to feed economic expansion, and believed in “growth through structural reforms” such as reducing the cost of job creation as pursued by Germany over the last decade. I feel sure Mr Hollande’s socialist ideas are dangerously daft but if he cannot govern [...]
Tags: Democracy, EU, euro, France
On Friday March 16 2012, a Question Time panel was hosted by Steven Sackur at the John Hampden Grammar School with the Bishop of Buckingham, Nigel Farage, Lord Alf Dubbs, the Independent’s Mary Dejevsky and me. Bucks New University students filmed the event and the video is now available here: My answers are at these times (I was not asked to reply on HS2 or military intervention): The EU – 7:25 University tuition fees – 11:30 Gay marriage – (The [...]
Tags: EU, Europe, Gay marriage, John Hampden Grammar School, Question Time, Tuition fees
Via Is there no escape from the euro? Intellectual honesty requires us to admit that there are important costs to exiting the euro, such as legal problems or the disentangling of the ECB. However, these costs can be mitigated by reforms or clever handling. Some of the alleged costs are actually benefits from the point of liberty, such as political costs or liberating capital flows. Indeed, other costs may be seen as an opportunity, such as a banking crisis that [...]
Tags: Cobden Centre, EU, euro, Europe, Financial Crisis
After Easter, I spent a week in Pakistan and Kashmir, visiting Islamabad, Thara, Sava, Dadyal, Mirpur and Skardu, which is in the northern Gilgit-Baltistan province. During a live news conference with Kashmir’s Prime Minister, I was asked why I take the time to support the cause of democratic self-determination for Kashmir. There are three reasons. First, the essence of representative democracy is representation. I joined the Party in the Autumn of 2007 when, thanks to the transformation of the EU [...]
Tags: Democracy, EU, Kashmir, Liberty, Pakistan, Referendum, UK
Via Government web surveillance: ‘Expensive, impractical, totalitarian’ – Telegraph: The Government’s plan to make Internet Service Providers capture personal communications data is nothing new. It was brought up under the last Labour government as the “Intercept Modernisation Programme” and received heavy criticism from the Tory party in opposition. The article concentrates on the practicalities of recording people’s internet activity. For a more philosophical point of view about why it shouldn’t be attempted, see Sam Bowman’s Our road to serfdom. Meanwhile, [...]
Tags: 1984, Authoritarianism, Coalition, EU, Government, Internet, Liberty, Privacy, surveillance
Steve Baker is MP for Wycombe. He was previously an RAF officer then a business software consultant. Find out more...
Steve holds regular surgeries in High Wycombe. If you would like an appointment, please call 01494 448408.
