Sunday, May 1, 2011

You only just noticed?

I wonder at times about Eric Pickles the Local Government Secretary, much of what he rails at I agree with, though his success rates doesn't seem to be that great. Good for a soundbite I guess, but not for getting things done. He's now having a go at the "Arc Manche" region idea proposed by the EU several years ago having inherited it from the Labour government (probably given the go ahead by that bunch of English haters as a measure of spite) Odd thing is, the English nationalists have been very, very unhappy about the EU's regionalisation for years and viewed with disgust Gordon Brown's continual pronouncement of the UK as a country of nations (Scotland, Wales N/Ireland) and regions (England) We were also aware of the Arc Manche scheme a few years ago too, though nothing we said or did could halt the slide of the Labour government towards the dismemberment of England.

Daily Mail.
Eric Pickles last night accused the European Union of trying to ‘wipe England off the map’ by developing a new cross-Channel region, complete with its own ‘flag’.
The Cabinet Minister condemned the EU for ploughing millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money into the ‘Arc Manche’, the name given by Brussels to an ambitious attempt to merge Northern France and Southern England.
Mr Pickles, the Local Government Secretary, says he is incensed to have discovered that Eurocrats are planning to roll out a new Arc Manche ‘transnational emblem’ across England.
‘Labour has been conspiring with European bureaucrats to wipe England off the map,’ Mr Pickles said.
Not exactly something that the politically aware in the UK were in ignorance of though. Still it's quite nice to see it get a little publicity though God alone knows what Pickles thinks he can do about it. Even if he had the power to stop it (he doesn't) there are those in his own party who would sabotage any attempt to try (yes we're looking at you Ken Clarke)
The only way schemes like this can be stopped is to leave the EU, our spineless treacherous politicians have simply given away too much of our sovereignty to stop any EU diktat from being implemented. We might have stood a chance if given a referendum on Lisbon, though clearly in hindsight there was no chance of ever being given such a referendum, the EUphiles know what the result would have been and for all their bland corruption and evil intent, they aren't stupid enough to ask a question of the English they know they won't like the answer too.
So, Eric Pickles has finally noticed something we in the anti-EU ranks have known for years, wonder what he thinks he can do about it?

6 annotations:

Anonymous said...

Here is the Conservative Party press release from 2006, on this subject including comments from Eric Pickles :

http://conservativehome.blogs.com/torydiary/files/cchq_press_release.pdf

Conservative Press
Release 22nd October 2006
Ref: 1928/06

England wiped off the map by first Transnational
Regional Assembly

Political equivalent of ‘Frankenstein’s monster’ warn Conservatives....

Anonymous said...

You may also want to see the attached link, quoted in the 2006 Conservative press release above:

Cross Channel Atlas : Transmarche

http://atlas-transmanche.certic.unicaen.fr/index.gb.html

"The Channel simultaneously divides and joins two parts of Western Europe, which for centuries have shared common events to create a joint History. A thousand year period, beginning with the Norman invasion of England, now nears its end as that same island becomes physically linked to the continent of Europe."

This works was co-financed by the European Union (ERDF)

Quiet_Man said...

So anon, if the Tories have known since 2006 why all the fuss now? Unless of course it's just Daily Mail sensationalism (wouldn't put it past them) Still it seems odd Pickles making a fuss, when we all know Cameron won't do a damned thing about it.

TheBoilingFrog said...

@QM I suspect that this sentence gives a clue;

‘Labour has been conspiring with European bureaucrats to wipe England off the map,’ Mr Pickles said.

Them pesky local elections coming up - so if in doubt blame Labour on the EU.

Quiet_Man said...

@ TBF

Oh yes, was a bit slow of me, makes perfect sense now.

Anonymous Poet said...

The EU according to William Shakespeare:

Live loath'd and long,
Most smiling, smooth, detested parasites,
Courteous destroyers, affable wolves, meek bears,
You fools of fortune, trencher friends, time's flies,
Cap and knee slaves, vapours, and minute jacks.

Or Beller's version:

They [EU Ministers] smile and bow, and hug, and shake the hand,
Ev'n while they whisper to the next assistant
Some cursed plot to blast its owner's head.

Perhaps Dryden's EU paraphrased:

See how they set their countenances for deceit,
And promises a lie before they speak.