Disappointed but not suprised England never qualified for Euro 2008

Bye Bye McLaren the Clown


Thrown a lifeline by Israel at the weekend, England opted for suicide led by goalkeeper Scott Carson whose howler set us on the way to Euro 2008 elimination.
The buck though stops with the manager. He said he should be judged over the 12 games yet stubbornly refused to resign after last night’s fiasco.
He had to go. The nation had no confidence in him. McClaren has somehow taken the so-called golden generation backwards from the Sven Goran Eriksson era.

Constitution, EU Treaty = Labour Lies

What people are saying around Europe: ''it’s exactly the same as the original Constitution''

Germany
"The substance of the constitution is preserved. That is a fact."
(Angela Merkel, German Chancellor, Telegraph, 29 June 2007)

Ireland
"90 per cent of it is still there... these changes haven't made any dramatic change to the substance of what was agreed back in 2004."
(Bertie Ahern, Irish Taoiseach, Irish Independent, 24 June 2007)

Czech Republic
"Only cosmetic changes have been made and the basic document remains the same."
(Vaclav Klaus, Czech President, Guardian, 13 June 2007)

Spain
"A great part of the content of the European Constitution is captured in the new treaties."
(Jose Zapatero, Spanish PM, El Pais 23 June 2007)

Finland
"There’s nothing from the original institutional package that has been changed."
(Astrid Thors, Finnish Europe Minister, TV-Nytt, 23 June 2007)

Denmark
"The good thing is...that all the symbolic elements are gone, and that which really matters – the core – is left."
(Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Danish PM, Jyllands-Posten, 25 June 2007)

Austria
"The original Treaty for a Constitution was maintained in substance."
(Austrian government website, 25 June 2007)

Belgium
The new treaty "takes up the most important elements of the constitutional treaty project."
(Guy Verhofstadt, Belgian PM, Agence Europe, 24 June 2007)

Italy
"As for our conditions… I outlined four red lines with respect to the text of the Constitution: to keep a permanent president of the EU, to keep the single overseer for foreign policy and a common diplomatic service, to keep the extension of majority voting, to keep the single legal personality of the Union. All of this has stayed."
(Romano Prodi, Italian PM, La Repubblica, 24 June 2007)

Lithuania
Lithuania has "100 percent fulfilled the tasks set forth before the meeting, including the primary objective of preserving the substance of the Constitutional Treaty."
(Office of the President of Lithuania, official press release)

Luxemburg
"The substance has been preserved from Luxembourg’s point of view."
(Jean-Claude Juncker, Luxemburg PM, Agence Europe, 24 June)

Slovenia
With new treaty, the EU gets "content that is not essentially different from the constitutional treaty… All key institutional solutions remain… Some symbolic elements will be cleared up and some formulations toned down."
(Janez Jansa, Slovenian PM, 23 June 2007, Slovenian Government Communication Office)

The European Commission
"It’s essentially the same proposal as the old Constitution."
(Margot Wallstrom, EU Commissioner, Svenska Dagbladet, 26 June 2007)

The author of the EU Constitution
"This text is, in fact, a rerun of a great part of the substance of the Constitutional Treaty."
(Valery Giscard d’Estaing, Telegraph, 27 June 2007)

European Parliament
The European Parliament "welcomes the fact that the mandate safeguards the substance of the Constitutional treaty."
(European Parliament resolution, 10 July 2007)

Spot the odd one out….
The UK
"The constitutional treaty has been abandoned."
(David Miliband, Foreign Secretary, Hansard, 3 July 2007)

IWR campaigning across the country

I Want a Referendum campaigners have been across the country, launching local versions of the campaign to keep the pressure on MPs in their constituencies, and persuading people of the need for a referendum on the revived EU Constitution. Together with the giant inflatable ballot box - symbolising the wishes of the majority of voters who want to have a say on Europe's future - IWR has been to Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield, Bristol and Exeter.
Over the coming weeks the campaign will be heading to many more cities across the UK.

For more information and to sign the petition ... http://www.iwantareferendum.com/

More Lies From Labour !!

Jacqui Smith has denied allegations of a cover-up over illegal immigrants working in sensitive security jobs in Whitehall.

The embattled Home Secretary, embarrassed by leaked emails revealing fears of negative media coverage, said she had acted to sort out the problem.
Forced to make a Commons statement, she rejected claims by Shadow Home Secretary David Davis that she was guilty of "blunder, panic and cover-up".
Her statement came after internal Home Office emails revealed that the Home Secretary first knew about 5,000 illegal immigrants working in Whitehall back in July.

Full story at http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,91211-1292607,00.html

Huge majority believe immigration puts too much pressure on publice services

An interesting article from Migrationwatch

85% of the population think immigration is putting too much pressure on public services says a new poll out today.

According to a YouGov poll for Migrationwatch, 85% agreed with this statement, 58% strongly. Only 10% disagreed, 2% strongly. The highest numbers of those strongly agreeing came from the East of England (63%), the North West, Yorkshire and Humberside and the West Midlands, all on 62%. It was felt most strongly in the 45+ age group who are of course more likely to use services such as Health, at 67%.

There was a similar response when asked if the Government should substantially reduce immigration levels to Britain. 81% think immigration levels to Britain should be cut substantially and a massive 57% agreed strongly with 24% tending to agree. Only 14% disagreed, 4% strongly. In London, where 30% of the population are immigrants, 70% agreed (41% strongly) that immigration levels should be cut substantially. The highest numbers of those strongly agreeing came from the West Midlands (65%) the North West (61%) and the East of England (60%).

When asked if they thought immigration had generally contributed positively to the UK economy 35% believed that it had (6% strongly) while 54%, (22% strongly) that it had not. When asked if immigration was the result of global trends rather than the actions of the Government 42% believed it was global trends (11% strongly) while 48% disagreed (23% strongly).

‘These figures show that now the scale of immigration and its consequences are now being better understood and people are deeply concerned at what is going on,’ said Sir Andrew Green, chairman of Migrationwatch. ‘This is heightened by the way in which the Government has clearly mishandled the whole issue, making tough sounding pronouncements that are then not followed up in practice. ‘The public have at last seen through the smoke and mirrors that has been government policy on this issue for a decade and are very angry that they have not been consulted about such a fundamental change taking place in our society,' he said.