Kafka Would Be Delighted...

Apparantly, I've said something someone doesn't want anyone to know. 

What is it? Who can say? They won't tell me:

So how can they prevent me saying it again, whatever it was?

We Can't Persuade The Buyers....

...so we'll go to the source:

Healthier ready-to-eat meals could cut EU emissions by 48m tonnes annually and save customers €2.8bn (£2.4bn) each year, as well as reducing disease, a report has found. Fast food and ready meals provide more than a sixth of the EU’s calories but contain far more salt and meat than doctors recommend, according to an analysis from the consultancy Systemiq commissioned by environmental nonprofit organisations Fern and Madre Brava.

So much for the labelling systems - given a choice, customers buy what they like, not what government says they should buy. Are you listening, electric car manufacturers? 

“Making ready meals healthier and more sustainable is a no-regrets policy,” said Eduardo Montero Mansilla from the Spanish Consumers and Users’ Federation, one of 10 non-governmental organisations that co-authored the report. “We can improve the health of people and the planet at affordable prices.”

The report explored the effects of making big food companies comply with diets from the World Health Organization, which aims to avoid malnutrition and non-communicable disease, and the EAT-Lancet Commission, which tries to reduce environmental as well as human harm. In both cases, they found that ready-to-eat meals would need to contain about half as many refined grains and two-thirds less meat, on average, as well as “significantly” more legumes.

So at least this will have one good effect if it's ever implimented - people will go back to cooking for themselves, so they can have food with meat and flavour.  

“We are currently living in a diet-related health crisis,” said Alba Gil from the European Public Health Alliance, which co-authored the report. “Our dietary habits shape our health, and therefore our future. It makes only sense that policymakers regulate the environments where we consume food to make it healthy and affordable by design.”

It only makes sense to people with a powerful urge to make others conform by crushing their free will. I thought we had a name for people like that?  

The NGOs called on the EU to require big food companies to comply with health and sustainability guidelines for ready-made meals sold in the EU. The report did not analyse how consumers would respond to such a proposal.

Because it already knows. It can see how they react in other markets!  

If It’s So ‘Vital’, What Have You Done With It?

On Monday, the EU commissioner Olivér Várhelyi unexpectedly declared – in a social media post – a freeze on EU development assistance to the Palestinians worth €690m. The scale of terror against Israel was “a turning point”, Várhelyi wrote. Providing around €300m annually, the EU is the occupied territories’ largest international source of aid.

Of course it is...I mean, why shouldn't Hungarians and Poles be taxed to pay for Muslims in another country? It makes sense, right? 

The Hungarian commissioner’s solo, and seemingly unauthorised, move was later reversed after a backlash from several governments, along with objections from the EU’s chief diplomat, Josep Borrell, and the European Council president Charles Michel. The EU will now review its aid, not formally suspend it.

As expected from this wretched institution, which every days proves how right we were to come out of it... 

That suspending aid was even considered, and remains a possibility, is mind-boggling. If the goal is to punish Hamas, stopping European aid makes no sense. The EU and its member states do not fund Hamas. Freezing assistance would instead punish the EU-backed Palestinian Authority (PA), which is Hamas’s chief rival.

Sure, sure...so, what has the PA done with all this largesse? 

As Israel now proceeds with an all-out military retaliation against the Gaza Strip, resulting in yet more civilian bloodshed and destruction, Palestinians urgently need more aid, not less. The EU’s money funds teachers, doctors and other public servants employed by the PA in the West Bank.

Which it why it rivals Israel for the infrastructure and facilities it provides for its citizenry, right? Oh, wait, my mistake. Of course not.  

Gaza has been driven into a state of high dependency on international support – more than 80% of its population rely on humanitarian aid to meet their basic needs – mainly as a consequence of an ongoing 16-year blockade and a series of devastating Israeli military offensives against Hamas in the densely populated enclave.

Yes, yes, it's all the fault of you know who. They have prevented you from building infrastructure to reduce that dependency. 

Why The Long Faces, EU Diplomats?

The diplomats, who represented the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Germany and the EU embassies in London, were given a chance to meet some of the sanctuary’s four-legged residents and learn about the challenges they face in different countries.

The gravy train evidently derailed there for this unfortunate group... 

H/T: Ian J via email

Not As Described, 'Guardian'...

Oh..? A terrible holiday accident, 'Guardian' headline writer? 

Fifty-nine people, including a newborn baby and other children, have died after a wooden sailing boat believed to be carrying refugees wrecked against rocks off the coast of Italy’s Calabria region.

Ah. Of course not.  

A Turkish national has been detained on suspicion of human trafficking, according to the Ansa news agency. The vessel is believed to have left Turkey four days ago with people from Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan onboard.

And what's the expected response to this attempt to breach countries' borders? 

As rescuers continued their search, Filippo Grandi, the UN high commissioner for refugees, called for European governments to “stop arguing” and “agree on just, effective, shared measures to avoid more tragedies”.

Well, of course. No doubt we should agree to leave our doors wide open to prevent burglars hurting themselves trying to break in... 

It's Finally Here!

Happy Brexit everyone! 

Maybe We Should Hang Rustlers Again, Then....

Passing sentence, Judge Lucking said: 'A dedicated police operation was necessary to bring this organised offending to an end.

'The sheep were stolen from seven different owners. Not all of the sheep were farm livestock, some were in fact pets.

'On one occasion two very young children were completely traumatised finding their sheep slaughtered and butchered such that they were screaming at the sight.

'There must be an element of deterrence. The general public are dependent upon farmers to produce meat for food.

'Those who farm livestock often work on small margins and simply don't have the manpower to guard their livestock day and night.'

 Particularly from yet more imported criminals from the EU...

Prior to sentence, one of the men's defence barristers urged the judge to pass as short a sentence as possible in light of the 'uncertain times in respect of coronavirus'.

 Nice try.

Robert Iordan, aged 23, and Florin Nutu, aged 36, were both jailed for four years and four months on Friday by Judge Adrienne Lucking QC, who described the inhumane killing of sheep worth around £10,000 as gruesome and distressing.

Judge Lucking also sentenced Viorel Manu to a custodial sentence of two years and 11 months after hearing that the 39-year-old father-of-nine was involved in only one albeit serious offence.

One hopes they can be immediately deported on release, since free movement within the EU won't apply now we're (supposedly) on course to leave?

Coming Over Here With Their Work Ethic....

...running the scams and crime capers our own home grown criminals are too lazy to run:

Two brothers, Stefan and Sorin Covrig, and a third man, Ciprian Buda, were the manufacturers of the tickets.

They used blank tickets, card readers, computer programs and printers to produce fake tickets on a massive scale. When their homes were raided officers seized nearly 60,000 blank tickets, which if turned into counterfeits would fetch up to £20million.

After months of investigating the group, officers moved to arrest phase, raiding homes in London and Leicester and arresting Silva, Sorin Covrig and Buda. A joint operation with Romanian Police tracked down Stefan Covrig in his native Romania.

Ah, Romania. Are there any crooks left in the country?

Seven Romanian nationals accused of conspiring to burglary and one man who is said to have acted as a “fence” to conceal the group’s illegal products appeared on trial at Kingston Crown Court to face the charges.

Gavril Popinciuc, Vasille Paragina, Marian Albu, Traian Mihulca, Marian Mamaliga, Ilie Ungureanu, Liviu Leahu deny conspiracy to commit burglaries and conspiracy to disguise and remove criminal property.

Mohammed Enus, the accused “fence”, denies conspiracy to disguise and remove criminal property and handling stolen goods.

Meanwhile, elsewhere...

Two Romanian burglars drilled through a bookmakers into an upmarket jewellers to steal £300,000 worth of gems while a half-marathon masked the noise, a court heard.

Florin-Cristin Neagu, 46, and Sorin Munteanu, 44, allegedly dug into the basement of George Attenborough & Son on London's Fleet Street before fleeing the country.

Thanks, freedom of movement!

Revenge, Best Eaten Cold...

...and washed down with a nice Chianti. Bon appetit, Nigel!

Some Ministers Have Balls, Then...

The report, from the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) body, said there had been an increase in hate speech and racist violence in Britain between March 2009 and March 2016.

That old canard again?

No, there had been an increase in reports of hate speech and racist violence. And as Tim Newman points out, the rate of hoaxes and false claims is pretty damn high in these cases.

In an audacious move, the report recommends the British media be barred from reporting the Muslim background of terrorists.

And it comes after multiple terror atrocities by Muslim extremists across Paris, Brussels, Munich and other German cities over the last year.

Over the same period, there have been no major terror attacks in Britain.

I admit, I fully expected our useless notTories to fold like a wet paper bag. But no!

...UK ministers firmly rebutted the remarkable demands, telling the body: 'The Government is committed to a free and open press and does not interfere with what the press does and does not publish...

Hurrah! Well done!

...as long as the press abides by the law.'

That better not be a way of saying 'It's OK, we'll soon change the law to make it illegal'!

H/T: Legiron via Twitter

Another 'Benefit' Of The EU....

A rise in the number of dogs reported to the RSPCA with cropped ears has sent shockwaves to British animal lovers over the return of the sick procedure. The RSPCA described the procedure, which was made illegal ten years ago, as mutilation carried out purely for cosmetic reasons. The animal welfare group has urged potential dog owners to avoid importing dogs or buying the animals from breeders if they use the painful ear cropping.

 The 'importing dogs' is the clue here. Because although we made it illegal, continental Europe didn't.

Although cropping, which forces dogs ears to grow upwards, is unnecessary, the RSPCA has reported a dramatic 157 percent surge in cases in the past two years.

 Wow!

Although ear cropping was made illegal in England and Wales in 2007, some owners bypass the laws by importing dogs which have already been cropped. One company describing itself as the largest provider of cropped Dobermans in the UK charges between £2,000 and £3,000 for an imported puppy.

The sooner we are out of this corrupt organisation, the better.

Decision Day

Well, it's finally here:

And I ask only two things of you, readers. The first being, that you vote. Never mind the cynical 'Voting changes nothing!' or 'They are all the same!', this vote does count. This vote really, really matters. This vote will affect things for years to come.

So get out there, in the rain, if necessary. Make time. Go put your 'X' where you think it'll do the most good.

The second being, that you vote the way you'd planned to vote last Wednesday morning. Ignore the people telling you to vote this way, or that way, because the murder of an MP has 'changed the debate' and 'we have to make her death mean something'.

It hasn't. We don't. And - leave or remain - I can think of nothing more dangerous than allowing the idea that voters can be swayed by murder to take hold.

This will be today's only post.

"We Need A Strong European Union To Make Sure Everyone Watches EU-Based TV Shows..."

...said no-one, ever:

Guenther Oettinger, the EU commissioner for digital economy, said: 'We have a European film culture and we think European content should be in those programmes.'

Mr Oettinger said the Commission believed 'there should be a guaranteed share of those programmes,' and '20 per cent is a reasonable figure'.

Well, maybe this'll finally wake up the Millenials to the dangers posed by voting Remain.

The proposal still has to be approved by each EU nation's parliaments.

Not that that's going to be a problem, with Call-Me-Dave at the helm.

Ah, Those Benefits Of Free Movement Within The EU…

Non-English speaking Maria Araujo asked her husband Eduardo to help her deal with some documents, Bristol Crown Court heard.

In an argument that ensued she lashed out with a small kitchen knife and stabbed him in the upper inside of his thigh and calf.

And it’s not the first time she’s been in the dock for this…

The court heard the case had a protracted history and included a trial in April 2014 in which she was acquitted of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

Time she spent remanded in custody, and also being put on a curfew, meant she had served the equivalent of a ten months prison sentence, the court heard.

So, guess what? Yup, you guessed it!

The court first had to swear in a Portuguese interpreter for Araujo to enable her to understand proceedings.

What’s the Portuguese for ‘pussy pass’? We should ask that expensive court interpreter…

The recorder Mr Stephen Hall: "You attacked your husband with a knife. It is said you employed a device to get him to your home so you could attack him."

Clear premeditation, so why the soft sentencing?

Mr Hollier said the prosecution accepted a jury's finding that Araujo did not intend to cause the injuries, but she conceded she was reckless.

You lie in wait for someone you’ve lured to a place with a knife, and you don’t intend to cause injuries? But let me guess, she’s the real victim?

Mr Nelson, defending, said: "It is hard to argue that it does not pass the (custody) threshold.

"The injuries were serious at the hand of a knife.

"She has suffered a great deal from depression and she has found this whole process extremely difficult. The court will be pleased to hear that since proceedings there has been no issue between the parties. There's no contact."

OK, back to Excuse School for you!

You Cannot Have Your Cake And Eat It…

Alice’s family say they do not want their daughter’s death exploited by anti-immigration groups: “We believe in freedom of movement and human rights, as did Alice, and we repeat our request that her death not be appropriated by those with an anti-immigration agenda.

“We live in a multicultural and multifaith area, and our community has been extraordinary in its unity, sympathy, compassion and support for our family since our daughter was taken from us in this brutal and senseless way.”

Well, unfortunately, every policy has good and bad – multiculturalism, immigration and the EU’s freedom of movement bring with them good things (your neighbours) and bad things (your daughter’s killer).

It’s impossible to have one without the other.

The Gross family are being supported by the civil rights group Liberty.

Emma Norton, a solicitor for Liberty, said: “This government wants to monitor all emails or mobile phones, but does not want to know if someone has a murder conviction. A murder conviction is something the authorities ought to know about.

“The state has a positive obligation to protect people from a known risk, in this case someone who was a violent offender.”

Someone who had murdered his wife. Does that make him a known risk to schoolgirls unknown to him? I’m not convinced.

Even if the authorities had possessed that information, what are they suggesting might have been done with it that would have prevented this murder, of a complete stranger, that wouldn’t have breached his right to free movement within the EU member states?

Norton added: “What happened to Alice appears to have come about, in part, because the authorities knew nothing about this man. Alice’s family want to know why this was the case. Did an information-sharing system break down? Does it even exist? Whatever the answer, they want to do something about it.”

But yet they want that ‘something’ to be immigration-friendly. And I think that’s a circle they just can’t square.

This Is Why London Can’t Have Nice Things…

Rough sleepers have sparked outrage by camping at the 7/7 memorial and turning the plaque inscribed with the names of the 52 victims into a dinner table.

The memorial site in Hyde Park is also being treated as a makeshift toilet by the homeless eastern European group, triggering anger among survivors of the 2005 terrorist attack on London.

Yup, and it’s not just memorials - they are even defacing London’s newest and most impressive work of art.

One can only hope it smites them, since the authorities are proving woefully lacking in ideas for a resolution of this situation:

Cllr Nickie Aiken, Westminster City Council’s cabinet member for public protection, said: “All memorials should be treated with sensitivity and respect, but this one even more so with the tenth anniversary of the London terror attacks just a few days away.

“I was appalled when I saw the photographs. As soon as we knew about the problems, the council notified Royal Parks Police and Immigration Enforcement officers, bringing together the right agencies to address the issue as soon as possible.”

And they’ll move them on. And another bunch will take their place. And the merry-go-round will keep on going, until we pull out of the damned EU…

Aren’t You Sick Of Crying ‘Wolf!’..?

Despite condemnation from Germany’s political leaders, anti-immigrant xenophobia plunged to new depths today with …

Public crucifixion of asylum seekers?

…. disclosures that a Dresden hotelier had been forced to abandon plans to open an asylum-seeker hostel after being mobbed on the internet and seeing his property daubed with racist graffiti.

Oh. Is that all? Is there more?

There were also reports that a 20-year-old asylum-seeker from Eritrea found dead in the back yard of a Dresden housing estate last Monday may have been murdered.

And I guess that could only have been carried out by Nazibigotthugs stirred up by Pegida fever, right? It’s totally unheard of for asylum seekers to ever kill one another…

… the owner of the city’s Prinz Eugen hotel had planned to convert his property into accommodation for 94 asylum-seekers but had dropped the idea after angry protests.

“The hotel owner made the surprise decision to withdraw,” a statement from the city government said.

“He said he did so because of massive opposition from residents.”

It was reported that some 5,700 people had signed an internet petition opposing the asylum hostel project, claiming that it was “pre-destined for conflict” .

Funny, we have protests against hostels and other dumping grounds all the time without someone pushing the ‘racism!’ panic button. I appreciate they have certain…. issues…. in Germany, but really, should locals just have to put up and shut up without voicing an opinion on the transformation of their country?

The Greens say ‘Yes’:

. “It sends the wrong message when a responsible citizen backs down like this because of pressure and fear,” said Jens Hoffsommer, a Green Party spokesman.

Does it indeed? Some might say that it’s about listening to those affected by the consequences of your soft-heartedness. Something you are often personally unaffected by.

But hey, if it’s just a small minority of Nazibigotthugs, what have you got to worry about?

There have been conflicting accounts about the attitudes and backgrounds of Pegida’s supporters. They are said to include both convinced neo-Nazis and impoverished pensioners who feel that they are the losers of Germany’s 1990 reunification.

However, a study conducted by Dresden’s Technical University concluded, alarmingly, that the average Pegida protester was well-educated and middle-class. They attended protests because they were “dissatisfied with politics” , according to the study.

And why the ‘alarmingly’ there? Because that makes it much, much harder to deal with than if they are simply Nazibigotthugs, perhaps?

Chancellor Merkel and the political mainstream remain bound by conviction and Europe’s 20th-century past to declare that Germany should provide asylum for refugees in need.

The past is just that – the past. Europe needs to look to the future. Or risk worse than just graffiti.

And If That Doesn't Suit, There's The Other Option...

'You are offered a place and there are currently no places in southern Sweden,' Swedish Migration Board's Pierre Karatzian told Expressen.

'These are the places on offer, or you have an opportunity to sort out accommodation on your own.'

...which is to sod off back where you came from.

The Government Has Top Men On It. Top... Men...

Householders will have to wait another 16 months for an emergency power cuts helpline promised almost a year ago, Labour revealed on Saturday.

 I think someone needs to explain the definition of 'emergency'...

Thousands of people faced power cuts last winter as a result of severe storms and flooding that affected large parts of the UK in December and January.

One problem the crisis highlighted was the absence of a single emergency number for customers to use if they want to find out how long power cuts will last, regardless of where they live or which energy company is involved.

Following a meeting with power companies in January, Ed Davey, the energy secretary, announced the government would look into setting up such a helpline.

 It seems like a relatively simple thing to do, doesn't it?

“It is totally unacceptable that a year after they promised to set up a 999-style blackout hotline there is still no number for households to call – and at the current rate there won’t be one next winter either,”

Flint said. “It only takes three years to build a power station, so there’s no reason why it should take so long to get a helpline up and running.”

 Well, quite. So why the hold up?

A spokesman for the Department of Energy and Climate Change said the ENA was in the lead on this issue and that setting up a three-digit helpline took time because it involved negotiating with the EU.

 What..?! Why? I mean, for the love of God, what business is it of the EU? Must they have a finger in every pie?

An ENA spokesman said it had always intended an April 2016 launch and this two-year process compared favourably with the nine years it took to set up non-emergency numbers for the police and NHS.

 *speechless*

Why Doesn’t Someone Just Point Them To The ‘Guardian’ HQ?

One middle-aged woman, who would not give her name, said: “We are from Romania. We are in the European Union. We need help with a house. Give us a house and we won’t be here.”

You won’t be ‘here’ in Park Lane, no, but you’ll be ‘here’ in the UK forever!

Hakan Altay, whose Park Lane salon overlooks Marble Arch, said a quarter of his clients had taken their custom elsewhere because of the camp, costing him “tens of thousands”.

He said: “My business has been killed by them. When I ask them to leave, they just shout. They don’t understand. They sleep outside the shop and make my property smell of urine. They go to the toilet where they like.”

Mr Altay said the group was ruled by one or two members:

“They work with a leader who controls everything. Two Saturdays ago, there were 20 people sleeping outside my salon and the leader moved them into the subway.”

He has pleaded with the police and the council to remove the group but it has come to nothing, he said.

Of course it has. Their hands are (mostly) tied.

Nickie Aiken (Ed: Yes, the name should ring a bell), the council’s cabinet member for community protection, said the legislative powers available “allow some EU nationals to exploit a three-month window to stay here without making a positive contribution to London life."

More votes for UKIP, methinks!