Letter: Britain like rich aunty
Tuesday 13th December 2011, 10:59AM GMT.
Can I comment on the so-called meetings to save ‘The euro’? Can I ask why we being treated so disrespectfully by Germany and particularly France?
Everyone says how important the European Union is to our financial well-being, but not enough coverage is being given to the fact of what the Europeans receive off us.
Am I the only one who thinks if they are in a mess now, they will be worse off without us and we would be better off.
Depending what you read the trade deficit is about 46 billion a year in their favour, on top of that they receive 20 billion a year of our taxes.
They like to spend money but prefer someone else to foot the bill.
I understand accountants refuse to sign off their budget.
They refuse to back their central bank to support the euro, but have given 200 billion to the International Monetary Fund, to distribute back to them, do they not trust their own bank?
It should be mentioned over 10 years that is the ‘Foreign Aid’ they get off us.
The term ‘Auntie Britain’ comes to mind.
Britain is being treated like the wealthy old aunt who is keeping the family finances afloat. For example: ‘Come in aunty, here is a cup of tea, sit down in the corner and be quiet while we discuss how we spend whatever money we manage to con out of you.’
It is perhaps time to remind the French president what happened to previous French leaders who became entangled with German leaders by mentioning ‘Blucher and Hitler’.
The present holder of the post is really no Napoleon but could become a Petain and be swallowed up.
Peter W. Breeze, Wellington
Related links:
Most Commented
- Shropshire Council will face £8m redundancy bill
- Clampdown on Shrewsbury chuggers
- Bishop's gay marriage views do nothing to support bible teachings
- Letter: Alcohol price plans annoy me
- Planners ordered to stay on Newport visit bus
- Letter: Angered by close encounter of the furred kind
- Letter: No sense in overseas job adverts
Shropshire Star on Twitter
Keep updated with the latest breaking news and content on our Twitter feed.
Lifestyle
Interactive Dining Out map
Hundreds of reviews by the Shropshire Star and Express & Star's teams to help you decide where to eat.
Entertainment
All the film reviews
Before you plan a trip to the pictures, get our critics' verdicts on all the latest movie releases.
OUR NEW APP
Get the new Shropshire Star app
Download the Shropshire Star’s new app to your iPad or iPhone to get one week of access to our digital newspapers absolutely FREE.
shropshirestar.com
Popular sections
Useful links
peter well said i really enjoyed reading your letter how true sooner we put europe right the better well done david cameron for showing sence while labour muppets jeer and sneer how dare they after ruening britain in the 13 years of waste they gave britain away id never ever vote lily livered liberal or muppet milliband
Report abuse
I couldn’t agree more. Britain would be far better out of the EEC. It’s been a disaster from day one. Now countries are going bankrupt left right and centre. Greece, Italy, Spain and Ireland to name but a few counrties in the EEC which are dire financial straits.
Without the EEC and it’s taxes the average Brit would be one of the best best of nations in the world, assuming the governmet passes the tax savings onto the tax savings onto the man in the street.
Report abuse
Very true. We are a net contributor and run a trade deficit with the EU. We also do significant trade with the rest of the world, which needs to increase as it’s a growing market, compared with the EU which is a shrinking market.
The eurocrisis was not fixed at the meeting. Cameron was right not to sign up to a deal which would wreck the financial sector (approx 10% of our GDP) so that the EU could syphon off the money to prop up the failed eurozone. Let us not forget that Cameron wanted greater regulation of the banks than the EU was proposing. EU regulation is a costly burden and a dead hand on enterprise. We would be much better off out.
Report abuse
Well said, couldnt agree more.
Report abuse
Eh?
Report abuse
‘Sence’? ‘Ruening’?
And you expect us to take your views on this seriously?
Good grief…
Report abuse
Indeed. I don’t know about ‘(labour muppets) ruening the country’ but vb parker is certainly ruining the English language.
Besides spelling, the full-stop and capital letter look like endangered species.
Report abuse
supercilious pedant
Report abuse
Quite correct Tiberius. V.B.Parker should expect a letter from The Shropshire Star containing a job offer in the very near future.
Report abuse
Peter, at least the writer made more sense than you….. if all you can do is critisize, what could be typing errors, then you need to be quiet, clearly you have nothing substantial to add…… shame.
Report abuse
Er… it’s ‘criticise’. And judging by the lack of punctuation in the rest of it, they weren’t typing errors.
Cameron vetoed nothing in the recent meeting. He simply took his ball home to pander to the Eurosceptic ‘Little Englanders’ on the Tory right, and to protect his wealthy friends in the City of London. None of us will enjoy lower
taxes because his friends are getting away without the financial transaction tax.
To leave the EU in the current global financial climate would be an act of suicide for Britain. Do you imagine for a moment that some of the large, globally-owned manufacturers would stay here – would Nissan, Toyota, JLR and others stay in the UK if they didn’t have preferential access to European markets?
All of our economies are at the mercy of the global bond trading market, which gambles on a daily basis with our livelihoods. The only scant protection we have from that is to be a part of a large trading block. To isolate us would be an act of sheer foolhardiness.
We have a much better debt to GDP ratio than many of those countries that are struggling in Europe – that’s the real comparative measure of our wealth. If it hadn’t been for having to dig the Tory banks out of a hole, the debt to GDP level at the change of government would have not been very much higher than that handed by John Major to Tony Blair back in ’97, and certainly not at an historically high level.
Come to that, even the level that was handed over was not an historically high one either, so the idea that this is Britain’s worst debt ever, is also untrue.
And unlike Major, and Thatcher before him, Labour invested in our schools and hospitals rather than in tax cuts of over 40% for the wealthiest in our nation. So the accusation by our not very literate friend that they ‘ruened’ the country is simply without foundation.
Substantial enough for you Irene?
Report abuse
Why have the Euro in the first place wasnt having their own currency better than having the Euro? Was they in a mess when they had their own currency? Go back to it if it works! Or is it just with the Euro all this mess? Why is standing ones ground such a problem? One cant please everyone can they?
Report abuse
The Euro was a political vehicle to aid further integration, it is not about economics but about building the power of the Union over its member states.
Report abuse
The euro is not one moneytary system for Europe, its away of each countries government to make money. If it is one currency why do I go to my neighbours in Italy, Germany and France and pay 3 different prices for the same thing, be like us and stay well clear.
John Cherrington Switzerland
ex Oswestry.
Report abuse
The term you’re searching for, casual reader, is ‘Germanophobia’.
Report abuse
20 years ago we had a much maligned at the time prime minister, john major. he went to maastricht and signed a treaty with several agreed op outs including opting uk out of the euro. well done sir john major. with the debt left by labour and britain in the euro we would be in a worse state than greece portugal and ireland put together.
if i was cameron i would call an election now, sadly the state of the economy may be against him.
one thing is certain, labour will never win an election with that black eyed susie in charge. compared to hilary benn and harriot harman, milliband is a pygmy!
Report abuse
You’re being a bit selective there though, Atcham Jack.
John Major also opted out of the social chapter, part of which was the minimum wage. Labour later signed up to that and now not even the Tories seem to want to ditch it. Nor does any right-thinking person, actually.
The other thing about Major, to give him credit, and Thatcher too, was that they were never ‘out of the room’. They cared about making constructive relationships with the other leaders.
Later, with the mandate Labour had, they could have started negotiations to join the Euro. It’s said Blair wanted to – but Brown wouldn’t have it.
This whole notion of the Tories as traditional sceptics and Labour as enthusiasts for all things EU is simplistic and misleading.
Report abuse
It’s also never been denied that, when Blair was interested in joining the Euro, he went to the offices of the Daily Phone-Hacker (The Sun if you prefer) to discuss the possibility. Needless to say, Murdoch’s cohorts laughed in his face.
So here was the UK’s elected leader effectively getting orders on policy from a multi-billionaire Australian-born citizen of the US. And they keep telling us the EU is anti-democratic.
Report abuse