Europe

[Tribesman]

Yeah, the only problem with keeping them out all year is ground conditions and time. Its a lot easier to fill the feeders in the shed than driving cross muddy fields in the dark.
But hey don't knock the idiots wanting lots of sheds they won't use, I really cleaned up on that
As for ragwort...lazy useless ********* nowadays , its absolutely everywhere.

[gaelic cowboy]

Yeah, the only problem with keeping them out all year is ground conditions and time. Its a lot easier to fill the feeders in the shed than driving cross muddy fields in the dark.
But hey don't knock the idiots wanting lots of sheds they won't use, I really cleaned up on that
As for ragwort...lazy useless ********* nowadays , its absolutely everywhere.

All true my galway friend were in a bit of a sweet spot locally for the farm but yes sometimes you do wonder if a slatted shed would be nicer

God Miriam is nice at twenty past one in the morning with a few pints on yethe real lisbon debate

[Furunculus]

[live from berlin] "back on topic people"

[Beskar]

I have to admit, we should really close this topic and open a new one just about the European Union, since it has been off-topic from "European Conservatives and Reformists Group springs into life " for 35 pages.

[Furunculus]

disagreed.

this is about the EU precisely because we are trying to define terms to describe how the ECR will make a difference in european politics (or not).

we need terms of reference to describe what the status quo has been up till now, then we shall be able to judge the impact (or not) of the ECR.

[Subotan]

Maybe we could just rename this to the "EU Thread".

[Furunculus]

the yanks are now getting their knickers in a twist over the Conservatives place in the ECR:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/news...in-Europe.html

Conservative Party facing US pressure over links with far-right parties in Europe
The Conservative Party is facing pressure from the Obama administration over its European policy and links with far-right parties from Latvia and Poland.

Published: 7:00AM BST 21 Oct 2009

William Hague, the Shadow Home Secretary, is to meet the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, in Washington on Wednesday amid outrage from the American Jewish community about the alleged antisemitic and neo-Nazi views of the Tory's European allies.

There is also concern in the US that David Cameron's Euroscepticism could damage the influence a Conservative government would have over events in the EU.

According to The Guardian newspaper, Mrs Clinton is facing calls from influential Jewish groups to challenge the Conservative Party's decision to enter a European parliament coalition with a Latvian party, some of whose members attend memorials for Latvian units of Hitler's Waffen-SS, and a Polish politician who has questioned the need to apologise for an anti-Jewish pogrom during the second world war.

Mr Cameron has ordered the Tories to leave the mainstream European People's party and form a new Eurosceptic caucus, the European Conservatives and Reformists, with mainly east European rightwingers, including Michal Kaminski, of Poland's Law and Justice party, and Roberts Zile's Latvian party, For Fatherland and Freedom.

"I think Churchill would turn in his grave. It is an insult to the tradition of this great party," George Schwab, president of the New York-based National Committee on American Foreign Policy and a Holocaust survivor from Latvia, told The Guardian.

A Conservative Party spokesman said Mr Hague would discuss Afghanistan, the Middle East, Iran and the Balkans, during the meeting with Mrs Clinton.

The Obama administration wants the British Government, its closest ally in Europe, at the heart of policy-making on the continent alongside Germany and France.

An American official, asked about the consequences for the US and about the far-right links, said: "I do not see any upsides in the new grouping. I can only see downsides. In life it is normally best to do things when they have an upside."

gee, sounds like confirmation of my earlier statement that the US wants a strong federated partner, and wants the UK firmly on the inside to ensure that strong partner is both:
1) strong
2) anglophile
as a friend of america; "tough nuts!"

[Tribesman]

gee, sounds like confirmation of my earlier statement that

...the tories have joined a bunch of fruitcakes

[Louis VI the Fat]

the yanks are now getting their knickers in a twist over the Conservatives place in the ECR:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/news...in-Europe.html


gee, sounds like confirmation of my earlier statement that the US wants a strong federated partner, and wants the UK firmly on the inside to ensure that strong partner is both:
1) strong
2) anglophile
as a friend of america; "tough nuts!"

Frankly, I do not think this is a confirmation of your earlier statements. Nor, indeed, of your very enthusiasm for the direction the Conservatives want to move Britain in, which is what this thread started about.

This is instead about America - to which you want to move Britain ever so closely - deploring the direction the British Conservatives have moved in. And worrying about the repercussions this will have for Anglo-American and Euro-American relations.


Edit: Ah, Tribes - now there's a man of efficient phrase.