Ordering an Indian takeaway with Peter Mandelson
Pietro's Hull speech (I'm sure he remembers the upper east coast of this great nation with enormous fondness...) has been published in full over at Babylon sur Senne, and as one would hope, there is much to mock, take issue with and so forth.
First port of call is this statement:
So, let us consider that I am interested in ordering an Indian takeaway to feed Peter, meself and some 25 other fortunate individuals.
Me: "I'll have the Achari lamb, please".
PM: "I'll have prawn madras, please".
Etc etc
Having agreed on rice, vegetable dishes etc, prawn madras emerges with a marginal majority - 14 in favour, and the remaining 13 opting for various other things. Peter declares that we will all have prawn madras, to which I rebut that I am allergic to seafood.
"Sorry Croydonian, you have traded a little power over your own decisions for influence over the actions of the group as a whole, so prawn madras it is".
Doubtless agreeing on splitting the bill would be even more delightful....
And another choice phrase:
"Varying degrees of small?". The UK is the world's fifth biggest economy, Germany third, France sixth, Italy seventh and Spain ninth. Germany outranks Beijing and Moscow, and Upper Volta with gas comes in at 11th, with an economy about one third that of Germany.
"A political heavyweight of the first order". Is your skin crawling yet?
More later, possibly.
First port of call is this statement:
"The reality is that the effective exercise of British sovereignty is not defined merely by the ability to say no. It is defined by the ability to shape an agenda that makes a difference to British citizens. At the heart of the EU, is a political bargain that says that it is worth trading a little power over our own decisions for influence over the actions of the Union as a whole. Not only because it gives us greater weight on these key issues, but because it is the often the only way we have any weight at all".
So, let us consider that I am interested in ordering an Indian takeaway to feed Peter, meself and some 25 other fortunate individuals.
Me: "I'll have the Achari lamb, please".
PM: "I'll have prawn madras, please".
Etc etc
Having agreed on rice, vegetable dishes etc, prawn madras emerges with a marginal majority - 14 in favour, and the remaining 13 opting for various other things. Peter declares that we will all have prawn madras, to which I rebut that I am allergic to seafood.
"Sorry Croydonian, you have traded a little power over your own decisions for influence over the actions of the group as a whole, so prawn madras it is".
Doubtless agreeing on splitting the bill would be even more delightful....
And another choice phrase:
"We in Europe often think in terms of large and small European countries. But viewed through the realities of power and influence in the twenty first century - viewed from Washington, or Beijing or Moscow - there are only varying degrees of small. Unless, that is, we speak as a Union, in which case we are the biggest exporter in the world, the world's biggest market, a leading voice on global issues, and when we get our act together, a political heavyweight of the first order.
"Varying degrees of small?". The UK is the world's fifth biggest economy, Germany third, France sixth, Italy seventh and Spain ninth. Germany outranks Beijing and Moscow, and Upper Volta with gas comes in at 11th, with an economy about one third that of Germany.
"A political heavyweight of the first order". Is your skin crawling yet?
More later, possibly.
Labels: EU fun and games
This entry was posted
on Monday, September 10, 2007 at 12:40 pm.
You can skip to the end and leave a response.
...a leading voice on global issues, and when we get our act together, a political heavyweight of the first order...
You can curry them, fry them or boil them but in the end, they're still sausages. And this sausage is cabal globalism and this rhetoric is more of the same from the a--eh--es. Yawn.
» Post a Comment