Thoughts from an active pensioner who is now somewhat past his Biblical "Use-by date"

"Why just be difficult, when with a little more effort you can be bloody impossible?"



Friday 18 November 2011

Neville Chamberlain or Winston Churchill?

David Cameron has gone off to Berlin today for talks about the EU and its finances with Angela Merkel.
I wonder if he is using Neville Chamberlain or Winston Churchill as his role model?


Will he decide to appease the Germans, and come back having acceded to their wishes waving the equivalent of Chamberlain's piece of  paper, "Peace in our Time"?
Or is this the point when he decides that "enough is enough" and decides to emulate Churchill  and make it clear exactly what he wants - unconditional surrender.

Today's papers seem to make Germany's position quite clear.
The Telegraph headlines "German attempt to derail UK poll" seems clear enough, with the on-line Telegraph giving details here.

The current on-line headline is "German finance minister predicts end of pound as PM meets Merkel".
Wolfgang Schäuble says all of EU will have a common currency  "sooner than people in the British Isles believe", as David Cameron arrives in Berlin for tense talks with Angela Merkel.
This is also reported in the Mail

Elsewhere the Telegraph reveals that, according to a leaked German government document. the Germans want "An intrusive European body with the power to take over the economies of struggling nations should be set up to tackle the eurozone crisis."
As in 1939, many of the other countries in the EU seem to have surrendered or are on the point of capitulation. I wonder how the people of the erstwhile eastern bloc countries are feeling, having rid themselves of their most recent oppressor only to find that their previous invader is now in charge? I wonder how the Danes and the Dutch feel about all this? One might expect Sweden to remain neutral as before and make a substantial profit out of the situation, and France will in due course get a new Vichy style government. Ireland, Spain and Portugal will continue to sit on their fences.

I hope that it will be the equivalent of this picture we see after Cameron's talks


But I fear that it will be the one at the top of the page.

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