Malcolm Blair-Robinson's Blog, page 166
June 5, 2015
Rudolf Hess: Nazi Era Intrigue
GREAT VALUE. BUY NOW!
Download .99p Paperback £5.99 UK US
Rudolf Hess, Hitler’s deputy and right hand man, flew to Scotland on a mysterious peace mission in 1941, which has never been convincingly explained, to meet unidentified politicians who wanted to end the war. The truth has been covered up for generations because to reveal it would somehow undermine the honour and constitutional fabric of the United Kingdom. Who was plotting against Churchill? What were the peace terms on offer? What happened to Hess? Was he killed in the War? Was the prisoner in Spandau a double?
There are many questions to which in the modern day one man, Saul Benedict has all the answers, because his parents were players in the drama involving Churchill, Hitler, leading politicians and an important Royal. Saul is an author and declares his intention to write a book to reveal all, but he is shot dead, apparently accidentally by a poacher. But was it an accident? Rick Coleman an investigative journalist determines to find out and in doing so to uncover the mystery.
Taking place in the modern day but with flashback chapters which gradually unfold the hidden secrets, the novel is a fast moving and compelling read based on the family knowledge of the author whose parents had connections to both Hess and Hitler and to British Intelligence.
Has Greece Defaulted?
Technically no, because it has invoked a concession which allows several payments due in a month to be bundled together and paid at the end. So the Greek saga of crisis in its relations with its creditors and members of the Eurozone which, like a can, has been kicked down the road for as long as most people can remember, will carry on being kicked until the end of June. What then? Another fudge and more kicking?
Sooner or later this fiasco will have to stop. Because Greece is in default, it has not paid and it cannot pay without borrowing more to pay with. The whole idea of capitalism is that people, businesses, countries, and before long even regions must be able to collapse financially and start again; a process in which over generous or greedy lenders lose big time as well as the borrowers, but which allows everyone to acknowledge that the sums are out of control, impossible to balance and cannot be reconciled. Bankers know when the end has come and stop lending, but loan sharks go on lending way past the point at which repayment is a realistic prospect. Greece’s creditors are now lending themselves money via lending to Greece, so as to conceal the losses which are there and real and which have to be faced and written off.
Whatever the faults of the Greeks and there are many, from lousy lying governments, to full state pensions from early middle age, through to the notion that paying taxes is for fools, all of which have brought Greece to this pass. But the real cause is the Euro itself, because to suppose that one currency at one value could work for differing economies as diverse as those of Germany and Greece was to imagine that elephants, pigs and everything pink would fly on a wishful thought. They don’t and they never will.
Either Greece is kept in the Euro by writing down its debts to a manageable level, about 25% of their current total, and rebooting its economy with new printed Euros, not loans, or Greece leaves the Euro, prints its own drachmas and makes a fresh start on its own as the cheapest place in the EU for holidays, property investment, manufacturing and everything else you might want to do among an engaging people in the hot Aegean sun.
June 4, 2015
Dynamic Quantitative Easing: What Is It?
An idea to stimulate economic growth without further government 
borrowing. Written in plain English and very easy to follow, this is the only really fresh approach out there to the intractable problems of the UK economy, and it is just beginning to be noticed in important places. Buy! Download only .99p Paperback £2.99
A Troubled Parliament?
The first impression of this new parliament is not one of a government honeymoon following the Tory victory, but of troubles piling up. There is increasing worry across party lines about growing inequality without anyone appearing to have a convincing answer; there is uncertainty about the negotiations with the EU; there is uncertainty about the Union and how it is going to work and what will happen about English votes; there is concern about the ultimate legality of the proposed Bill of Rights, the sale of Social Housing to tenants and now it seems the changes to the government’s powers to, via the security services, snoop on private communications in the interests of national security which is being challenged in the courts. And not by some libertarian fruitcake either, but by two very highly respected M.Ps. Well now, what do we make of that?
And then there are those cuts about which the government will sooner or later have to come clean.
June 2, 2015
Sturgeon Speaks In Brussels
The new politics of a UK of nations joined but not muzzled was in evidence yesterday when Nicola Sturgeon made a speech in Brussels setting out Scotland’s view. This is fundamentally different to Cameron’s message, in the principle that the government is Eurosceptic but willing to stay if the terms are right, whereas Scotland is pro-Europe, and has no plans to leave, but would like a few changes to make things better for everyone.
No guesses as to who will soon be the darling of the EU. Sturgeon also said that there should be a voting majority to leave in each of the UK nations separately, for an exit to take place. This will have come as music to the ears of her audience who will know that such a requirement makes a UK exit all but impossible. This clever lady, a political strategist with few equals and none in these islands, knows that once the idea is put forward, it becomes impossible politically for England to use its majority to steamroller Scotland out of the EU.
Instead it would push Scotland out of the UK.
Greece: Tension Rises.
The Greek government appears to be standing firm, knowing that it has conceded all it can to EU negotiators; any more would risk riots and overthrow from an angry people to whom it promised an end to their vassal status as a busted nation, gripped in servitude by never ending austerity. There are signs that Germany may be just about to blink. It has got the message that not to do so makes a Greek default certain. The heads of both the ECB and the IMF have rushed to Berlin for talks. At the centre of it all sits the unyielding but pragmatic leader of Europe, Angela Merkel. She believes in the diplomacy of small steps, so the Greeks can expect nothing major in the concession department. But there may be something. Will it be enough?
Dynamic Quantitative Easing Explained
An idea to stimulate economic growth without further government borrowing. Written in plain English and very easy to follow, this is the only really fresh approach out there to the intractable problems of the UK economy, and it is just beginning to be noticed in important places. Buy! Download only .99p Paperback £2.99
Charles Kennedy
Every now and again the British Isles produces a politician whose character marks them out as a voice to be heard because of their wisdom, rather than their office. Charles Kennedy was such a person, one whose view was sought and always counted. His sudden death has shocked the whole country; those in politics and the media feel the loss acutely. A multitude across the political spectrum valued his company and thought of him as a friend. To them all and especially to his family this Blog offers its heartfelt sympathy.
