Sunday, 10 August 2014
Alex Salmond has no tenable plan for currency, says expert | Better Together
Alex Salmond has no tenable plan for currency, says expert | Better Together
"The
only realistic way to avoid the above crises outcomes of Plans A and B is to
combine political union with remaining in the sterling zone. It is only with
political union and the fiscal sharing it allows that the sterling zone is a
credible currency arrangement for Scotland, and it is only by remaining with
the rest of the UK that such an arrangement can work.
only realistic way to avoid the above crises outcomes of Plans A and B is to
combine political union with remaining in the sterling zone. It is only with
political union and the fiscal sharing it allows that the sterling zone is a
credible currency arrangement for Scotland, and it is only by remaining with
the rest of the UK that such an arrangement can work.
By
sticking with his notion that that the sterling monetary union is absolutely
central to the economic well-being of Scotland, Mr Salmond is therefore
actually making the case for voting No in the referendum, because it is only be
staying part of the United Kingdom that the costs to both businesses and
households in terms of their day-to-day payments and transactions are minimized
and job stability, employment and economic growth are secured and maximized."
sticking with his notion that that the sterling monetary union is absolutely
central to the economic well-being of Scotland, Mr Salmond is therefore
actually making the case for voting No in the referendum, because it is only be
staying part of the United Kingdom that the costs to both businesses and
households in terms of their day-to-day payments and transactions are minimized
and job stability, employment and economic growth are secured and maximized."
An ill wind blows as the surge of turbines stirs fears of silent danger to our health, Daily Express
TENS
of thousands of Scots may be suffering from a hidden sickness epidemic caused
by wind farms, campaigners have warned.
The Sunday
Express can reveal that the Scottish Government has recently commissioned a
study into the potential ill effects of turbines at 10 sites across the
country.
More
than 33,500 families live within two miles of these 10 wind farms – which
represent just a fraction of the 2,300 turbines - already built north of the
Border.
Hundreds
of residents are now being asked to report back to Holyrood ministers about the
visual impacts, and effects of noise and shadow flickers from nearby wind
farms.
Campaigners
fear that many people do not realise they are suffering from ailments brought
on by infrasound – noise at such a low frequency that it cannot be heard but
can be felt.
One
such person is Andrew Vivers, an ex-Army captain who has suffered from
headaches, dizziness, tinnitus, raised blood pressure and disturbed sleep since
Ark Hill wind farm was built near his home in Glamis, Angus.
Mr
Vivers, who served almost 10 years in the military, said the authorities had so
far refused to accept the ill effects of infrasound despite it being a “known
military interrogation aid and weapon”.
He
said: “When white noise was disallowed they went on to infrasound. If it is
directed at you, you can feel your brain or your body vibrating. With wind
turbines, you don’t realise that is what’s
happening to you.
“It
is bonkers that infrasound low frequency noise monitoring is not included in
any environmental assessments. It should be mandatory before and after turbine
erection.”
Further
reading:
Scottish independence: FM stands firm on currency, The Scotsman, Updated
ALEX Salmond is standing his ground and
refusing to name a Plan B for Scotland’s currency after independence, despite
mounting criticism of his leadership and unprecedented pressure from his
opponents.
Amid growing unrest among his own supporters
and a slump in the polls, the First Minister is refusing to back down on his
policy, which will be given a final seal of approval by his hand-picked group
of economic advisers next week.
Last night there was no sign of the issue going
away when leaders of the three opposition parties at Holyrood wrote to Salmond
demanding that he sets out a Plan B, arguing that his proposal for a formal
currency union with the rest of the UK is “impossible”.
Labour, the Conservatives and the Liberal
Democrats have said an independent Scotland will not be entitled to insist on a
formal currency union – sharing the pound and the Bank of England with the rest
of the UK.
Salmond’s failure to deal with Alistair
Darling’s criticisms of his currency plans during last week’s STV televised
debate has led to discontent within the Yes movement and support for
independence falling in the polls.
His display has also encouraged the No campaign
to concentrate even more of its efforts on attacking his currency plans,
sensing a fatal flaw.
Further Reading here:
The
Five Tests for a Currency Union
“An
independent Scotland would keep the pound because it’s our currency and it
would be in the interests of the rest of the UK to agree to currency sharing.
But if the rest of the UK won’t agree, an independent Scotland would punish it
by repudiating its pro rata share of UK debt.
For
the avoidance of doubt, Scotland’s Finance Secretary John Swinney told BBC
Radio Scotland last week that failure to agree a currency union would “absolve
the Scots of a £120 billion share of UK debt, which translates into an annual
cost of £5bn a year”.
There
are other things into which this would “translate”, as Angus Armstrong of the
National Institute for Economic and Social Research pointed out last week. If
it is this easy to walk away from debt obligations, secessionist movements in
Europe would jump at the precedent. How might Scotland’s EU application stand
then?
Yes,
it would remove a hefty burden from our shoulders. But an independent country
that began life with debt repudiation would find it could not raise money in
international markets without lenders demanding substantially higher interest
rates. Scotland’s credit rating would be rock bottom.”
The
Fiscal sustainability of an independent Scotland
“Scottish politicians seem as unwilling as
Westminster to tell voters they must pay Scandinavian taxes if they genuinely
want a social democratic future…. Are the people of
Scotland genuinely willing to tax themselves towards social democracy?”
The cars with a certain 'je ne sais quoi' take to the track at Le Mans - French track hosts 2,500 Citroens, the ultimate Gallic vehicle.
Thousands of French car enthusiasts gathered
from around the world for an event to celebrate classic models produced by
automobile manufacturer Citroen.
These pictures show more than 200 2CVs during a
parade at 'Euro Citro 2014', on the circuit of Le Mans, western France, today.
In total, almost 2,500 Citroens took part in
the event, dedicated to French carmaker Citroen's fans and car owners.
When it was first manufactured in 1948, the
Citroen 2CV was launched to appeal to the large number of farmers in France.
Nicknamed the 'Tin Snail', it has now become a classic, known for being easy to
drive, cheap and simple to maintain.
Also on display are numerous Citroen DS,
manufactured from 1955 to 1975 and often named as the most beautiful car of all
time
When it was unveiled at the Paris Motor Show in
October 1955, 743 orders were taken in the first 15 minutes of the show and
order for the first day reached 12,000.
The event also featured a museum of exceptional
models from the company's earliest days and an auction of Citroen cars.
Citroen was one of the first mass-production
car companies outside America and was founded in 1919 by French industrialist
André-Gustave Citroen.
We can have the best of both worlds for Scotland | Better Together
We can have the best of both worlds for Scotland | Better Together
In just 40 days we will know the result of the referendum which has put everything but the constitution on hold for the past three years in Scottish politics.
The choice we face on 18 September is not new. We are all experiencing surely the longest political campaign in British history. So what do the remaining 40 days hold?
The so-called game-changers for the Yes campaign: the White Paper; the European elections; the Bannockburn anniversary; the Commonwealth Games; this past week’s debate have come and gone, and yet the game remains largely unchanged.
Increasingly the nationalist narrative seems reduced to claims that their “grassroots movement” will be the key to success despite all objective evidence suggesting this largely consists of a hardy band of activists posing for differing “twitpics” wherever the location, whatever the special interest: Academics for Indy on a Tuesday; Farmers for Yes on a Wednesday; the Radical Independence Campaign on a Thursday. Most recently Sir George Mathewson: perhaps Former RBS Chairmen for Yes. Their “Labour for Independence” group still seems, on inspection, to consist primarily of “SNP Councillors pretending to be Labour for Independence”.
A glorious, flag-waving defence of our kingdom’s union: Whisper it - Britain would be nothing without Scotland... and Scotland will be nothing if conceited Salmond’s in charge Daily Mail
Imagine yourself at a very smart dinner
party and the conversation gets round to the issue of Scottish independence.
Suppose people whose intelligence and thoughtfulness you’ve long respected,
such as Sir David Attenborough and historians Simon Schama and Professor Mary
Beard, said they thought that it was in the best interests of Scotland to
remain within the United Kingdom rather than going it alone in the world.
Then people who were at the top of
their professions, such as the former chiefs of the Defence Staff, Marshal of
the Air Force ‘Jock’ Stirrup, Lord Stirrup, and Field Marshal Charles Guthrie,
Lord Guthrie of Craigiebank, agreed with them, as did the former head of the
Royal Navy, Admiral Sir Alan West.
At the other end of the table, some of
the brainiest people in Europe, including Stephen Hawking and the former
Astronomer Royal, Martin Rees, Baron Rees of Ludlow, wholeheartedly agree.
Wouldn’t you listen very carefully to
what they have to say? Especially if historians of the calibre of Margaret
MacMillan and Tom Holland, intellectuals of the experience of Melvyn Bragg and
Joan Bakewell, actors of the quality of Sir Patrick Stewart and Dame Judi Dench
also weighed in, saying exactly the same thing?
Wouldn’t these views be at least worth considering very profoundly? Not
if you’re someone of the vanity and self-regard – or perhaps by now the sheer
desperation – of Alex Salmond.
The Yes campaign has sneered at the
opinions of some of the most profound thinkers and intellectuals of our day who
have just written a joint letter opposing Scottish independence, simply because
they were joined on the page by a number of TV celebrities, comedians and
social gadflies who were asked to join the 200-strong list.
Further Reading
Beyond
the Scottish Independence Question, Looking at a Greater Devolution in The
United Kingdom, A Perspective
"Economists warned that a debt default would wreck the country’s
reputation for fiscal responsibility."
Vicar of Baghdad: We need military action NOW Daily Mail
President said the speed of the Islamic State
advance was surprising, and there is no quick fix for the problem
But was definitive that U.S. would not be
dragged back into ground confrontations in the country
U.S.
military sources revealed that more strikes had been made against IS mortars
and convoys
I have just returned from a secret visit to Qaraqosh – once the largest Christian town in Iraq, but no longer.
I have just returned from a secret visit to Qaraqosh – once the largest Christian town in Iraq, but no longer.
Today, Qaraqosh stands 90 per cent
empty, desecrated by the gunmen of the fanatical Islamic State terror group now
in control. The majority of the town’s 50,000 people have fled, fearing that,
like other Christians in this region, they will be massacred.
The militants, in a further act of
sacrilege, have established their administrative posts in the abandoned
churches.
My visit, under the noses of the
gunmen, was frightening – but that is nothing to the terror of the poor souls
left behind.
Since I went to St George’s Anglican
church in Baghdad in 2003 – the only Anglican church in the city – I have seen
countless terrible things. Many of my congregation have been killed or
mutilated in the years of violence.
But I have never witnessed anything on
the scale, or which has affected me quite so dreadfully as on this visit to the
north of Iraq.
In the nearby city of Irbil, I found
many of those Christians who had fled. Some 30,000 refugees are packed into the
Kurdish capital, forming a new Christian suburb.
I spoke to one woman who had survived
the massacres in Qaraqosh. She had a bandaged left hand. When IS soldiers could
not remove her gold wedding ring, they had simply hacked off her finger. She
wept as she told me.
Comment
Please remember to prayer for Canon Andrew White and our fellow believers in Iraq, Today in the west we can go to Church in relative safety, but our fellow believers in Iraq are being attacked and murdered by Islamic fundamentalists because they're Christians.
Read more here:
Further Reading:
Saturday, 9 August 2014
'We have no plan B': Alex Salmond admits he has no back-up plan if an independent Scotland was not allowed to keep the pound. Daily Mail
First Minister made admission in an open
letter to voters in today's Sun
'It implies settling for second best', he
said, insisting Scots can keep pound
But his plan is contested by all three main
political parties in Westminster
Ed Miliband reveals he will campaign against
currency union in 2015 election
Alex Salmond has admitted there is no
acceptable 'Plan B' if an independent Scotland is barred from using the British
pound. The First Minister said dropping the pound 'implies settling for what's
second best' - but still insisted there will be a deal on a currency union with
the rest of the UK.
His admission came in an open letter to
voters setting out why he has not yielded to calls to disclose a back-up plan,
if his favoured option of sharing the pound and the Bank of England fails.
The letter, published in the Sun,
declared: 'It is revealing that our opponents in the No camp like to talk about
a "Plan B" on currency.
'It's revealing because it says it all
about what they think of Scotland.
'Plan B implies settling for what's
second best. And neither myself, my colleagues in the SNP, or the wider Yes
campaign will ever settle for second best for Scotland.
Further Reading and Insight
Drivers warned to brush up on new road tax rules or face £1,000 fine as the disc disappears from windscreens in October Daily Mail
End to practice whereby car sellers include
remaining tax in sale
Drivers will no longer need a tax disc from
October
Onus is on the seller to inform the DVLA of
ownership change
The tax disc with months left to run
has long been a handy money-saving perk when buying a used car, but new rules
will see that benefit axed from October when they vanish from our windscreens.
And motorists need to be aware of
impending tax disc changes or face a £1,000 fine as well as potential penalty
charges against a car they no longer own, experts warn.
Automatic number plate recognition
cameras enforcing road tax will end any tax disc is in the post excuses and
spell penalties for those who forget to renew, while those buying and selling
used cars will need to make doubly sure everything is done by the book.
The death of the tax disc has been well
documented. This is Money revealed the Government was plotting its demise back
in 2012 and the change was officially announced in last year’s Autumn
Statement.
Yet experts at hpicheck.com say many
drivers are likely to get caught out and now realise that the end of the tax
disc will also see a tightening of enforcement.
As Eritreans and Sudanese riot in Calais over the best spot to jump onto lorries bound for Britain, one mother of a little daughter says 'Nothing will stop us getting to your schools and hospitals!' Daily Mail
Wearing a clean dress and pink socks as she waits patiently to be smuggled across the Channel to England, Kidan Tedros is the youngest child at the Calais camp where African migrants armed with guns, flick-knives and iron bars rioted this week.
The four-year-old is sitting on a wall
by the refugee camp which is spread over sand dunes and the base for 1,300
Eritrean and Sudanese who try, night after night, to jump on lorries where they
can hide and be taken illegally on ferries sailing to Dover.
The little girl arrived in Calais three
weeks ago with her mother, Laula, 40, after travelling at least 3,200 miles
from Eritrea, a country in north-east Africa which is run by a ruthless
dictator. Terrified, they watched when this week’s riot broke out and French police
moved in to quell the violence and fired rubber bullets.
This mass exodus of desperate peoples
from war-ravaged, religiously divided and impoverished countries on the giant
continent — as well as Iran, Iraq, Syria and Egypt — poses a disturbing
immigration problem for Britain.
Of course, this isn’t a new issue. Twelve
years ago, our government agreed a deal with France to close the Sangatte
refugee camp in Calais because it had become a magnet for illegal immigrants.
Labour politicians promised the days of ‘soft touch’ Britain were over.
Yet as today’s Biblical scenes of human
suffering show, the problem is getting worse. Indeed, it has been compounded by
this week’s mischievous call by Calais’s deputy mayor for the refugees to be
given ferry tickets to Britain and for the scrapping of the arrangement under
which the UK’s border controls officially begin at Calais, rather than Dover.
This, he suggested, could happen for an
experimental month so that the UK Government might comprehend the pressure
Calais is under.
Cappuccino Communication - Knowledge is power (1/2)
·
John Glass,
General Superintendent - Elim Churches
Terror at luxury tower in Swansea where premiership stars live as armed police take down lone gunman who held man hostage during two-hour siege. Daily Mail
Officers used tasers to subdue gunman holding
victim hostage in penthouse
Man entered exclusive Grape & Olive
restaurant in Swansea at around 4pm
Residents trapped inside luxury flats of
29-story tower by armed police
Two-hour siege ended as Villarreal arrived at
the Marriot Hotel next door
South Wales Police say incident ended
peacefully and no one was injured
Armed police stormed the tallest
building in Wales yesterday ending a two-hour siege and freeing a hostage.
Officers used tasers to subdue a lone
gunman who had been holding his victim in the penthouse restaurant of The
Meridian Tower in Swansea, South Wales.
The drama began shortly after 4pm when
the man entered the exclusive Grape & Olive restaurant carrying a handgun.
Residents were trapped inside their
luxury flats in the 29-storey tower as armed police cordoned off the building
and evacuated diners from the top-floor restaurant.
Paramedics wearing protective clothing
and helmets were seen entering the tower around 5pm.
Police told around 60 locals who had
gathered to watch the siege to ‘move out of sight of the tower’ as the police
helicopter circled the upper floors.
The siege lasted for around two hours
while a police negotiator entered the tower alongside armed police and talked
to the gunman.
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