Old Holborn again speaks for the many

It also mourns the "shift away from the state news radio and TV stations" - apparently "this means the quality of debate has suffered".
But the strongest language and darkest fears are reserved for the realm of the internet with its message boards, blogs and independence.This realm is all the more dangerous in EU eyes, as we have seen before, because it communicates to many people, it is comparatively unregulated, it is comparatively independent of state or private media monopoly, and it is easy for people to do themselves.
"Blogging is also seen as an anti-establishment activity. Few Yes campaigners came out with forceful counter arguments or were inspired to do so. Because of the many different sources of No campaigners on the internet, classic rebuttals is [sic] made impossible," says the report - which makes no recommendations."Blog activity remains overwhelmingly negative."

The EU blog wars have begun. The Commission and Brussels institutions know it. The next battle between them and us, establishment and anti-establishment, official and unofficial is only a matter of time. What are they going to do about it? Is the EU ready? Are you ready?

So why do you think that ?

Telling people the truth about the EU is just so wrong, telling people what they are entitled to know  about the establishment is seen by the establishment as anti.

Well many people forget that over 80% of our law is now written in Brussels. That Brown or any other PM (looks like Cameroon soon), are working with their hands tied behind their backs, and find it impossible to do anything in our own national interest. Or are already bought and paid for to act in the EU's interest rather than ours.


Raedwald sums this up brilliantly

About the best commentary I've found this morning on Brown's attempted intervention in the housing market is from Simon Jenkins in the Grauniad. Simon repeats the call for the government to scrap HIPs that appears elsewhere:

At the same time Gordon Brown should have cleared some of the bureaucratic clutter that now infests house purchase. Chief is the home improvement pack, a costly and redundant gimmick from a former housing minister, Yvette Cooper (now at the Treasury) eager to meddle. It has merely imposed another transaction tax on house purchase.

The fact that the energy performance certificate at the heart of the HIP is an EU and not a government requirement - blogged by EU Referendum on 1/9 - tends not to get a mention in the press.

The cost of HIPS though is a drop in the ocean compared with the total costs of EU membership; an analysis by Civitas in 2004 suggested a likely net cost of £40bn a year to the UK economy.

The costs of domestic red tape, including the 'gold plating' of EU directives, has been an increasing burden on business during Labour's tenure. Where two or three civil servants are gathered together, the first thing they do is to develop a form for someone to fill in. Regulatory costs will only be trimmed with a freeze on all non-critical public sector recruitment.

The OECD's highlighting of the UK as the only one of the G7 to face recession this year highlights the end result of a decade of Labour's economic mismanagement:

This concerns me less than other factors. The opportunity for a bit of hysteresis in the productive economy is overdue. Not having an economy locked into ECB rules gives us a bit more freedom to react to our own advantage, unlike Spain, Ireland and Denmark (ERM II), also suffering badly from a housing downturn. All we need is a Conservative government.

It is thought that late 2009 is the earliest possible date for a second Irish referendum on the Lisbon constitution treaty, but serious consideration is being given to ways in which Ireland can ratify the constitution without another referendum. Our hope still remains in holding a Cameron government to his referendum commitment before all EU states have ratified. The collapse of Brown's government and an election as soon as possible may not be Cameron's first choice, but it's certainly mine.

Our economic woes may be filling the front pages, but the real problem remains 'Europe'.