A sunny day in the Polish capital. As always, I marvel at the indomitable will that rebuilt this city from the utter ruin that the Nazis left. However, it is fair to say that the current political climate is less certain.
The provincial and insular politicians who currently form the bulk of the ruling PiS have now been joined by the Catholic Jihad faction ot the LPR-League of Polish families- although League of the Adams family might actually be more accurate. Meanwhile the cynical and aggressive Andrzej Lepper's "Self Defence" is in the unusual position of actually looking sophisticated- at least compared to the larger PiS. When you consider that Self Defence is trawling in the same waters as the BNP, this may give you a sense of how bad the current government looks.
Naturally, I am delighted that David Cameron regards these potato heads as his natural allies- he is trying to form a new alliance in the European Parliament to embrace the prickly Czech ODS and the naive and wooly PiS. Well, frankly: "Good Luck Mate!" the only thing that the PiS have going for them is that they are not outrageous crooks. This is good, but otherwise they have little to offer. Many of my friends shake their heads, when we talk of politics: " No, you see, we have been reduced to being a banana republic- only without the bananas". Well, no- it is not quite that bad, but the idea that the PiS are worthy partner for the Tories is... interesting.
I'll tell you what- if Cameron does go through with it, if I were a Conservative MEP, I would quit without a second glance, because it would simply show that Cameron himself is as ignorant and naive as the PiS, and yes they therefore do deserve each other. However there really does come a point when you have to stand up for something, instead of actually being negative. Since the Cameron bandwagon got going, we are encouraged to ignore the fact that either he believes nothing or that he has some kind of secret (but rather unpleasant) agenda- the electorate really are entitled to know which it is, before they sit in judgment.
Another interesting theme, in this most Catholic of countries, is speculation in the local press about Tony Blair being a Catholic. Personally- as a Protestant- I think that he already is. Therefore speculation that he will announce his conversion on leaving office, is frankly irrelevant. Neither, by the way should it matter. Except for the law,of course- but even in this most personal and private matter, Tony Blair has never met a law that he did not prefer to bend or break, rather than actually abolish- and this is the cause of the failure of his leadership.
Liberals believe that we already have too many laws- Mr. Blair's response to every crisis is to make new laws. One thing that Liberal Democrats might offer to the electorate next time is the abolition of restrictions on Catholics in high office- something that Blair himself has been too cowardly to enact.
The provincial and insular politicians who currently form the bulk of the ruling PiS have now been joined by the Catholic Jihad faction ot the LPR-League of Polish families- although League of the Adams family might actually be more accurate. Meanwhile the cynical and aggressive Andrzej Lepper's "Self Defence" is in the unusual position of actually looking sophisticated- at least compared to the larger PiS. When you consider that Self Defence is trawling in the same waters as the BNP, this may give you a sense of how bad the current government looks.
Naturally, I am delighted that David Cameron regards these potato heads as his natural allies- he is trying to form a new alliance in the European Parliament to embrace the prickly Czech ODS and the naive and wooly PiS. Well, frankly: "Good Luck Mate!" the only thing that the PiS have going for them is that they are not outrageous crooks. This is good, but otherwise they have little to offer. Many of my friends shake their heads, when we talk of politics: " No, you see, we have been reduced to being a banana republic- only without the bananas". Well, no- it is not quite that bad, but the idea that the PiS are worthy partner for the Tories is... interesting.
I'll tell you what- if Cameron does go through with it, if I were a Conservative MEP, I would quit without a second glance, because it would simply show that Cameron himself is as ignorant and naive as the PiS, and yes they therefore do deserve each other. However there really does come a point when you have to stand up for something, instead of actually being negative. Since the Cameron bandwagon got going, we are encouraged to ignore the fact that either he believes nothing or that he has some kind of secret (but rather unpleasant) agenda- the electorate really are entitled to know which it is, before they sit in judgment.
Another interesting theme, in this most Catholic of countries, is speculation in the local press about Tony Blair being a Catholic. Personally- as a Protestant- I think that he already is. Therefore speculation that he will announce his conversion on leaving office, is frankly irrelevant. Neither, by the way should it matter. Except for the law,of course- but even in this most personal and private matter, Tony Blair has never met a law that he did not prefer to bend or break, rather than actually abolish- and this is the cause of the failure of his leadership.
Liberals believe that we already have too many laws- Mr. Blair's response to every crisis is to make new laws. One thing that Liberal Democrats might offer to the electorate next time is the abolition of restrictions on Catholics in high office- something that Blair himself has been too cowardly to enact.
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