Hast du einen Opa, schick' ihn nach Europa...

If you have a Grandfather send him to the European Parliament! A famous quote from the beginnings of the European Parliament. Fortunately, we've come a long way since. If you look at the candidates that are standing up for the elections this time - at least in Germany - they are no longer long-term politicians sent to Brussels by their parties where they can do the least damage. Quite a number are of younger age (says a best ager) and Mausi gets the impression they are increasingly warming to the idea of a united Europe.

And it is not anymore that Brussels is as far away from all of us as it seems. Legislation from Brussels affects each of us in our daily life. The European Parliament has been gaining power over the years and it is the only European institution that is democratically elected. So we really should make use of our right to vote for our Parliament.

Sadly polls for the European Parliament are traditionally low and often depend to quite a certain extent on the weather. As elections in Germany are always on a Sunday, good weather means people are more likely to stop at a polling station while take a stroll with the family in the afternoon or on their way back from church. Today it is raining in Germany and estimates are that the poll will be around 40% as in 2004. Another thing is, of course, that people are losing confidence in the politicians' ability to really solve any kind of problem. People's voting behaviour in the European elections always reflects the actual political drama in the respective countries. In Germany, with the next elections coming up at the end of this year, politicians are falling over themselves spending the taxpayers' money in an effort to counter the aftermath of the global economical crisis and to save workplaces. All they seem to achieve, though, is doctoring the symptoms without getting to the root of the problem.

Anyhow, Mausi hopes that many Europeans will exercise their privilege to vote today so that the European Parliament will one day really speak for the majority of the European citizens.

Remembering the fallen

D-Day marks the beginning of the end of World War 2. It also marks the start of a campaign which cost an enormous number of lives on both sides as the Allied troops fought their way ashore to begin the task of freeing Europe from the poisonous grasp of Hitler and his evil henchmen. Few could suspect that it would also mark the start of a slow creep toward socialism, the very thing that the so-called Fascist regimes were a response too.

Our present socialist Masters would dearly like to sweep all this under the carpet. They loathe the military and all that the military stand for. They whinge and whine about the cost of our defence and would far rather see it wasted on turning us into a communist state - after all they spent the last sixty years telling us what a paradise the Soviet system had created. Until it was all exposed as a sham of course. After an embarrassing expose in the middle of all the other embarrassment this bunch of socialist troughers have created, the absence of an invitation to the Queen to send a representative was exposed by President Obama's attendance with the French President in tow. We would have been represented at the 65th Anniversary of the D-Day landings, not by our Head of State, but by that closet Communist and totally unelectable troll who infests Number 10. At the last minute said troll realised the gaff he had created - and now he will 'accompany' the Prince of Wales who will represent the Queen.

Why the embarrassment? Because Labour (Nu or Old) "forgot" to ask Her Majesty to send someone to France for this occassion and had already decided they weren't going to mark it at all. Until the Service organisations got hold of it and our European partners expressed surprise. So our Head of State will be represented by a man we don't want there, a man who, if he had his way, would close down our Navy, Army and Airforce and steer us straight into a soviet style "paradise", no doubt run by himself and his cronies in perpetuity.

I sincerely hope that everyone else on this island makes their feelings known to Labour and their treasonous hangers-on and joins me in marking this occassion with flags and a mark of remembrance and thanks for those who did go ashore that day, some of whom are still there.

A minute of silence please at 0600.

Good bye Gordon the Brown?

The government seems to be suffering a spate of resignations from the Cabinet and several are now calling, albeit soto voce, for Gordon Brown to go. The election last night has seen a meltdown in the Labour vote, mind you, this is probably due to the fact that a lot of voters in the UK simply do not vote in European or Local elections. They don't see any point, Strasbourg is just another "club" with expensive tastes frequently involved in passing laws which impact of us in the UK adversely and to the advantage of everyone except us after Whitehall have finished looking after their interests and its too remote anyway - and local elections authorities are just paper tigers, with no real powers, doing the bidding of the Whitehall W*nk*rs.

The interesting thing is the parade of Labour Ministers and spokespersons (Since 1997 and Blair you can't say Spokeman!)who are lining up to tell us that their bad showing and all the country's ills are the fault of the Conservatives - or that throwing this incompetent shower of Labour luvvies into the Thames will somehow make the whole country fall apart. A sure sign that they are out of ideas, out of luck and utterly beyond redemption.

As Cromwell told the Members of the Regicidal Parliament whose utter incometence and self interest was threatening his Presbyterian Utopia with collapse - "For too long you have despoiled this house! In the Name of God - GO!"

Election fever.....

Went to vote in the Euro Election early this morning and found myself confronted by a ballot paper that was around eighteen inches (OK, for the EU's sake - 500mm) in length. Several of the parties listed I have never heard of or even have the faintest idea what they are standing for/on/against. Anyway, I made my cross on that one and on a separate ballot for the County Council.

Frankly, I don't much care who wins what - as long as NuLabour/Old Labour Gordon Brown and the rest of them are kicked into the long grass and never allowed back.

The news from the government isn't good - for them at any rate - their defence of the monumental mess they have made over the last twelve years is to claim "it will be much worse if you let the Tories rule again." Difficult to see how. And as for Lord Mandelson, the original sleaze artist in this government of Sleaze Artists, evading questions and constantly blaming the Tories for what he and his Party have ruined, well, the Anglo-Saxon for "Take French Leave" springs to mind.

Interestingly, the ballot paper today appeared to have been arranged in Alphabetical order. No problem with that except that the BNP is top of the list. Speaking of which, the campaign to brand this party as "Fascist" and from several quarters to outlaw membership of it by police, firemen, etc., is almost enough to persuade me to vote for them. I haven't, so relax, but the right to freedom of speech and expression means that however much I disagree with anything they say or stand for - I must allow it to be said. Sadly a principle that Gordon and the Labour Party have forgotten or decided it only applies to those things they approve of.

Thought for the day

The Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875) is world famous for his fairy tales - including The Tinderbox, The Little Mermaid, The Red Shoes, The Princess and the Pea, The Ugly Duckling, The Emperor's New Clothes and The Snow Queen, but his plays, novels, poems and travel books are unknown outside Denmark . Like Joseph Stalin, he was the son of a cobbler and a washerwoman.

Quote for the day:

“Every man's life is a fairy tale written by God's fingers.” HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN

Dungeon Masters ....

Is not something I have ever played and probably never will, but justr occassionally something pops out of something like that and I liked this quote -

Meddle not in the affairs of Dragons, for thou art crunchy and good with ketchup…

My kind of dragon. As another poster on the forum in which I found that one says -

“Si non calorem tolerare potetas, non draconem titillas!!”

Which looks like good advice to me.

Have you ever wondered ....

There is a lot of fun to be had if you have a smattering of Latin and can translate some of the mottos you encounter on coats of arms, particularly the more recent ones. I was reminded of this when someone asked recently what the motto of Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft meant. I had to admit that I had never actually looked at it so I had to go digging and found -

Draco dormiens nunquam titilandus.

Well, I only did Latin at school for six months and have regretted not doing it for longer ever since. So out came the dictionary (Latin/English) and a few other reference books. I could, of course, have Googled it, but my way was more challenging. Anyway it translates as -

Never tickle a sleeping dragon.

Which put me in mind of my old school motto which was the subject of endless speculation -

Palma virtuti. which, as boys, we were told meant the "Palms to the virtuous" or "Palm of virtue" neither of which seemed particularly inspiring, so it was refreshing to hear a speech to a reunion some years after I had finished school by the then holder of the title from which the school took its name that it was actually a dig at the first Earl by the College of Heralds and was translated by the family as "The virtuous Palmer".

Some of the funnier ones of course come from Pratchett's Discworld novels and my favourite is the arms of the Watch which reads -

Fabricate diem, Punc

There is probably no need to translate that! But if there is, think, Dirty Harry.

Then there is the Unseen University, modelled on Oxbridge of course, and whose motto is -

Nunc id vides; Nunc ne vides

It even looks like the Oxford University emblem. Except for the motto.....

But my personal favourite was the one adopted unofficially by my officers and men at our very busy fire station, one which covered a huge area packed with industrial plants and hazards and low end social housing - and I mean low end.

Sumus semper in excretum, sed alta variat.

Summed us up rather well I thought, and nothing much has changed since.