Cllr. Gavin Ayling

I have just one question: what’s in it for them?

The EU’s only good feature is freedom of movement of people. How must the negotiations sound to Bulgarians now?

“You can join the EU!”
“Oh great, what are the benefits?”
“Freedom of movement of people; unfortunately there’s loads of expensive regulation and bureaucracy but you get freedom of movement.”
“Excellent, when can we join?” replied the Bulgar.
“1st January 2006 — oh, but you won’t be able to move around freely within the EU.”
“So, could you list those benefits again please?” (warily)

etc.

There once was a time that whenever Shami Chakrabarti would come on TV I would get all angry and criticise (often out-loud) her lefty position and crime-complicit attitudes.

So something’s changed. Either I’ve moved to the left (let’s forget my comments about water shall we — I know I was wrong!) or Ms Chakrabarti has moved to the right, or just stopped being wrong.

I don’t know which it is, but I am happier as a result. I suspect she’s moved to the liberal side of Labour which is what is making her seem more reasonable. That Liberty is helping motorists in the European Court of Human Rights (not an EU court) against the UK government’s demands that people incriminate themselves just makes me like them even more.

Take a look at Shami’s response to the Danish cartoons and you will see a studied response that is just perfect.

This post has been written by Miss Anon and posted on her behalf:

It’s all very well for people to have a heated debate about the influx of Romanian, Bulgarian and Polish workers ‘invading’ this country but for years we’ve welcomed Australian students, travellers and workers giving them two year Visas; we’ve allowed French, Italian, Spanish and Dutch people to work in this country without ever thinking that they are different. That these countries have been in the EU for a long time has meant that we never consider their movements here an issue.

Can we really tell how many French immigrants have come to this country knowing they have a home in both countries. Are we concerned, really, that some people have their cars registered in France and are effectively immune from parking tickets over here? I would say no.

Yesterday the Daily Express wrote an inflamatory article about the price of cheap flights from eastern Europe with an indignant tone… The cost of flights from Romania and Bulgaria will be £8 from when they join on the low cost operator, Wizzair. But why the uproar? We’ve had these low cost airlines from Spain, Portugal, Italy, etc for years. Why don’t we have a similar debate about Spaniards or Greek students? All these people use our NHS, for example and students don’t need to pay for healthcare.

Could it be that there is debate because we think of eastern Europeans as slavs; do we think that they are somehow more dangerous or nasty than people from southern Europe? If we’re going to have an EU where people are able to move freely around, then they should be allowed to move freely around — otherwise what’s the point?
Miss Anon