European Union

Dispatch From Hampstead And Kilburn – Interview With Magnus Nielsen (UKIP)

Samuel Hooper1 Comment

 

UKIP candidate Magnus Nielsen is perhaps best known for his eyebrow-raising comments on Islam, proposing that mosques should only be able to hire imams from a government-approved register of non-extremist preachers. When interviewed prior to the candidate hustings on Thursday, Nielsen stated that he is in favour of peoples’ right to practice religion freely, so long as it does not “intervene on the human rights of other people”.

Nielsen also defended UKIP from what the party sees as media obsession with the misdeeds and wacky opinions of some of their “loose cannon” candidates, pointing out that “UKIP is the only party which will not allow you to become a member if you have been a member of the BNP. That is not true of the Labour Party”.

Interestingly, Magnus Nielsen did not have a ready position to take on TTIP, declining to say whether he was for or against the trade deal currently being negotiated between the European Union and the United States until he researched the issue further.

 

Click here for interviews with each of the 2015 candidates standing for election in Hampstead and Kilburn, and a summary of the recent hustings organised by West Hampstead Life.

Magnus Nielsen - UKIP - Hampstead and Kilburn - General Election 2015

The EU Still Wants To Control Foreign Policy And Create Its Own Army

Samuel Hooper3 Comments

Martin Schulz Joe Biden European Union Common Foreign Policy EU Army

 

“I appreciate that it is not easy to explain to people back home why we need to cooperate more closely at European level in such a sensitive field as defence and security policy. Protecting its citizens has traditionally been a key task of the nation State and therefore also one of the foundations of its legitimacy. But we cannot close our eyes to reality: the world has changed and we are existentially connected to that world. Nowadays we can only defend our citizens jointly” – Martin Schulz, 2013

 

Here’s a good rule of thumb: the more powerful and undemocratic the institution, the better it becomes at using weaponised public relations tools in order to present a softer, friendlier, less threatening – and entirely false – picture of themselves.

Thus the President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, spent Monday morning hosting a laid back online live-chat on Facebook, in which he fielded carefully-screened softball questions from members of the public. And sneaking back onto the radar during that live-chat today was the prospect of a common European foreign policy, and a European army to enforce it.

From the EU’s own press release today:

To questions concerning the recent proposal on a common European army, Schulz replied “we need a common foreign and security policy”, explaining that combined military capacities would be a way of reducing military spending in a time when “money is certainly needed elsewhere”.

Meanwhile, others in the European Parliament are making rumblings about moving toward “permanent structural co-operation” – meaning there will be no way back once the EU starts taking major steps as an independent actor on the world stage:

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UKIP Is Right To Eschew Arbitrary Immigration Targets

Samuel HooperLeave a comment

UKIP Immigration Target UK Border Control

 

The launch of UKIP’s immigration policy was always going to be a newsworthy event, especially when it became clear that Nigel Farage’s party was not going to walk into the trap of humiliating the Conservative Party by committing to an arbitrary (and ultimately unachievable) target for net migration.

Many openly antagonistic commentators and journalists are painting Nigel Farage’s refusal to set a precise immigration target as a political error or missed opportunity. But in reality, this pragmatic stance – and advocacy of an Australian-style points-based immigration system – suggests a maturing political party that understands both the constraints of government and the need to be honest with the people.

Writing in The Telegraph this week, Nigel Farage revealed:

People want to know more about Ukip’s policies. The issue of mass migration is one of the most important to British people, and as we aspire to hold the balance of power after the election, we have an obligation to set out our stall.

So let me say we believe that migration into the United Kingdom is too high. It’s affecting the NHS. It affects policing, school places, infrastructure, wages, and the make-up of local communities. This is why Ukip wants to see a Migration Control Commission – with a remit to bring down net immigration, while assuring the right number of highly skilled workers from across the globe are able to enter.

This body will be tasked with establishing and controlling the Australian-style points system. While politicians and the people they represent determine the direction of travel for this country, we will not, unlike the other parties, seek to set arbitrary targets which only result in broken promises.

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Review: The Great European Disaster Movie, BBC Four

Samuel Hooper4 Comments

The Great European Disaster Movie BBC EU UKIP bias 2

 

Imagine that you are a young child in an alternate universe, a future world in which the European Union has been disbanded amid popular uprising and economic depression.

Then imagine that you are circling Berlin in an airplane suffering a technical emergency, while Angus Deayton (of all people) sits next to you and bores you to tears with dull morsels of selectively-remembered EU trivia, interspersed with told-you-so left wing laments about how everything would have been so much better if only his generation had spent more time loving the European Union.

Even the most happy-go-lucky child would be willing that aircraft into a terminal nosedive and sweet oblivion after an hour of such torture. I certainly was, after just ten minutes watching The Great European Disaster Movie on BBC Four last night.

The Telegraph says that the rare elements of truth contained in the film were completely overshadowed by the condescending delivery:

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It’s The End Of The World As EU Know It

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The Great European Disaster Movie BBC EU UKIP bias

 

Full review of the programme here.

You wait years for an apocalyptic mockumentary where Nigel Farage ushers in the end of western civilisation, and then two come along at once.

Hot on the heels of Channel 4’s alarmist and liberal bias-reinforcing docudrama “UKIP: The First 100 Days” comes a new offering from the BBC, with the sober and reflective title “The Great European Disaster Movie”.

As often happens with propaganda and political hit pieces, the BBC downplays the documentary as being thought-provoking and witty, falling back on the satire defence while revealing its true bias by never attempting to satirise the opposing side of the argument:

The film includes fictional scenes, set in a post-EU future, which feature archaeologist Charles Granda (played by Angus Deayton) travelling on a flight through a menacing storm, explaining to a child passenger what the EU was. Sombre, thought-provoking and witty, the film frames Europe through the eyes of those who have most at stake – the Europeans themselves.

The Daily Mail views this latest offering with natural scepticism:

An army of Islamic State terrorists has advanced to the outskirts of Vienna, Spain has cut off routes to Gibraltar and Nigel Farage – prime minister of ‘Great England’ – has deported all immigrants who have arrived in the past ten years.

This, according to the BBC, is what the world would be like if the European Union were to collapse.

The apocalyptic vision of a continent in which social order has broken down – to be screened on BBC4 tonight at 10pm – has been condemned by Eurosceptic critics as ‘scaremongering’.

Among the issues and contradictions apparently not explored in the documentary:

  1. Why European countries alone face economic ruin and civil unrest if they fail to pool their sovereignty and dilute their national identities
  2. How other geographical regions such as Asia and the Americas prosper without powerful, pan-national and undemocratic institutions, while Europe would face ruin without them
  3. Why UKIP would countenance the upheaval of deporting “all immigrants who arrived in the past ten years” when they have stated repeatedly and often that they favour a points-based immigration system that focuses on skills and quality
  4. Why the economic disruption caused by dismantling the European Union would lead to more anarchy and chaos on the streets than the EU’s calamitous policies, one-size-fits-all monetary policy and lack of democratic accountability are already causing every day

If you sincerely believe that the age of the nation state is over, that Britain is in no way special and cannot compete in the global economy in the same way as, say, Switzerland or South Korea, then fine. But own your position and make your case accordingly from that starting point, not by masquerading as a dispassionate observer with no political bias or financial interest.

More importantly, an organisation like the BBC, in receipt of billions of taxpayer pounds and under a mandate to inform and entertain the whole nation, must recognise that acting as a shill for pro-EU propaganda is incompatible with its founding mission and charter, and renounce all public funding so that it can become a full time political pressure group.

Once the short election campaign is underway everything will become a lot more restricted, and UKIP specifically will benefit from being afforded “major party status” and given the right of rebuttal and increased coverage on broadcast television news programmes.

But until then, expect a lot more hysteria and misinformation of this type, insidious propaganda presented as “just a bit of fun”.

This blog’s full review of “The Great European Disaster Movie” can be read here.