Those words will surely come back to haunt him.

[Bugsy]

Gorgons smug comments yesterday on the current finance problems in Europe with Greece.

"Well, it's a 'eurozone' problem, isn't it"

This is the same bloke that has committed the UK to funding millions of pounds to countries all over the world and yet walks away from a chance to show solidarity with his neighbours.

I really think this will bite him on his fat arse.

.

[Quillan]

Was this the same fella that a year or so age was going to the EU and saying "spend, spend, spend your way out of recession, I know what I'm talking about". Shame nobody took any notice and most came out of the recession long before the UK. It sounds more like a "s*d you lot you didn't listen to me so I am tacking my ball and going home" statement. So infantile really and I am sure you are right, it will come back and bite him on the bum.

[nounours]

[quote user="Bugbear"]Gorgons smug comments yesterday on the current finance problems in Europe with Greece.

"Well, it's a 'eurozone' problem, isn't it"


[/quote]

Can you quote your source for this comment?  The only comment I have seen or heard anything like it was attributed to a smug Tory MEP telling us clever they were keeping out of the eurozone.

[Bugsy]

[quote user="nounours"]

Can you quote your source for this comment?  The only comment I have seen or heard anything like it was attributed to a smug Tory MEP telling us clever they were keeping out of the eurozone.

[/quote]

It was a television interview (BBC) yesterday and commented on on Newsnight last night where they made the point that he used the 'term' five times in a one minute interview.

.

edit: just had a look at the BBC news site and its mentioned briefly HERE

.

[nounours]

Oh you mean.

"UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown stressed that "the discussions at the moment are within the euro area", when asked if UK taxpayers' money would be part of any EU aid."

So what exactly is wrong with that statement?  Surely you are not advocating that the UK should get involved in these discussions are you?  If they had done so then the right wing press were ready with their "UK taxpayers to fund Greek spending folly" headlines.  

The euro crisis was so bad yesterday, given that Greece has not asked for or received a cent, it  plunged the euro by a whole 1 cent against the dollar and it rose aginst the £[8-)]

[Bugsy]

[quote user="nounours"]Oh you mean.

"UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown stressed that "the discussions at the moment are within the euro area", when asked if UK taxpayers' money would be part of any EU aid."

So what exactly is wrong with that statement? [/quote]

As I said, the report on the BBC news website only mentioned it briefly. You really needed to see the actual interview with his smug body language.

There as also been no mention of financial aid anyway, just interest bearing loans.

[quote user="nounours"] 

Surely you are not advocating that the UK should get involved in these

discussions are you?  [/quote]

Well, in case you hadn't noticed, the UK is part of Europe.

It's all academic anyway, as he'll be gone in a couple of months.

.

[nounours]

[quote user="Bugbear"]
It's all academic anyway, as he'll be gone in a couple of months.
.
[/quote]

You sure you are " on message" Gary?  The Tories are just waiting for Brown to mention aid for Greece to try another ploy to undermine him and stop their disastrous decline in the Polls. 

I'm not sure Brown will go, but if it does, lets hope its because voters decide on the politics and not what people like Rupert Murdoch decide they should vote.  Being an avid user of Facebook,  I am heartened to see how many young people can see through the hate and deceit of the failing papers like the Express and the Mail and make their own decisions, but if Brown does go lets hope he isn't replaced by dithering Dave[:D]

[Russethouse]

If you watched the Politics show last night you will have seen Mr Portillo forecasting that this situation will eventually turn round and bite us on the backside - I daresay 'Prudence' will be long gone by then .......

[Quillan]

PM's Question 10th Feb 2010

Q4.    [316560] Mr. Douglas Carswell (Harwich) (Con): Britain wisely stayed out of the euro. There is now a strong possibility that Greece will default on her debts—something that is not our immediate problem. Will the Prime Minister confirm that, at a time when our national debt is rising fast, there is no question of UK taxpayers’ money being used to bail out Greece, in any circumstances or in any way?

The Prime Minister: Greece should stick by the commitments that it has made to the European Union and the world. As the House knows, at the G20 conference in London in April we put in place arrangements that could help countries if they were in difficulty. These arrangements are still in place and have been used by some countries. It is up to the euro area to decide what it wants to do in relation to euro area countries, but there is international support available if Greece wishes it.

Sorry forgot to add the source.

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmtoday/cmdebate/02.htm#hddr_1

[nounours]

The Politics show wasn't on last night.  Do you mean "This Week" ?  If so its on far too late  us in France. Pity I missed it that well known political commentator Fearn Britton was on it.[blink]  By the way RH, what did Diane Abbot say Gordon should do, just to keep the balance here.

[Théière]

[quote user="Russethouse"]If you watched the Politics show last night you will have seen Mr Portillo forecasting that this situation will eventually turn round and bite us on the backside - I daresay 'Prudence' will be long gone by then .......[/quote]

I'm with you RH, it's us that will pay for everyone else's errors/folly/fool hardiness.

Can we give away more money we don't have? or will we borrow it and give it away?

[nounours]

[quote user="Quillan"]

PM's Question 10th Feb 2010

Q4.    [316560] Mr. Douglas Carswell (Harwich) (Con): Britain wisely stayed out of the euro. There is now a strong possibility that Greece will default on her debts—something that is not our immediate problem. Will the Prime Minister confirm that, at a time when our national debt is rising fast, there is no question of UK taxpayers’ money being used to bail out Greece, in any circumstances or in any way?

The Prime Minister: Greece should stick by the commitments that it has made to the European Union and the world. As the House knows, at the G20 conference in London in April we put in place arrangements that could help countries if they were in difficulty. These arrangements are still in place and have been used by some countries. It is up to the euro area to decide what it wants to do in relation to euro area countries, but there is international support available if Greece wishes it.

Sorry forgot to add the source.

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmtoday/cmdebate/02.htm#hddr_1

[/quote]

Thank you Quillan for finding that.  Not exactly the words or interpretation of the OP is it?  It also endorses my post above about the Tories and their masters in the UK press just waiting to pounce if the UK gives Greece a cent.

[Théière]

Beware Greeks wanting gifts

[Frederick]

So what is the Euro   Zone actually going to do about Greece being in so much debt.....wait for the IMF to come to the rescue ...raise taxes for the bigger members to bail them out ?

[Bugsy]

[quote user="nounours"]

Thank you Quillan for finding that.  Not exactly the words or interpretation of the OP is it? 

[/quote]

C'mon Teddybear, If you take the time to read my previous answer , you will see that I actually quoted from a filmed interview shown on the news and later on Newsnight, not from what he said in the commons.

To save you looking [:P]

[quote user="Bugbear"]

It was a television interview (BBC) yesterday

and commented on on Newsnight last night where they made the point that

he used the 'term' five times in a one minute interview.

[/quote]

.

[Frederick]

40% of Greeks avoid paying tax ? .... How were they allowed to get away with that ?...l

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/feb/12/euro-continues-to-fall

[just john]

I have listened to several programmes on Radio 4 where interviews with a variety of Greeks from civil servants to a lawyer and business people have all stated how common it is to underdeclare their income; in some cases to ludicrous amounts to avoid paying tax, even saying in one case that local tax authorities are corrupt; finally saying that the tax collection is based on voluntary information and that the tax authorities have no ability to determine real income![:-))]

[Frederick]

Great !   So now the tax paying public of France Germany and others have to find the funds to prop them up....while they take to the streets and burn the EU flag .. Euro Zone  is in for a bumpy  ride when it comes to sticking together over this problem  I think .    

[Quillan]

Exactly what the readers response to the article in Le Figaro was this morning. There were quite a few of them, I went to look and see how many but that article has now been replaced with another which says that France and Germany have arranged a secret deal manly because they have a lot of money invested in Greece.

European banks have lent more than $252 billion to the Greek economy, according to the Bank for International Settlements since September 2009. French institutions are most exposed, with 75 billion dollars (55 billion Euros) of stock. Swiss institutions have invested 63 billion dollars (46 billion Euros), the Germans 43 billion (31 billion Euros). Apparently the UK owns around 23% of the bonds issued by the Greek government, France and Germany 11% and Switzerland and Austria only 9%. I think this Greek situation is going to end up as a nasty mess but we will see. It will interesting to see exactly what this deal is.

[Russethouse]

[quote user="nounours"]

The Politics show wasn't on last night.  Do you mean "This Week" ?  If so its on far too late  us in France. Pity I missed it that well known political commentator Fearn Britton was on it.[blink]  By the way RH, what did Diane Abbot say Gordon should do, just to keep the balance here.

[/quote]

 Fern Britton was on the show and was asked about her exchanges with TB post the interview where he said he would have gone into Iraq on another pretext, if not WMD, her reaction was the same as mine - what was the point of David Kelly losing his life then ?

Micheal Portillo's comment more or less closed the show, so I'm afraid Diane Abbot didn't get the chance to respond....in fact I thought she was fairly quiet last night, unusually....

 

[nounours]

[quote user="Russethouse"][quote user="nounours"]

The Politics show wasn't on last night.  Do you mean "This Week" ?  If so its on far too late  us in France. Pity I missed it that well known political commentator Fearn Britton was on it.[blink]  By the way RH, what did Diane Abbot say Gordon should do, just to keep the balance here.

[/quote]

 Fern Britton was on the show and was asked about her exchanges with TB post the interview where he said he would have gone into Iraq on another pretext, if not WMD, her reaction was the same as mine - what was the point of David Kelly losing his life then ?

Micheal Portillo's comment more or less closed the show, so I'm afraid Diane Abbot didn't get the chance to respond....in fact I thought she was fairly quiet last night, unusually....

[/quote]  The truth about how and why David Kelly died may come out, but for now to suggest it was anything other than a suicide brought about by depression can only be speculation.

One thing that is being addressed by the enquiry is how Iraq was supposed to recoover from the invasion, one thing I would have asked Tony Blair was did he know Bush was going to order the destruction of the power and water supply facilities?  The question none of us can answer is, is Iraq and its people and the state of Israel, better off now than it would have been if Saddam had been allowed to remain in power? 

[Russethouse]

The trouble with the David Kelly case is that many, many people are speculating including a group of Doctors who have asked to see the Coroners report. Why would a man such as David Kelly try to take his life by cutting an artery that 'self seals' before you could bleed to death ? What about the lack of evidence of drugs and who were the mem in dark clothing seen nearby who were never seen again - now why should his suicide be secret for 100 years ?

Thinking about it I don't know one person who thinks his death is anything other than suspicious.

 

[nounours]

You are right RH, his death will always provoke debate and conspiracy theories, however, he wasn't as far as I know a medical doctor and so in an alleged pill driven haze,  may just have done as you or I would do and copy what he had seen on the the tele!!  Thanks to Silent Witness, we all now know how to do it properly!!

[Russethouse]

But I think the results that are available showed that he wasn't in a pill induced haze.....I'll have to borrow the book about it from my mother, I think it was written by a Lib Dem MP....

If it was as straightforward as that why don't the powers that be  just let the documents and reports be shown ?

[PaulT]

[quote user="Russethouse"]

But I think the results that are available showed that he wasn't in a pill induced haze.....I'll have to borrow the book about it from my mother, I think it was written by a Lib Dem MP....

If it was as straightforward as that why don't the powers that be  just let the documents and reports be shown ?

[/quote]

And why if there is nothing to be hidden why is not the Iraq Inquiry being held with the interviewees being under oath and some tough barristers asking pertinent questions instead of the cosy questioning, especially of Blair who was loowed to take over.

Everything to do with Iraq, including Kelly, seems to have tame inquisitors and so much whitewash.

Paul