Daniel Hannan

new puritan · **Posted:** Thu Feb 16, 2012 2:02 pm

The latest crock of shite:

Americans! Please stop calling us Europeans!

Quote:

This is all tremendously encouraging, obviously; but, like most British sceptics, I have one niggling complaint. My dear American friends, will you please stop referring to us as 'Europeans'? Even the soundest US conservatives will often say things like, 'So what are you guys going to do about the Greek crisis?' Which, if you think about it, would be rather like me saying, 'So when are you chaps finally going to vote against Hugo Chávez?'

Because US-Venezuela relations = EU internal relations, obviously.

Messianic Trees · **Joined:** Fri Mar 18, 2011 10:50 pm **Posts:** 2892

What makes Question Time audiences so Left-wing?

Hannan has been the Australian version of Question Time:

Quote:

While the Australian show's viewers are perhaps a touch more liberal and metropolitan than the general population, they don't exhibit anything like the Left-wing militancy of their British counterparts. This is true both of the studio audience (the Australian producers invite political parties and organisations to distribute places, rather than asking applicants to state their affiliation on a form); and, far more strikingly, of those following online.

The Internet is never a place to go for subtle and nuanced debate, of course, but something about the #bbcqt Twitter tag attracts trolls and sociopaths. It's especially noticeable if there is a Right-of-Centre woman on the panel. When Nadine Dorries was on recently, or Emma Boon from the TaxPayers' Alliance, they hadn't opened their mouths before a torrent of puerile, vicious, semi-pornographic abuse began. Here's something one doesn't expect to write very often: we should try to be as decorous and restrained as the Australians.

new puritan · **Posted:** Sun Mar 11, 2012 8:33 pm

'Trolls and sociopaths'! :mrgreen:

Physician, heal thyself.

spoonman · **Joined:** Tue May 11, 2010 2:27 pm **Posts:** 922

Quote:

Here's something one doesn't expect to write very often: we should try to be as decorous and restrained as the Australians.

I'd say this gobshite has been thinking very realistically of taking an Australian immigration campaign to the UK with the same slogan...

Bones McCoy · **Joined:** Mon Aug 16, 2010 9:08 am **Posts:** 7417

spoonman wrote:

Quote:

Here's something one doesn't expect to write very often: we should try to be as decorous and restrained as the Australians.

I'd say this gobshite has been thinking very realistically of taking an Australian immigration campaign to the UK with the same slogan...

Slogan beloved by the empty headed.

Malcolm Armsteen · **Posted:** Mon Mar 12, 2012 12:11 am

Funny. After the murder of hundreds of thousands of native people, possibly millions, you'd think there'd be space to spare.

spoonman · **Joined:** Tue May 11, 2010 2:27 pm **Posts:** 922

Malcolm Armsteen wrote:

Funny. After the murder of hundreds of thousands of native people, possibly millions, you'd think there'd be space to spare.

Under the bigotry and foulness of it all, there is actually a point in their vulgarity. Whatever happened in the past in Australia happened and can't be changed other than to deal with native title and coming clean with the likes of the stolen generations. The problem now is that although it is a vast country, less than 10% of it is generally habitable, and most of this lies along the east and south-east coasts. Small bits of desert have been able to be reclaimed for growing crops but it's an expensive process and considering its isolation it has to be more self-sufficient in its food produce than say the UK does. There's some 23 million odd people now in Australia, around three quarters of whom live within 100km of the five main cities (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth & Adelaide) and it is very vulnerable to changes in weather with droughts, floods, bush fires all being very common hazards and some estimates already state that Australia is only able to hold around 12 million nominally. I was out there for an extended stay a few years ago and although it's now mostly cleared up now, drought was a serious concern in many places and some farming families hadn't seen rain in months.

Australia is a bit of a funny place. On one hand it has some of the best examples of multiculturalism the the developed world yet at the same time some of the most bigoted people you'll come across, and as a Northern Irish native I don't throw that word around lightly. On the radio you'll hear adverts for adult sex shops which will often be located in major retail parks yet outrage is sparked when a bit of nudity gets shown in the National Gallery. When it comes to sport they can be some of the greatest winners to model yourself upon yet also be possibly the sorest losers you'll ever see. I suppose from an Anglo-Irish point of view, alongside its own culture that has grown up from both Aboriginal and European settlement, there is a weird fusion of both English and American culture that varies from place to place.

The problem with the "Fawk Aff Wear Fool" crowd is that nearly all of them don't have too many objections to immigration if they're pale skinned, and preferably blond. The stink usually kicks up when its an overflowing boat of people (refugees or not) from SE Asia.

Malcolm Armsteen · **Posted:** Mon Mar 12, 2012 3:12 am

Y'know I actually knew that, and it really has nothing to do with the point I was making...

Tubby Isaacs · **Posted:** Mon Mar 12, 2012 3:25 am

Malcolm Armsteen wrote:

Y'know I actually knew that, and it really has nothing to do with the point I was making...

I don't think he was saying it did. Just quoting you as the starting point of his post.

This is the last word on the subject:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejorQVy3m8E

At least I think it's about the subject.

Tubby Isaacs · **Posted:** Mon Mar 12, 2012 3:31 am

Anyway, what I think is Australia's biggest achievement, is that it has an area called Kings Cross that's apparently worse than its namesake in London.

Malcolm Armsteen · **Posted:** Mon Mar 12, 2012 3:32 am

More or less. Plus a degree of genocide.

Tubby Isaacs · **Posted:** Mon Mar 12, 2012 5:27 pm

Genocide was about the only crime not rampant in Kings Cross in the 80s-90s. It's much better now.

new puritan · **Posted:** Fri Mar 16, 2012 10:17 am

Hannan indulges in a spot of Depression revisionism:

The real lesson of the 1930s: cuts work

Quote:

The extraordinary thing is that, in Britain, we prefer the false version of American history to the true version of our own. Unlike FDR, the National Government in Britain cut spending (see here). Result? The economy bounced back, averaging four per cent growth between 1934 and 1939.

George Trefgarne has done us a tremendous favour by chronicling the success of that decade, with its car, textiles and construction booms. The figures in his paper, Metroboom, published today by the Centre for Policy Studies, speak for themselves.

You're surprised? You vaguely thought that the 1930s was all about hungry people marching from Jarrow to Wigan Pier or some such? That's a consequence of A-level economics, I'm afraid.

What are the real lessons of the 1930s? That the way to revive a stricken economy is through lower spending and tax cuts. 'The quicker we can put down Bleak House', said the then Chancellor, Neville Chamberalin, 'the sooner we can embark on Great Expectations'. Watch the broadcast with which he introduced his 1935 budget. Almost as much time separates us from the recent crash as separated him from the great crash, but it's impossible to imagine the present Chancellor delivering such an upbeat message. As the Americans say, go figure.

Bones McCoy · **Joined:** Mon Aug 16, 2010 9:08 am **Posts:** 7417

new puritan wrote:

Hannan indulges in a spot of Depression revisionism:

The real lesson of the 1930s: cuts work

Quote:

The extraordinary thing is that, in Britain, we prefer the false version of American history to the true version of our own. Unlike FDR, the National Government in Britain cut spending (see here). Result? The economy bounced back, averaging four per cent growth between 1934 and 1939.

George Trefgarne has done us a tremendous favour by chronicling the success of that decade, with its car, textiles and construction booms. The figures in his paper, Metroboom, published today by the Centre for Policy Studies, speak for themselves.

You're surprised? You vaguely thought that the 1930s was all about hungry people marching from Jarrow to Wigan Pier or some such? That's a consequence of A-level economics, I'm afraid.

What are the real lessons of the 1930s? That the way to revive a stricken economy is through lower spending and tax cuts. 'The quicker we can put down Bleak House', said the then Chancellor, Neville Chamberalin, 'the sooner we can embark on Great Expectations'. Watch the broadcast with which he introduced his 1935 budget. Almost as much time separates us from the recent crash as separated him from the great crash, but it's impossible to imagine the present Chancellor delivering such an upbeat message. As the Americans say, go figure.

The evidence, of course is the way our Grandads lorded it during WW2, Dishing out Nylon stockings, chocolate, and venerial disease like there was no tomorrow, while the poor impoverished yanks complained about the over-paid and over-sexed limeys.

new puritan · **Posted:** Fri Mar 16, 2012 12:06 pm

And as one of the comments points out, Hannan overlooks the fact that Britain came off the gold standard and devalued the pound in 1932. What a plank.

Daniel Hannan

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