Archive for May 22nd, 2007

FILM: The Golden Compass aka The Northern Lights

Tuesday, May 22nd, 2007


For me, the Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman is the finest trilogy of books ever written. This December the first episode in the trilogy, ‘The Golden Compass’ (known in the UK as The Northern Lights) makes it to our cinema screens. The cast bodes well (Daniel Craig, Nicole Kidman, Eva Green) and they couldn’t possibly have better source material. It’s the one thing (bar Christmas and Boxing day dinner at my Mum and Dad’s) I’m really looking forward to this Christmas. Book your ticket now.

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POLITICS: The thin end of the wedge?

Tuesday, May 22nd, 2007

My elder brother mailed me the following link British Army may turn to foreign bullets

I find such a development extremely worrying. We are in the UK, after all, an island nation. Is it not bad enough that we source a vast percentage of our food from abroad (thanks to the shambolic way the current Labour government has treated farmers and failed to police the vice-like grip of supermarkets on our produce procurement)? No, it seems our electorate are ploughing headlong into scenario where, without the support of the EU, we will be emasculated in every conceivable way.

Here is the thin end of a (very large) wedge. In fact, many would argue the thin end passed us by many moons ago and this is merely another single case of our independence as a nation being signed away.

I ask you, what sense does it make for an island nation to be reliant on others for fuel, food, lawmaking, defence, border control? And yet these decisions are no longer within the power of the UK government to make alone. Is this what layman people in the UK, who believe the EU is a good thing for Britain, really want? Can anyone sensibly argue we will be better off run by the people who thought up the woeful Euro currency, the Hips packs, a borderless journey from EU member state to EU member state, the fortnightly bin collection, countless pieces of red tape for businesses and best of all, the truly worrying EU constitution? This the vision you want for the UK?

These decisions, whilst bad enough to stomach ordinarily, are rendered objectionable by the fact that we, the people of the UK, have never been given a vote on the matter. And with good reason. It is my utmost conviction that were we given said vote, the majority of voters would decline the wholesale surrender of our long fought independence (or more simply, being in the EU).

“Rule Britannia, Britannia rules the waves. Britain never, never, never, shall be slaves” Or maybe, after all, we shall.

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