Banks, blogs and the Budget

To be honest, Calton is still worrying about mulling over the ramifications of the new press laws Royal Charter and the escalating situation in Cyprus to be bothered about think about the Budget. No more fuel duty increases for the time being and a cut in the price of a pint are obviously a good thing but will pale into insignificance if the money in Calton's bank account can be raided at the drop of a hat to prop up ailing banks or if a complaint against this blog results in a huge fine. It's enough to make anyone burn the midnight oil, thereby depleting even further the resources which the OBR and the First Minister so spectacularly fail to agree on.

Talk to the shovel

The levy on savers in Cyprus banks is a worrying new development in the Eurozone crisis. Supposedly to teach savers not to save with dodgy banks, instead it is punishing ordinary people by relieving them of at least 6.75% of their savings in return for shares in those dodgy banks. The natural result is that they are all rushing to withdraw their money, with the help of a JCB in one case. If the ECB thinks that savers in other Eurozone countries will not be following suit and stuffing money under their mattresses, they are extremely naive. And if the Germans think that their insistence on this measure will not fan already smoldering resentment against them into roaring flames, they are mad. They have picked on Cyprus, rather than the PIGS, because it is small, weak and has reportedly been a sink for laundered money. Now the plug has been well and truly pulled, the dirty money will go elsewhere and honest savers will be the poorer. The Germans seem to think that is a price worth paying in order to send a tough message to feckless economies - their Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble called the levy part of the "fair" distribution of the bailout's burden. Try telling that to the JCB driver.

Tell them where to go Dave!

Oh great. Yesterday the Americans were expressing concern over our possible exit from the EU. Now we have the Germans weighing in and telling us we're better off in Europe. Well they would say that, wouldn't they! They don't want to lose one of the few net contributors to the project. Unemployment in Spain is around 25%, Greece is an economic ruin and yet we're supposed to believe that being a part of the EU is economically beneficial. What rot. We've clearly got the Germans worried, judging by their scare-mongering tactics, but they have a cheek to tell us we can't renegotiate treaties when they are busy rewriting the rules of the Eurozone, with an impact on all member countries of the EU. Calton's German does not extend to the equivalent of "butt out" but that is definitely what Dave should be saying to Angela. Schnell!

Bring it on Dave!

As an advocate of free speech, Calton defends the right of the US to express its concern over our future relationship with the EU. It's a free world, after all, and we are free to tell the US to mind its own business. Especially since they have only temporarily avoided the fiscal cliff - perhaps a bit more looking inward on their part would not go amiss. The EU is not what it was even 12 months ago, never mind when we first joined, and so David Cameron is quite right to look at renegotiating the deal, especially in the light of the ever closer integration of the Eurozone countries, with corresponding treaty changes. It has taken a while but the Great British public are finally waking up to the fact that the EU train is going full steam ahead towards a European super-state and that is a direction many people in the UK do not wish to go. It's high time we had a referendum on our continued membership of the EU. Bring it on Dave!

Butt out Barack

So the US wants us to stay in the EU. So what? As UKIP's foreign affairs spokesman William Dartmouth MEP says  "It is not the job of the UK to make the work of US diplomats easier. It is our job to secure our own interests." Quite. Calton couldn't have put it better himself. There is no reason why leaving the EU should weaken the UK and there is no prospect of the EU becoming strong in the near future either with or without the UK. Quite the reverse. The Eurozone is not out of the woods yet by a long chalk. So the next time David Cameron has a cosy little chat with Barack Obama he should tell the President of the US to go sort out his gun laws and leave us to sort out our relationship with the EU.

Martha's meals

Good to see Jim Murphy talking about an in-out referendum on our membership of the EU, although postponing it until after the economic crisis ends and the Eurozone stabilises sounds like a kick into the very long grass indeed. So long that Scotland might be independent by the time the rest of the UK gets round to voting on the EU. If that should be the case, will Scottish Labour campaign for an in-out referendum? It would certainly put some clear blue water between themselves and the SNP if they did.

Scotland has long had links with Malawi, and Calton is not just talking about one former Labour First Minister, so it was fitting that the money raised by schoolgirl Martha's blog NeverSeconds should be spent in that country, providing meals and schooling for children. Martha has been on a visit to Malawi to see what their lives are like and you can watch a short video of her trip here. Amazing  what one blog can do.

There is life outside the EU

Calton has never understood the argument that we need to give up more and more of our sovereignty in order to be able to have influence in Europe. Missing the boat is only a problem if the boat is going where you want to go. The Eurozone boat is definitely not going where Calton wants to go and he is pleased to finally hear someone saying that life outside the EU holds no terror. As for David Cameron's comments on an EU referendum - Calton will believe it when he sees it. However at least the PM is talking about it - will Alex Salmond give us a referendum about EU membership if Scotland becomes independent?

David and Goliath

Today Calton has found two tales of David facing up to Goliath.

Firstly, good to see Kirkcaldy MSP David Torrance (SNP) throwing his weight behind the Children 1st campaign to deal with sideline bullies. He is backing a motion at Holyrood to have the issue recognised as a problem - hopefully this will result in more support for the Children 1st campaign Sideline Bad Behaviour.

On an entirely different subject, PM David Cameron assures us that he has secured an explicit commitment that, as the Eurozone moves towards deeper economic and monetary union, the integrity of the single market will be fully respected. Let's just hope he is right. The Eurozone is fast becoming not just a Goliath but a Juggernaut.

Out of the Eurozone

Anyone who still thinks that joining the Eurozone is not a one-way ticket to loss of sovereignty must have their head stuck so far in the sand it's popping up in New Zealand. EU Council President Herman Van Rompuy, the man responsible for providing the EU's political direction, has made it clear that the single currency is irreversible. So much for Greece being able to bail out. And so much for German posturing about not being responsible for southern Europe's debts. When push comes to shove, as it did last night, preservation of the Euro comes out top and the Eurozone is one step further along the road to political, as well as financial, integration. Which is exactly where Van Rompuy, a fan of global governance, wants it. Calton can feel a Farage-style rant coming on when he considers that this Belgian unknown, who has just been chosen for another 30 month term not by the people of Europe but only by the 27 heads of the EU member states, can wield so much power behind the scenes. If Salmond doesn't want to become a puppet, he will follow the Great Broon's lead and keep well out of the Eurozone.

Winning independence only to lose sovereignty?

If Angela Merkel's comments on European integration were not frightening enough, we now have the president of the German Bundesbank, Jens Weidmann, saying that "In the event of a country not abiding by the budgetary rules, national sovereignty would be automatically transferred to the European level on a scale that can ensure compliance with the objectives." What exactly he means by the 'European level' is unclear, however what is totally clear is that, in return for Germany propping them up financially, Eurozone countries will have to toe the German line with regard to their spending or else face losing their financial sovereignty. Now, given that the SNP want Scotland to be an independent nation in order to have control (ie sovereignty) over her own financial affairs, does it make sense to consider even for one moment becoming part of the Eurozone? Of course it doesn't. Unless, of course, the SNP have got so used to being able to blame someone else for not allowing them all the fiscal levers they need to manage Scotland's economy that they can't cope with the responsibility which sovereignty would bring.

Man the lifeboats!

If you're wondering why Calton has not been posting much for a couple of days, it's because he was doing this week's Scottish Roundup of blogs. Head on over to Scottish Roundup and have a read - there are a lot of good blogs out there. Unfortunately one of Calton's favourites has hung up his keyboard - the Wee Red Squirrel is sadly missed.

Looking further afield, the Greeks seem to be heading for another election, which will effectively be a vote on their continued membership of the Eurozone. The EU is steaming into uncharted waters now and the iceberg of Greek and French public opinion is threatening to sink the Euro. Calton would not be sorry to see it go, were it not likely to pull the UK down with it. Man the lifeboats!

Bye bye Merkozy

Alex Salmond must be breathing a huge sigh of relief that the fallout from the French and Greek election results has replaced his relationship with Murdoch as top news and fallout it is, as Merkel comes out all guns blazing over the suggestion by Hollande that the Merkozy austerity deal might be up for renegotiation. At least we are all spared the problem of trying to combine Merkel and Hollande into a single snappy name. Merkande sounds like something from Arabian Nights and Hollkel is too close to hell for comfort, although it might be the way the Eurozone is heading. The Greeks are revolting, France has said 'non' to cuts, the Dutch coalition recently collapsed over the issue before a deal could be agreed, Spain is in big trouble and Merkel is channeling Margaret Thatcher 'the lady's not for turning'. And our First Minister wants to join this lot? Nein danke!

France, Greece and Fife

There's an old adage that says when you are in a hole, stop digging. Similarly, when in debt, stop borrowing. That message has not got through to the voters of France and Greece. They have, fairly predictably, voted against austerity. In the same way, the voters in Fife have punished the previous SNP/Libdem coalition for council cuts by swinging to Labour - the party of spend. Never mind where the money is going to come from. It just goes to show that, although democracy is probably the best political system we have, voters will ultimately vote in their own self-interest, which is not necessarily the country's interest. Looks like the Eurozone is in for some stormy times.

Frau Merkel wants to have her kuchen and eat it

Calton makes no apology for once again commenting on events beyond the borders of Scotland because, with our First Minister's avowed desire to see Scotland at the top table in Europe, we ignore what is happening there at our peril. Today the European Central Bank gave out 489bn Euros-worth of 3-year loans to European banks at 1% interest and with lower collateral requirements which is the equivalent of your bank lending you £2000 at 1% for a clapped out old car. The hope is that the banks will use the money to buy up the debt of the likes of Spain and Italy, thus making the ECB a lender to sovereign nations at one remove. In other words, we are only one step away from seeing the ECB become a national bank for the nation of Eurozone, ie fiscal union. And fiscal union means political union. As Angela Merkel said to the Bundestag early this month - "We have started a new phase in European integration ... we aren't just talking about a fiscal union, rather, we have begun creating one." However in the same speech, she also said "A joint liability for others' debts is not acceptable", reiterating the German opposition to the introduction of Eurobonds. This is because, while the Germans want fiscal union, they don't want to be responsible for the debts of other nations like Greece and Spain. A case of the Germans wanting to have their cake and eat it then.

(See also Stephanie Flanders on the BBC News website.)