Freedom Fries and Horse Burgers

The President of the European Parliament has warned that, if the UK tries to renegotiate its agreement with the EU, it could result in the EU breaking up. Here's hoping! 'Tis a disintegration much to be desired, here, if not in the State of Denmark. Meanwhile, President Obama continues to usurp the democratic role of the British people by pressuring David Cameron to stay in Europe, for the sake of the USA, ignoring the fact that the British Prime Minister is not bound to act in the best interests of American citizens. If the USA is so keen on the EU they should join it themselves instead of trying to use a surrogate. It is only 10 years since Americans were renaming those little thin things that come with burgers 'Freedom Fries' over France's opposition to the 2003 Iraq invasion. Since when did Europe become flavour of the month with the burger-eating invasion-monkeys? Do they really want their favourite food laced with horse-meat?

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!

Happy Boxing Day!

Calton now has a new woolly hat - a red one - from Santa and has found that there is at least one church still resisting the trend to update the words of old carols and so two of Calton's Christmas wishes have been granted. Unfortunately a third is under threat from an influential section of the American public who think that the answer to the USA's gun problem is more guns. Doh!

Calton's Boxing Day sympathies lie with the residents of Lochcarron, who, once again, find themselves cut off from Plockton and Kyle due to another landslide. Yet another reminder that the best engineering of man is still vulnerable to the vagaries of the weather. It's time a long-term solution is found to the problems of this road.

Finally, Calton is glad to see that we haven't yet reached the same stage as Santa Monica, where public nativity scenes have been banned, and so the nativity scene in Dalmally phone box can be enjoyed, not just by the residents of the Argyllshire town and their visitors, but by people worldwide thanks to the Dalmally Phonebox facebook page. Happy Boxing Day!

It's raining again!

Calton didn't realise that Richard 'Wellington' Benyon is also the Floods Minister - now there's a man whose wellies are full to overflowing. Meanwhile, it has started raining again in the NE of Scotland which is not good news for the residents of Stonehaven. Calton has decided to add another item to his Christmas wish list - for the rain to stop! He is also hoping even more that item 4 on the list is fulfilled, after the senseless shooting of two firemen today in New York. Yet more grieving families on what should be a happy, family day. Calton's thoughts and prayers are with them.

Calton's Christmas wish list

Here are the things Calton would like for Christmas, in no particular order:
1. A definitive answer on the position of an independent Scotland vis a vis the EU.
2. A moratorium on the building of windfarms on Scotland's mountains so that he can visit his relatives over the festive season without risk of being clattered on the back of the head by a turbine blade.
3. People to stop updating the words of the lovely old Christmas carols Calton has known since he was just out of the egg.
4. The US to enact some sort of gun control so that at least some good can come out of the terrible evil of Sandy Hook.
5. A woolly hat - because you can never have too many of them and asking for one will ensure that Calton gets at least one item from his wishlist!

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.