Straw Dog froths again.

In an article in today's Guardian Jack Straw reveals his latest contribution to making the world safe for democracy: abolishing the European Parliament. You may recall the great man's earlier strenuum pro virili vindicatorem when serving in the Blair junta: proposing to restrict the right to trial by jury; allowing Pinochet to return to Chile; turning down a request for asylum from a man fleeing Sadam Hussein's Iraq on the grounds that "we have faith in the integrity of the Iraqi judicial process and that you should have no concerns if you haven’t done anything wrong"; negotiating a treaty which allows the US to extradite British citizens for offences committed in Britain against US law without the UK having any reciprocal rights. No wonder he earned Thatcher's approval: "I would trust Jack Straw's judgement. He is a very fair man".
   The logical absurdity underlying his latest proposal - let's strike a blow at 'rule by unelected Brussels bureaucrats' by abolishing the one institution which gives the EU's citizens a voice - shouldn't surprise us. To the eurosceptic the word 'European' is, in itself, sufficient to bring on apoplexy.
   The Guardian's article also reveals that, amongst the eurosceptic views harboured by the public at large, only 15% would support the formation of a European army whilst 57% would be opposed. Interestingly the table below, which accompanied an article in yesterday's Corriere della Sera, reveals that Britain's Defence budget is the world's third largest - we spend more than Russia - that between them Britain and France spend virtually the same as China, and, if we include Germany, member states of the EU spend

considerably more. It doesn't take an economic genius to work out that a common European army would provide considerable savings for the beleaguered taxpayer struggling with the consequences of the reckless behaviour of international banking.
   But that would mean ceding some of Britain's mythical independence, relinquishing its 'special relationship' as the US's most supine client state.