Who runs Britain? UKIP. The nasty party ha sold its soul to the nutters.

Terrifying for a representational democracy to be throwing big decisions at yes/no referenda! Terrifying that we have no politicians with ideals they can stick to other than preserving their own power even if they don't know what to do with it. David Cameron is so desperate to be re-elected he will do whatever it takes, at the cost of being remembered as the worst prime minister in a century. And with Tony Blair sharing the century, that is saying something. A brave and wise politician would realise that it is non-EU immigration that raises hackles most easily. None of them realise that joining the real free movement Schengen accord which includes non-EU Norway, Iceland and Switzerland, we could do far more to counter the major source of immigration: from outside the EU. We could then impose the points system or whatever we want. But that would take blue sky thinking and all we have are dullards with their heads in the clouds. 

Ukraina - on the edge

Always said that the only solution for Ukraine was a ceasefire followed by negotiations on a new federal structure guaranteeing ethnic Russians their rights. Putin would have accepted that from the beginning. Making Russia a pariah state serves nobody's interest. All Putin wanted was to secure his military base in Crimea plus rights of ethnic Russians. Not saying he doesn't dream if more but it is not in the agenda. To most Russians Eastern Ukraine was not a foreign country invaded but a part of the motherland accidentally severed when internal Soviet era administrative lines became national borders. What we ate seeing now is a long overdue realignment. Rattling sabres is ridiculous, especially by the wrong headed David Cameron desperate for any war to save his job, without thinking he might lose both!

Scotland the brave!!

Hootananny for a pint before Inverness literary festival gig. Great food. Proper Scottish from the Cullen skink to the lamb stovies. Decent beer. Music later. Secondhand tables, candles, vermillion walls, nice staff. Could be in Berlin! YES signs in lampposts outside. Scotland doesn't need the imperialist euro phobic English tie. It could and should  be a European nation in its own right!! Go for it , Scotland. Don't be cowed! 

First time I've ever put same post here and on 'beer among friends' 

Beware of the Boris

London's shamelessly populist mayor Boris Johnson is now prepared to jump on the ukip bandwagon that has turned David Cameron's conservatives back into the nasty party and threatens to make Britain the nasty country of Europe! Why do politicians strive for power when all they will achieve as in tony blair's case will be the condemnation of history? 

The view from across the (other) channel

Sitting on a rooftop terrace bar in Tangier the continuing ructions in Brutain over 'Europe' seem depressingly infantile. Antique politicos from a generation that lost its way and failed to find another, such as the absurdly Francophile pro-UKIP Nigel Lawson ( he would prefer to be called a milord) get up and spout about leaving the EU (he might have forgotten about his future need to register as an alien in his French bolt hole - and don't talk about the Swiss and Norwegians  not having to, Nige, they are in Schengen). But worst of all is that nobody seems to realise that it's not just about the economy,stupid. It's about a sense of belonging in the world, to a community that attracts others and looks to the future, not to a vanished imperial past that has long lost its lustre. Britain's politicians seem wearily short-sighted and timid, when the only answer to every big question is 'yesterday' and never 'tomorrow'.

 Couldn't be more different to modern Morocco, a country realigning itself to fit not just with its former colonial masters, and the wealthy Gulf co religionists but also with sun-Saharan Africa. I see here a society challenged by the catastrophic events that have rocked the Arab world inthw past three years, incompetently meddled in by Britain and France, until we wished up over Syria; but a country facing those challenges and inventing its own answers in relation to history, geography and the world of tomorrow. Britain could learn a lesson; but when has it ever done so?

Who's listening to Europe?

Morocco for a start! Local papers all taking pains to point out government reforms not going as fast as EU would like for furthering cooperation. That is seen as something deeply to be desired here. EU moroccan copperation seem as good for the economy and democracy and therefore for more relaxed attitude to religion. Islam here is tolerant and society functional. And Europe has gone a lot to help! 

Clegg means well but can't cut it

Well done to nick clegg for taking on the foolish but dangerous farage. Just a shame he wasn't up to it. Where was the passion? The horror some of us would feel at having to surrender our internationally recognised maroon passports for the dreaded old pomp of a vanished empire, whose brittannic majesty's sec iof state demsnds no let or hindrance while at the time being main imposer of said hindrances? The horror of having to apply for a Schengen visa to nip to Paris on Eurostar? Not to mention Clegg's own appalling idea of passport checks on leaving the uk which would serve no purpose and make the lives of us most hindered travellers in Europe infinitely worse!! And the Brits abroad who would be forced to re register asaliens  with their local pice as we had to back in 1970s. But Nick tell us of the glories of our ancient common culture from Renaissance to reformation, to our common history which goes far beyond the sad restricted story of 'two world wars and one works cup'. British politicians in Europe are cowards not heroes, standing up only for what they think will get them re-elected even if that invariably means pandering to the lowest common denominator. Don't fight Farage on his own ground, Nick, redefine yours, ours. Europe is where we live. Don't let the nasty nationalist drag us out of the house and into the cold! 

Faragesky? Or just same old Farago?

Nigel Farage in his radio/tv debate with Nick Clegg accused the EU of having 'blood on its hands' over Ukraine, alleging that we encourage anti-Russian campaigners to provoke Russian retaliation by deposing the elected president Yanukovich. This is an argument - like most of Mr Farage's - wildly out of kilter with the European and British political mainstream, which is not to say there is no truth in it, but it does raise a more interesting point: if EU states can meddle in Russian interests, what about Mr Putin meddling in EU interests, notably by encouraging Farage and co to strike a blow at the EU by encouraging British secession.
Amusingly - up to a point - protesters in the eastern Ukrainian, but largely ethnically Russian - city of Donetsk recently launched a (not wholly serious) campaign for their region to secede from Ukraine and join, not United Russia (Mr Putin's political party) but the United Kingdom, on the rather spurious grounds that their city was founded by a Welshman (coal mining tycoon Thomas Hughes).
Entertaining if hardly serious. But can it be that in Putin, Farage sees a like-minded soul, encouraging a vision of his country's past and future based on nostalgia and populism? In which case, what if Putin sees the same in Farage, a man who promises a UK either semi-detached or completely detached from the rest of Europe, a playground, investment centre, and virtual tax-haven for the Russian rich? What fun he could have! Weakening the EU's clout by removing one important member, and at the same time diminishing that former member's role as a vector of US influence in Europe!! Of course, Putin has described the UK as 'just a small island', but then Crimea was just a small peninsula. Watch those contributions to UKIP coffers closely.