Apologies for the absence of comment over the last few days. This was on account of a trip to Brussels on an official BNP trip to get a feel of the working of that undemocratic, unnecessary and expensive beast.
It was a tiring but worthwhile trip entailing only one night's sleep in 3 days.
Before we went to Brussels we visited the cemetries at Paschendale which commemorate the thousansds who died. The graves alone must cover 10 acres and the walls contain the names of 50,000 young lads slaughtered for what? The names on the gravestones brought a tear to my eyes, thinking of the mothers wives and chidren who lost their loved ones in this pointless war.
Soldiers from Lancashire regiments were prominent among the names and I thought of these poor lads from God's own county leaving to fight for what they had been told were their country's interests only to be mown down in this senseless slaughter.
Later after a short rest and meal we visited the Menin Gate where another 30,000 people were commemorated and the "Last Post" ceremony is still commemorated every night by British servicemen, a very moving occasion for all of us and pleasing to know their sacrifice has not been forgotten even after all these years.
I just hope their sacrifice has not been in vain but looking at our country now I wonder.
The names on the wall were overwhelminglyBritish and commonwealth people but to give them their due there were a few Indians who paid the ultimate price but these were outnumbered a thousand to one by British names.
The trip was an opportunity to meet with members from other areas and socialise with them which was very enjoyable, people from all over our country, united in love for country. The next day we visited the heart of the EU beast and were met by Andrew Brons who gave us a talk on the workings of the EU and giving examples of its undemocratic methods.
He explained that although we had only two members they had managed to make their presence felt by shrewd tactics and their ability to capitalise on the lazyness of EU members of other parties who often did not attend meetings. How he and Nick manage the schedule and keep in touch with their constituents I do not know, but they do which must be unique among other party's members.
They act as an irritant to the self centred "elite", a piece of grit in the oyster and have much more influence than their numbers would predict.
Nick appeared for a swift chat but had to rush off to speak against the "Climate Change expert" Paul Mc Cartney who we had seen entering the centre to give his views on the effects of eating meat on global warming (and no doubt promote the feminising soya based protein on which his late wife built a profitable business ). The fact that this non scientist was invited to address the EU Parliament shows how far from reality and sunk in mediocrity that organisation is. I trained in science and reckon I know a bit about it but I would not presume to advise him on song writing. Why do these media stars imagine their views on scientific matters have any special credibility astounds me. They are so self important they do not realise the very limited knowledge. We did see a vegetarian Indian advocating that if his diet was adopted the world could feed 4 billion people extra. If he was so interested in the man made climate change theory he would have been better employed advocating population control for his country and Sir Paul would be better cutting down his own emissions by flying less. The general thrust seemed to be we forgo a beef buttie so that they can continue flying and breeding.
We had to miss seeing this rather pointless debate with, it seemed most of the delegates absent (in the overheated building) and go for lunch and then home.
Before we went there was time for a photo opportunity and a informative talk by Andrew where he explained the waste (and carbon emissions) in moving the Parliament to Strasbourg once a month to suit the French and the fuel used by flying delegates from all over Europe for often very brief meetings which solve nothing.
After a meal of fish and chips (not as good as my wife's) we boarded the coach for a 12 hour journey home.
Tired though we are our thanks go to those who organised the trip which has enabled us to see first hand the idiocy of the EU and the exraordinary amount of work Nick and Andrew do both in the Parliament and their arduous journeys there to make our case for a free and democratic country.
That they have the time and energy to come to our local events amazes me.
We are truly fortunate in having the interests of our Party and country served by these two titans of the political class.
