Blogs 2 : 10th November

House crisis reality. Ironies Too (en)

A Panic cut in Interest Rates. Ironies Too (en)
" ... The media seems unanimous that the 1.5 per cent cut today is the first such a large cut since 1981. Looking at the Bank of England statistics page, here, I cannot see such an event in 1981 ...
... cut of 1.5 per cent from 4.5 per cent to 3.0 per cent is an historically massive decline of one third or 33.333r per cent and is totally without precedent and clearly an act of pure blind panic! ... "

Tracking: European parliament elections 2009 (XXIV) - supplemented. Julein Frisch, Watching Europe (en)
" ... http://www.eudebate2009.eu/eng/ The project is not yet launched, but as soon as it will air you will find, according to the description on the site:
an information site and a multilingual debate on the European elections in June 2009.We can expect to
read the latest news from the EU parliament, watch videos of Europe’s citizens, see opinion polls and campaign blogs, check our news on the politics and economy of Europe [...] EU candidate programmes? ..."

On not getting too excited. Nosemonkey, EUtopia (en)
" ... But, though a little bit of excitement and hyperbole is more than permissible on such an undeniably historic day, us non-Americans - perhaps especially us Europeans - shouldn’t get too excited by President Obama ... "

EU zombies react to credit crunch. Open Europe Blog (en)
" ... Sainsbury's spokesperson said: "We have been struggling to fit a square peg in a round hole for too long now when it comes to conforming to the more controversial elements of the EU regulations. We're not allowed to use up to 20 per cent of what's produced in this country and in the current crunch climate, we cannot continue to waste this much food before it even leaves the farms. Buying wonky veg would have saved cash-strapped Britons up to 40 per cent on some items such as carrots. It not only saves money, it also reduces waste and supports our British farmers." ..."

Polish political establishment. Vitaliy, The 8th Circle (en)
" ... These points miss fundamental changes in the Polish political establishment in the past decade and in the past year.
... 1) The Polish diaspora in the U.S. weighs very little influence today as it did in the 1980s and 1990s. Most of the Polish diaspora is not in Chicago, but works in the UK and Ireland ...
... 2) President Kaczyński’s policies toward Russia may have scored points with the “mohair berets” at home in 2005, but ultimately failed in the EU and abroad ...
... 3) After a year of the Tusk government, anti-Russian views hardly resonate for a large majority of the population at home… Many in Washington mistakenly believe that Poland gives unwavering support to the U.S. ...
... 4) Central Europeans, as members of NATO, are fully capable of handling a crisis emanating from Russia ...