BBC:New European chemical law passed

The European Parliament has backed a deal, reached with EU governments, on wide-ranging legislation to control the use of toxic chemicals in industry. The draft law will come into force in 2007, and is designed to make firms prove the many chemicals they use in products from cars to clothes are safe.

It comes after wrangling between environmentalists wanting action and firms seeking to avoid laborious rules. EU nations will have until 2018 to implement the new rules.

The system for registration, evaluation and authorisation of chemicals (Reach) demands that firms provide lists of the chemicals they use and list any possible risks. A newly-established agency in Finland will oversee the way the firms assess the 30,000 chemicals they use.

The register will initially focus on the most toxic chemicals and those produced in the largest quantity.

Manufacturers will have to come up with plans to replace the most hazardous chemicals, but they will not be banned outright as environmentalists had hoped.

While the EU said the deal improved the safety standard of chemicals, green lobbyists were angered by what they saw as the EU bowing to industry pressure.

more, after the break

From the diaries - whataboutbob

Britons are now the most closely watched people on the planet and fears that the UK could "sleep-walk into a surveillance society" may soon become a become a reality. This last quote is not from a spokesperson of a civil liberties group but from the UK government's own information commissioner, Richard Thomas.

This story is getting quite a bit of play in the UK media today. The BBC has a good article on the piece...

The report's co-writer Dr David Murakami-Wood told BBC News that, compared to other industrialised Western states, the UK was "the most surveilled country".
"We have more CCTV cameras and we have looser laws on privacy and data protection," he said.

"We really do have a society which is premised both on state secrecy and the state not giving up its supposed right to keep information under control while, at the same time, wanting to know as much as it can about us."

The report coincides with the publication by the human rights group Privacy International of figures that suggest Britain is the worst Western democracy at protecting individual privacy.

My editorial is below the fold...

Harry's Place: Murdoch tells Tony its time to go

Rupert Murdoch has given Tony Blair his marching orders. Rupert wants David Cameron and Gordon Brown to poll dance for him for 18 months so he can make up his mind on who he is going to back.

Murdoch has long seen himself as king maker and Blair hasn't helped matters with his willingness to appear as a star performer in the Murdoch global media circus.

He spells out exactly what he is looking for in one of his own titles, The Australian today:

"We've been a very big supporter of Tony on big issues, he's been a very courageous world leader. We've also been critical of him on other things like Europe.

"But for no reason other than the dynamics of British politics we would like to see at least a year to 18 months' standoff between Gordon Brown and David Cameron so we can decide which of those most coincides with our views.

"Those two are going to decide the next election and I think the British public would be cheated if they only got a month or two's warning."

And from the Austrailian article referenced by HP...

Guardian:If it's English vote for English law, the UK's end is nigh

Helped along by the St George's crosses fluttering from every second car and the "Ingerlands" being chanted from pub pavements, the "English question" is back on the agenda. It goes way beyond the World Cup fever though - it's not about the strengths and weakness of the England football team. It is the old West Lothian Question rebranded - and it has still not been answered.

First asked in 1977 by the Labour backbencher Tam Dalyell, it has been rediscovered by every rightwing paper and pundit. The question is simple. Once powers have been devolved to the Edinburgh parliament over health, education or whatever, why should MPs sitting for Scottish seats be allowed to vote on such issues at Westminster? They are then making policy not for their constituents but for other people's. Is this not a question of fairness, and are the English not being given a raw deal?

More, after the break...

More countries to enter the EU? From the diaries - whataboutbob

if the others are eating... promoted by DoDo

Interesting article/polemic from The Guardian

This was the gist of the news: baked beans on toast, Britain's most popular convenience food, was about to get even more convenient. "Instant" baked beans on toast, a frozen, fused sandwich that goes in the toaster, is to be tested by Heinz in New Zealand and if successful, launched in the UK. It's the subject that everyone is talking about, but you have to ask: why are they doing it?

Why indeed. More after the break

From The BBC. The Company might be French but the striking militants hail from another place.

Unions say they are considering industrial action over the news that 2,300 workers will lose their jobs when a Warwickshire car plant closes.

It follows the announcement that the Peugeot plant at Ryton, near Coventry, will close by mid-2007.

A union spokesman said industrial action may not be taken straight away but they intended to fight the company's decision.

Production at the Warwickshire plant has halted while staff attend meetings.

Peugeot has blamed high production and logistical costs for the decision.

My apologies if this has already been posted. It is an article about a new book, That Sweet Enemy, by Isabelle and Robert Tombs about the relationship between Britain and France.  The article is just fabulous.

The Guardian's Security Affairs Editor posted this entry to Comment is Free. An interesting anaysisreview piece on the state of Britain and the USA'a relationship.

Meanwhile, Tony Blair agreed that Britain would take the lead in eradicating the opium harvest in Afghanistan, the origin of 90% of British heroin. In his new book, State of War, James Risen quotes a CIA official as saying: "The British were screaming for us to bomb those targets because most of the heroin in Britain comes from Afghanistan. But they [the US military] refused." He writes: "The Pentagon feared that counter-narcotics operations would force the military to turn on the very warlords who were aiding the United States against the Taliban and that would lead to another round of violent attacks on American troops."

Tony Blair gave a speech on Europe, and the European Union last night. It is quite an interesting speech; meant mostly for domestic consumption. It packs a puch

Herein lies Britain's - and Europe's - opportunity.  The British problem with our membership of the EU may derive from the curious and tortured circumstances of its birth.  But long since, it has taken on a unique life of its own.  The dilemma of a British Prime Minister over Europe is acute to the point of the ridiculous.  Basically you have a choice: co-operate in Europe and you betray Britain; be unreasonable in Europe, be praised back home, and be utterly without influence in Europe.  It's sort of: isolation or treason.

More from the silver tongued devil after the break

This was sent to me in an email. Apparently it was a submission, from a Swiss gentleman, to a British newspaper regarding the question: what it means to be British?

"Being British is about driving in a German car to an Irish pub for A Belgian beer, then travelling home, grabbing an Indian curry or a Turkish kebab on the way, to sit on Swedish furniture and watch American shows on a Japanese TV. And the most British thing of all? Suspicion of anything foreign."

Hah! Hah!

During the recent Conservative Party leadership campaign David Cameron, the eventual winner, pledged to pull the Tories' MEP out of the EPP-ED Grouping. He did this to buy support from the Eurosceptic wing of the Party - I know, I know they are all Europhobic - by Eurosceptic Tories I mean single issue obsessives. Anyhoo, this should get the very crazy wing of the British Conservative Party frothing at the mouth. From The Guardian

Angela Merkel, Germany's new chancellor, has made her first intervention in British politics by issuing a veiled warning to David Cameron to pull back from abandoning the main centre-right grouping in the European parliament.

Days after Kenneth Clarke accused the new Tory leader of embracing the "head-banging tendency" in Strasbourg, Mrs Merkel has written to Mr Cameron to make clear she expects him to remain in the EPP-ED grouping.

"I look forward to good and intensive cooperation with you, in particular within the framework of the EPP-ED as a clear base for our bilateral dialogue as partners," Mrs Merkel wrote. "I wish you all the best for the tasks that lie ahead."

2pm
Merkel warns Cameron over MEP plans

Nicholas Watt, European editor
Thursday December 15, 2005

Angela Merkel, Germany's new chancellor, has made her first intervention in British politics by issuing a veiled warning to David Cameron to pull back from abandoning the main centre-right grouping in the European parliament.

Days after Kenneth Clarke accused the new Tory leader of embracing the "head-banging tendency" in Strasbourg, Mrs Merkel has written to Mr Cameron to make clear she expects him to remain in the EPP-ED grouping.

"I look forward to good and intensive cooperation with you, in particular within the framework of the EPP-ED as a clear base for our bilateral dialogue as partners," Mrs Merkel wrote. "I wish you all the best for the tasks that lie ahead."

The carefully worded intervention is a shot across the bows to warn Mr Cameron that the Tories' relations with Europe's largest country will plummet if he carries out his threat.

Her intervention will strengthen the hand of pro-European Tories who are dismayed by Mr Cameron's pledge to pull out of the EPP-ED grouping on the grounds that it is fiercely pro-European.

Now, the next part is quite interesting. The sort of parties the Eurosceptic right expect Cameron's Conservatives to hang out with are a little unsavoury. Cameron has pledged to make the Conservatives more social inclusive and tolerent. Some of the homophobic opions his new friends will leave him open to accusations of moral hypocrisy.

from the diaries. Text bumped below the fold. See also the map of light pollution below --Jérôme.

Guardian:Rumours of a riot

It started with a claim that a young black woman had been raped in a shop - and exploded into a race riot that left a man dead. But what was the truth behind the rumour that set Birmingham alight? Ed Vulliamy investigates

From the front page

Blair defeated over terror laws

Prime Minister Tony Blair has lost the key House of Commons vote on plans to allow police to hold terror suspects without charge for up to 90 days.

MPs rejected the proposals by 322 votes to 291. They are now voting on whether to accept a compromise detention limit.

The defeat came despite Mr Blair saying MPs had a "duty" to give police the powers they needed to tackle terrorism.

The vote - the government's first Commons defeat - will be seen as a blow to the prime minister's authority.

But it does not mean he will have to stand down as prime minister - something he has said he will do before the next election.

Blair defeat Politics Europe

   
What cocaine says about you

A model is caught on camera snorting a line and is vilified; a would-be prime minister refuses to deny using it in the past - and nobody seems to care. Cocaine used to mean moral degeneracy or metropolitan indulgence. What on earth does it stand for now?

Intersting article about drug use in the UK.

Promoted by Jerome a Paris. Le Monde states that both Turkey and Cyprus have accepted the compromise, but does not provide more detail on its content. Please provide below any info you may find.

From the BBC

EU foreign ministers have reached a deal clearing the way for accession talks with Turkey to begin, EU officials have said.

Austria had demanded the EU keep open the option of "privileged partnership" for Turkey, as well as full membership.

But officials said after intense negotiations in Luxembourg that Austria had fallen into line.

The new document has been sent to the Turkish government, which is considering whether to accept it.

I wonder what the deal was?

This is taken directly from TPMCafe.com

Here is a little scoop for TPMCafé: Bill Kristol, Robert Kagan, Gary Schmitt and other members of PNAC (the Project for a New American Century) are launching a new club called "Committee for a Strong Europe." They just began inviting politicians and pundits from both side of the Atlantic to join. The honorary chairmen will be the former Spanish prime minister José Maria Aznar and Senator John McCain.

By "Strong Europe", of course, they don't mean "A Europe in which governments would be strong enough to say no to any crazy American military invasion plan,"  but the statement of principle of the committee is so broadly crafted than many people could sign it. The purpose is to promote democracy, to have a stronger economy, to keep confidence in our values, etc.

However, knowing where this statement comes from, when I read  "We believe both the United States and Europe should invest adequately in their armed forces so as to have strong militaries capable of serving in a wide variety of missions around the world",  I can't help but hear a little whispering voice adding: "it's especially true for you, you goddamn tight-fisted European wimps!"

For the original link:
http://www.tpmcafe.com/story/2005/10/2/13718/6784
and their statement
http://libe-usa.blogs.com/CSE.html

Some thoughts:

I can't help but feel that this has more to do with just military spending.

I was under the impression that a strong, and unified Europe was something the neo-cons oppossed. Is this a change in strategy or a spilt?

Promoted from the diaries ~ whataboutbob

Poly Tonybee believes that the British Government is too scared to admit it's own culpability in the Gate Gourmet scandal. She is probably right.

The spectacle of the Gate Gourmet picket line will linger on in public memory. The sight of low-paid, middle-aged Asian women in unaccustomed revolt will stay indelibly linked to BA, which so cavalierly contracted out its reputation along with its lowest-paid workers. Desperate to recover its mistake, BA has offered Gate Gourmet an extra £10m to help resolve the dispute.

But that £10m has a certain delicious resonance. David Bonderman, the US financial tycoon who founded and runs Gate Gourmet's parent company, spent exactly that same sum on his birthday party recently. He hired Bellagio, LA's most extravagant casino, and entertained his guests by hiring the Rolling Stones and Robin Williams. He is estimated to be worth about £15bn. His Gate Gourmet employees, however, were on £12,000 until they were sacked to hire cheaper agency workers, mainly from Somalia and Eastern Europe. "That's the way the world is," wrote one airline analyst this week, with a metaphorical shrug. "That's globalisation", as if gross inequity were immutable destiny - which it is not.

Charming.

Larry Elliott, The Guardian's economics editor has some commentry on the recent scraping of the Multi-Fibre Agrement; and Europe's ( mostly ) succesfull attempts to save both face and textile jobs

This week, however, reports that there are shiploads of ladies underwear lurking in the English Channel due to a decision to limit imports from China, have elevated trade to the lead item on the BBC news. And, while it is tempting to dismiss "bra wars" as a typical silly season story - especially since there are actually no boat loads of D cups at anchor off Dover - there is more to it than that.

more after the break...

It would seem that Interior Ministers of the Big5 ( France, Germany, Italians, Spanish and the Brits ) European States were meeting in Evian today.

The French interior minister, Nicholas Sarkozy, sounded the death knell for the 50-year-old Franco-German alliance yesterday and suggested instead a core group of six European states.

Mr Sarkozy, who is a potential candidate for the French presidency in 2007 and who has fraught relations with the president, Jacques Chirac, said the Franco-German alliance was no longer practical in an EU of 25 states.

"In a Europe of six members, the engine was obviously Franco-German," Mr Sarkozy told Europe 1 radio. "A Europe of 25 needs an engine of five at first and probably six, with Poland."