29th November 2009

I see that Thierry Henry, the French footballer, is all over the news for his 'hand of God' efforts to secure World Cup entry for France. At least I was able to watch on free French TV. Why isn't Britain allowed free access to show nationalistic spirit any more?
However, like Henry and Maradonna before him, everyone today will 'spin' or out-manoevre everything and everybody to achieve easy success for themselves. Whether it's reality TV, football or even politics, you must win at all costs.
Similarly, there is spin and 'corruption' in the slow build-up to a new EU State. It's never the best 'man' for the job any more - merely a way to progress hidden agendas. The unknown English Baroness was given a new role merely so that the former French foreign minister Michel Barnier could be named as new financial man for the EU. There were the usual howls of dissent from Britain, but what could they expect? How could you choose a British EU financier when they hadn't even embraced the euro?
However, a new EU nation is definitely rising. Whether you like it or not, a new (more moderate) power has risen from the ashes of continual war - to rival America in the global power stakes. It'll be interesting to see what comes next. Will current countries become individual 'States' of a new federalist Europe? Will they keep their identities or slowly merge into one autonomous whole? For me, all that matters is world peace. Everything else comes second.