Derek Evans Thoughts

The UK and the EU: in or out of the Union? | euronews, the network The problem with the EU is that it is changing what it wants to be and that change irritates those countries that have differing agendas across areas where EU agreement in participation is not guraranteed such as defence. The UK is not alone to some extent with this viewpoint, the Nordic members are in a similar position regarding the mission that the EU has. So what is the purpose of the EU and where is it going. Well it was a European Economic Community, based on breaking down trade barriers and valuing the ability to buy and sell on a cross-border basis, without excessive red tape. What it is becoming is a supra-national state encompassing all the remits of a normal national parliament of economics, internal relations, foreign relations, defence, education etc. Put together with a situation where there are multiple currencies in a free market global economy and you increase the tensions, as valuations are dependent

If you have not kept up with the news then one you have missed is the taking out of children from a fostering environment in Rotherham and the reason given was that these people had voted for UKIP and that that was detrimental to the children they were fostering at the time. Naturally the facts have not been fully given, spin is all that seems to be endemic in this day and age so it is difficult for real comments and analysis to be undertaken without some form of if statements. We are aware that these children had been taken out of their parents and placed with this couple in emergency. This is common as sometimes the time from finding out about children at risk and action being undertaken is short. It must be considered that although the aftermath may not be particularly pleasant, the health and safety and general wellbeing of children take priority so it is a better to be safe than sorry measure that social workers are required to take. There have been too many Baby P etc. and as l

I have a new smartphone. The phone plan that has enabled me to have this phone is in my opinion very good even though it is a 24 month contract. However, what is really scaring me is how easy it is to now become connected with apps and websites unexpectedly such as Google plus or the television screen in the next room when showing a photo to a member of the family. Technology is all very good but is this just another egotistical fix or a way of losing one's privacy without knowing it.

July 3rd 2012, and Robert "Bob" Diamond, CEO of Barclays Bank resigned from his post following the further revelations of inappropriate business practices at the bank, relating to the setting of the London Inter-Bank Interest Rate or LIBOR. This follows the now infamous sounding out of the tax avoidance, or could it have been actually evasion schemes that the wealth management arm of the bank had been found out on and subjected to investiagations by the UK's HMRC. July 4th and he is required to attend the Treasury sub-committee of the British Parliament. Credit should be given that he did actually attend, unlike the CEO of Kraft Foods, but his performance in trying to show innocence as a whistleblower does not stack up. This is a part of a pattern where the whole banking sector is trying to play against each other in more and more desparate ways in order to substantiate profitability and justification for extremely high basic and overall salary packages. Shareholders ar