Dennis Macshane: Bewails the loss of British owned homes in Southern France
We might be in the midst of an historic economic crisis, but is always good to know that Labour politicians have their finger on the pulse of popular suffering. Yesterday in a comment piece in the evening standard, Macshane opined:
“The saddest sights in south-west France and on the Spanish Mediterranean costas are British citizens handing back to estate agents the keys of the houses they bought but can no longer afford to keep, as their pounds from back home don’t cover the bills.”
Yes I am quite sure that right now in Spain – where unemployment is running at 17 per cent, this really is the saddest sight.
Reader Comments
Sounds to me like they’re in need of the world’s smallest violinist.
They should all check this out then:
http://theworldssmallestviolin.com/
Unless they’re feeling particularly angry, in which case they should go here:
http://www.khaaan.com/
For all we know they might have gone to Spain/France to start a new life, selling up everything, and now they’ve lost what they had.
I don’t think socialists or your good selves should gloat over the misfortune’s which afflict others.
I believe McShane’s central point is that if Britain had the euro then that might not necessarily be such a problem.
Personally I can’t see the benefits of holding on to the pound, or even imperial measures, they are relics from the past. But then the British have such a problem accepting in fact that they are in Europe, come what may.
Maybe more Brits should go aboard?
I’m also in favour of joining the Euro, I think the benefits outweigh the drawbacks.
The Euro could encourage more Brits to travel and work abroad, might open up their horizons a bit too?
To call the pound a ‘relic’ is shallow and dangerous. The seriousness of the pound/euro debate for our future prosperity and democracy is worthy of more than such empty posturing. The age of our currency is a total irrelevance to its continued utility.
To me the pound is a symbol of flexible and democratic control over our economy. While the economic merits of the euro remain highly debatable, in any case exactly how much extra cash is the maintenance of democracy worth?
There was a time when for some years the pound was very strong against the euro. People living abroad cashed in then, probably short-sightedly buying beyond what was affordable thinking those economic circumstances would last forever. They never do. So forgive my lack of sympathy if they failed to prepare for things to change.
I’d rather that had to happen than business owners had to hand their keys to the bank and put people out of work, had the pound not recently been able to devalue against the euro.
MacShane is known for his long-held obsession with Britain transferring every area of government to remote European institutions that are beyond the meaningful control of ordinary people. He will latch onto any circumstance that appears to support that objective, however transitory. For him, the politics of euro entry trumps everything, so the last thing anyone should do is take his economic opinions seriously.