Comments for THE HONEYBALL BUZZ

Comment on European Parliament makes strong progress on outlawing counterfeiting by Glyn Moody

Glyn Moody — Thu, 31 May 2012 09:18:03 +0000

Thanks for putting this up – I’m very happy to see my MEP addressing this important issue. However, I’m afraid that ACTA will have only marginal effects on counterfeiting, despite its claims: specifically it will have no effect on this problem in the EU, as proved by the EU’s own figures.

The European Commission has emphasised the damage that counterfeit goods are doing to the European economy, and the threat they represent to jobs. Here, for example, is what it said in its latest ACTA press release (http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/12/354&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en):

“ACTA is an international trade agreement that will help countries work together to tackle more effectively large-scale Intellectual Property Rights violations. Citizens will benefit from ACTA because it will help protect Europe’s raw material – innovations and ideas

…

As Europe is losing billions of Euros annually through counterfeit goods flooding our markets, protecting Intellectual Property Rights means protecting jobs in the EU. It also means consumer safety and secure products.

The EU’s national customs authorities have registered that counterfeit goods entering the EU have tripled between 2005 and 2010.

Statistics published by the European Commission in July 2011 show a tremendous upward trend in the number of shipments suspected of violating IPR. Customs in 2010 registered around 80,000 cases, a figure that has almost doubled since 2009. More than 103 million fake products were detained at the EU external border.”

But the Commission’s own statistics on counterfeiting, referred to above, have the following to say (http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/11/506&format=HTML&aged=0&language=en&guiLanguage=en):

“In 2010, 85% of the total amount of articles infringing IPR came from China. This represents an important increase compared to 2009 (64%). Other countries were the main source of provenance for different product categories, notably Turkey for foodstuff, Thailand for non-alcoholic beverages, Hong Kong for memory cards and India for medicines.

None of those countries is a signatory to ACTA. This means that even if ratified, ACTA will have zero effect on those countries’ output of counterfeits. ACTA will only affect signatories, and the only signatory that is mentioned in the Commission’s own list of top counterfeits is Greece, which supplies 0.91% of counterfeit goods in the EU. In other words, 99.09% of counterfeit goods will be unaffected if ACTA goes into effect. ACTA will do nothing to protect European citizens against counterfeits, which must be tackled with the laws we already have. We simply don’t need ACTA.

Comment on An answer to the democratic deficit as Ireland votes by Martin

Martin — Thu, 31 May 2012 08:48:15 +0000

“On the other side we have assorted, mainly right-wing, doom-sayers predominantly from the UK.”
There are also important voices on the left.

Comment on Britian would be a political pygmy without the EU by Martin

Martin — Wed, 30 May 2012 11:10:54 +0000

… oh and I would be very wary of the Economist: I remember the Economist backing Beeching, what sort of economist is that.
My prediction is that if the attempts to keep Greece in the Euro are remotely respectable, they will still be out in three years, and the Euro will finally break up in seven years.
This is nevertheless a ‘naive prediction’ using as a benchmark the UK under Wilson in 1964: devaluation took place in ’67 and floating rates among the major currencies finally came about in 1971.

Comment on Britian would be a political pygmy without the EU by Martin

Martin — Wed, 30 May 2012 11:03:04 +0000

The fact of the matter is that we don’t know whaehter UK would be a political pygmy or not.
We have a lot of clout through being able to fix our own interest rates and effect quantitative easing.

Comment on Child safety online is taken up by the European Parliament by Derrington

Derrington — Sat, 19 May 2012 15:05:25 +0000

I don’t really think the majority of politicians are really getting to grips with the real menace that certain parts of the internet have become to women and children;s safety and freedom, fuelled by violent internet porn. The prevalence of hate speech along gender and race lines, paedophilic imagery such as shaved genitals and body hurting and dangerous sexual practices euphorically called ‘acting’ is creating a toxic lense through which men and boys see us. Saying that pornography is fantasy is a bit like saying that shooting actors for real in a film is acting. It isnt, and the porn industry is being disingenuous in refering to their output as fantasy. The sexual actions they film are actually being done to another real person and portrayed as being pleasurable. To keep trying to protect children and young girls by constantly trying to get them to run away faster and protect themselves rather than dealing with an industry that is totally out of control, is a bit like slamming the gate shut after the horse has bolted and is kicking seven bells out of two thirds of the community. Until politicians begin to see the internet as a place that requires regulation of behaviour for the good of all, then it is still a gateway to toxic socialisation of young people and adults alike.

Comment on Women would be worse off without the EU by modafinil paypal uk

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Comment on Cameron should show less arrogance towards Eurozone leaders by Martin

Martin — Thu, 17 May 2012 10:04:14 +0000

The EU can indeed be criticised for over-cutting, and eventually they too will achieve a double-dip recession in a very messy way – almost certainly worse than here.
What Cameron should be urging is the Quantitive easing which Cameron himself has done to the some extent (and is able to.)

Comment on Ed Miliband should follow Merkel’s example and campaign for Hollande in the same way as she is for Sarkozy by Maïté Bastillette

Maïté Bastillette — Mon, 14 May 2012 11:07:50 +0000

Me voilà franchement désapointée.J’ai choisi François Hollande au 2eme tour d’abord parce que je croyais au changement qui était promis et à la conception d’une équipe irréprochable. Quelle déception de constater que François Hollande nomme comme 1er ministre Jean Marc Ayrault, qui est tout sauf irréprochable. Il a clairement était condamné à six mois de prison pour acte de favoritisme ! Grande déception !.

Comment on Cameron looks both ways on Lords reform by Martin

Martin — Thu, 10 May 2012 13:01:15 +0000

I would have preferred Cameron to have made concessions on matters affecting people’s pockets more… but then sometimes the LDs seem to prefer constitutional issues

Comment on Cameron looks both ways on Lords reform by Martin

Martin — Thu, 10 May 2012 12:21:26 +0000

the list system would make the change completely pointless unless it were a pure PR for one big constituency with no thresholds