Arch federalist Jean-Claude Juncker is just now beginning to look an interesting choice for President of the European Union.  Leaked documents show that in excess of 300 ‘sweetheart’ deals with multinational corporations were activated during his tenure as Prime Minister of Luxembourg.  With European partners scraping the barrel for income, it seems that Jean-Claude played beggar thy neighbour by saving billions in tax for corporations that traded in Europe.  What they did pay went into the Luxembourg coffers.   To avoid the possibility of legal actions, we must keep our minds on avoidance not evasion!  So, will Jean-Claude suffer for his immoral, rather than illegal behavior?  What a silly thought.  Of course he won’t.  He will simply keep his head down for a few weeks before continuing in his post as though nothing has come to light.  It seems likely that the EU won’t be getting their accounts signed off during Jean-Claude’s tenure.         

    I’m beginning to feel sorry for Ed Miliband.  As I read this, I still can’t believe I’ve written those words.  But as the brickbats fly from every side, many of them from his supporters, a serious nail has been knocked into his coffin.  Neil Kinnock has gone public to support him.  It’s a bit like the captain of the ill-fated Concordia running classes on navigation and leadership.  Perhaps Kinnock is going to teach Ed to walk on water.  Us older brethren remember when Kinnock tried it. Sadly the water wasn’t deep enough for the optimum result, but it never fails to make us laugh.  Ed’s brother, Washington based David Miliband, is CEO of the International Rescue Company, specialists in delivering aid to displaced peoples.  Maybe it’s time for Ed to start building bridges to the brother he shafted!  Meanwhile, Cameron must be praying that Ed survives as leader.  A replacement, any replacement as leader, would almost certainly guarantee a Labour majority.

    As another jihadi born in the UK turns suicide bomber, his family blame the British Government for allowing him to leave the country to fight for ISIS.  Perhaps they should look a little nearer  to home.

    We’ve always been fond of the Australian sense of humour and a 37-year-old bloke in Pilbara, Western Australia confirmed why.  In need of a drink, his car broken down, he detached the wings of his two-seater plane and taxied it all the way to the pub.  Unfortunately, that meant driving it down the main street of Pilbara.  He’s been arrested and charged with endangering lives.  We can only hope he got bailed before closing time!

    The Sun newspaper’s Dream Team fantasy football competition has lost what must have been one of their top prizes.  Readers can no longer win a date with a Page 3 model.  The Advertising Standards Authority received 1036 complaints about the potential prize, which caused the withdrawal.  We assume a large proportion of the complaints came from ‘real families’ in Birmingham.  The central sperm bank will also lose a significant number of deposits as entrants in the competition cease dreaming about winning the date.

    Education isn’t a subject that gets raised when we meet up for a beer, this week an exception.  National Union of Teachers representative Julie Davies is paid as a teacher, but hasn’t taught for 14 years.  Schools across Haringey in North London, pool funds to pay her £49,500/annum teacher’s salary while she works full time for the Union.  Many head teachers don’t want to continue to fund her being, hence the strike led by Davies.  It’s pretty obvious why she doesn’t want to see any change and we actually wondered if she still gets teachers holidays.  The big sufferers are the children and their parents; the children lose a portion of their education, the parents lose salary if they have to take time off work to look after their children.  The Union meantime using weasel words to say the children are their primary consideration.  We tried to think of a constructive solution, once the swearing stopped.  Keep funding Davies but insist she does two days a week in front of a class, with Ofsted monitoring her performance as a teacher.  We think retirement would soon become attractive.  In the meantime, it would be nice to see the parents affected by the strikes getting mobilised to expose this nonsense.  If ever there was a need for people power, it must be to challenge this blatant misuse of taxpayer’s money.