Or we could give the EU (hell – why not governments generally) less power so the fruits of lobbying are reduced?

Any chance of that?

I do find it a bit odd that Friends of the Earth and 38 degrees are involved in an anti-lobbying campaign. It’s not as if they don’t lobby for their own purposes – although since they are not corporate (Friends of the Earth and Oxfam have corporate-style budgets mind you) this is presumably OK?

But I notice that Climate Change Legislation is up, so Friends of the Earth Europe will presumably have to be considered under this won’t they?

OK, you’re right about lobbying being a bad business and about the bank lobbies doing their best to gut reforms to banking regulations, but still your opening paras don’t score too well for accuracy … if we’re not even “considering regulating them” what are the bank lobbies lobbying against? Answer: we are considering regulating them – see Basel III plus various US and other EU country regulatory efforts (UK: Vickers Commission).

I’m not sure what you’re talking about with EU handing bankers a blank cheque. OK, bailing out governments with debt problems also bails out banks that own the debt, I presume that’s what you mean (not quite a blank cheque). also it sounds like you think you are against both bailouts and austerity making me wonder what you do favour, a round of sovereign defaults and another global financial crisis?

Let’s put an end once and for all to lobbying by big NGOs. At least the corporates frequently have some idea what they’re talking about.

I do find it a bit odd that Friends of the Earth and 38 degrees are involved in an anti-lobbying campaign.

A terrible attempt at equivalence – you can go to the websites of the above orgs and find out who funds them and where that money goes to.

You can’t do the same with these corporate lobbyists (or with this website… mwahahahahaha!)

Sunny,

Wierdly though, I trust this website.

And I generally reckon that it might be a good idea to assume the people paying lobbyists are those who will benefit from their suggestions. But I would support anything making the process transparent that had a chance of working.

None of which removes my concern about the wierdness of well-known lobbying organisations lobbying for lobbying to be improved…

Wierdly though, I trust this website.

You shouldn’t do… mwahahahahahaha!! (ok, I’ll stop that now).

Hey, if one nunch of lobby groups lobby to improve lobbying, why exactly are you complaining? Don’t we all want more transparency? Not all lobbying groups are against it. Unless you think all lobby groups are inherently bad?

.The mainstream media keep telling us that Ireland needs bailing out. No, it is the banks that need bailing out, AGAIN. The corporate masters of the universe need shed loads of more welfare to help them out.

No wonder Pip Squeak could not wait to rush to a microphone and wave away British money to bail out his banking mates.

The banks have this great con game going. Lend loads of money in the private sector, and then watch as private debt, magically gets turned into public debt.

@Watchman – The difference lies in the fact that all of the NGO listed above fully participate in being utterly transparent in their actions – for example they are in the current ‘voluntary’ EU lobbying register.

They also lack power in terms of financial lobbying. They do not form so-called “expert groups” and are not involved in Conflict of Interest enquiries.

Our lobbying is limited in the Commission anyway as we do not necessarily have economic/trade ties. As power is held in the hands of the Commission and not so much in Parliament, our lobbying power is limited.

@Luis Enrique – Basel III is pretty much a joke in Financial Reform circles. It’s been watered down so much by financial lobbyists that its weighting is negligible. In fact, the US with the Dodd-Frank Act is miles ahead of us in reforms but the Commission won’t agree to anything similar as they argue that “Europe is not America”. Irony, when in terms of the Tobin tax they then argue that it has to be an international affair.

In terms of a blank cheque – bailing out the banks wouldn’t have been necessary if the bonuses and salaries paid weren’t extortionately high. Banks have been able to get away with high risk speculation, now knowing the government will bail them out. (I believe Stiglitz says that this is called the ‘Greenspan/Bernanke put’ in the US?)

I’m not against bailouts, but I am against austerity. I believe that regulation, higher taxes and restrictions on the pay gap between rich & poor is the only way we can rebuild the economy.

There are many different kinds of needles on the market, from plain plastic needles to metal, glass, bamboo, woods and many other materials. There are straight needles and circular needles (not to mention double-pointed needles). All of this can be pretty confusing to a beginner. How do you know what needle is right for you?

First, go needle shopping with a project in mind. When you’re a more experienced knitter just looking to build up your supplies, you can buy needles with no particular project in mind, but when you’re first starting out, it’s best to buy only the needles you need.

The pattern you choose will say what sized needle was used to complete the project. That’s the size needle you should go looking for. At your local yarn shop or craft store, there will be a limited number of materials for each type of needle, probably plastic, metal and bamboo or wood.

Different knitters like different needles for different reasons. Many knitters love bamboo or wooden needles because of their warmth, the natural feel in the hands, and the comforting but quiet clicking sound they make. They’re also good for knitting slick yarns because the needles have a bit of friction, which can help keep the stitches from sliding off the needles. Wooden needles are a great choice for beginners for the same reason.

Metal needles are heavy, sturdy and hard to break. Their slickness makes for quick knitting, but can also make it easy to slide your work right off the needles. Metal needles are also cold, so they’re not great for knitting in the winter. The metallic clicking of these needles is also annoying to some.

Plastic needles are similar to wooden or bamboo needles in terms of lightness and smoothness, but they lack warmth. They’re also very smooth like metal needles so they allow you to knit quickly. They are more flexible than other needles.

Try out different needles to see which kind you like. Odds are you’ll have a favorite in no time!

Nishma

I don’t know what financial regulatory circles you move in, but you are wrong to think Basel III is so negligible to amount to ‘not even considering regulating them’. Everybody agrees it’s not enough, but it’s something. Unless you are making an argument about how bonuses created the behaviour that led us to this situation, the sentence: “bailing out the banks wouldn’t have been necessary if the bonuses and salaries paid weren’t extortionately high” is just nonsense.

FoE Europe? You mean these guys?

“For the financial year 2010, Friends of the Earth Europe gratefully acknowledges funding from:

EU Commission Directorate General (DG) Environment; EuropeAid; Executive Agency for Competitiveness and Innovation (EACI); Education, Audiovisual & Culture Executive Agency (EACEA);”

You mean the people who get 50% of their budget from the EU in order to pay for their lobbying the EU?

Yer ‘avin a larff, ain’tcha?

Luis Enrique – I concur that Basel III is not entirely useless but I fear that it proposes a false solution (like putting a plaster on a broken leg and calling it mended rather than strapping it up and letting it heal). That’s no surprise when you ask those who created the collapse to come up with an alternative model.

In terms of the bonuses/high salaries situation, I would argue that these fail to work as an incentive to be more productive, but as an incentive to take high risks without worrying about the consequences.

Until we have management which has a vested interest in ensuring the long-term stability of the bank instead of short-term profits, market volatility will continue.

Tim Worstall – Not going to say much, but I think you should look into what FoEE does instead of assuming all they do is lobby. We don’t have financial powers to sway decisions. We use evidence and democracy and present that. None of us are trained in lobbying – we don’t outsource our lobbying to companies either.

Also, you may note that the Worst Lobbying Awards are distinct ways of cleaning up lobbying and keeping it transparent, not banning it entirely.