I am opening the kitchen drawer. . .

. . . and I'm removing my tin foil hat.

Why?

Well, isn't funny how two days after this:

Christine Lagarde has become the head of the International Monetary Fund, its board confirmed following a meeting in Washington.

The French finance minister is the first woman to hold the post. She takes over from Dominique Strauss-Kahn, beginning her five-year term on 5 July.

We get this?

The sex assault case against former IMF head Dominique Strauss-Kahn appears to be in trouble amid reported concerns over the alleged victim's credibility.

Law enforcement officials have told US media the accuser has repeatedly lied since the alleged attack on 14 May.

Could it have been that DS-K saw that the writing on the wall for the Euro and was foolish enough to communicate this?

Surely, someone wouldn't get a hard-up Francophone immigrant to the US, bung them a couple of €, (although if she had any sense, she'd have held out for US$), and get them set about a campaign to discredit the head of the IMF who could see the plug pulled on Euro?

No, no. That's far too paranoid.

Isn't it?

This isn't a bloodless assasination, is it?

It's a complete coincedence that two days after the empty chair is filled, the case starts to unravel. Isn't it?

If, heaven forfend, it all turns out to be put-up job, I wonder how miffed the New York DA is going to be, and how many resources they'd dedicate to getting to the bottom of the issue? Could we be looking at conspiracy to pervert the course of justice here?

Enjoy your new job, Christine, well, until you've served your purpose. A rape charge ain't going to stick against you. Have you got kids or grandkids, or nieces and nephews? An abuse charge will fit nicely, or perhaps you should take your first pay-cheque and use it as a down payment on a Popemobile.

I will now return the tin foil hat to the drawer.

Well, they would say that, wouldn't they?

European Union member states should agree on a strong candidate from Europe to replace Dominique Strauss-Kahn as head of the International Monetary Fund, the European Commission said on Thursday.

Well, colour me surprised. Any particular reason for that? Let me think. . .

No. Can't think of one at all.

Oh, hang on.

Is it because their beloved currency is currently been dragged down under the weight of financial disasters brought about by their own vanity and incompetence?

As the biggest contributor to the IMF, it was natural that the 27 EU states should agree on a candidate, Commission spokeswoman Pia Ahrenkilde Hansen told journalists.

Really? Is the EU the biggest contributor to the IMF? I thought it was the Americans. Oh, I see what you did there, what you did was add up the contributions made by the national economies of EU member states, and then, even less surprisingly, the European Commission tries to pass it off as its own. Note well, when the EU says 'should' it means 'must', 'will' or 'shall', this is not a suggestion, this is an order.

The EU's top economic official, Olli Rehn, said knowledge of the European economy would be a useful qualification for any new IMF chief.

"It is essential that the managing director of the IMF will be chosen based on merit and competence," he told a business conference in Brussels. "It is a merit if the person to be chosen for this task has knowledge of the European economy."

I'll translate that for you:

The EU's top economic official, Olli Rehn, said doing what they are bloody told by the European Commission would be a useful qualification for any new IMF chief.

"It is essential that the managing director of the IMF will be chosen based on our ability to control them completely," he told a business conference in Brussels. "It is a merit if the person to be chosen for this task has surrendered themselves completely to the European Commission."

Now watch as some French bird is railroaded in to the job, despite what the Americans, Brazilians, Chinese, Indians and Russians want or think. Don't for one minute think that the EU's ambitions are penned in by the Volga, Atlantic, Arctic ocean and the Med. They are desperate to extend their influence.

What is even more laughable is the BBC's continual breathless promotion of Gordon Brown (remember him? He's still an MP, although nobody has seen hide nor hair of him for about twelve months. You must remember him, one eyed bloke, fond of a bit of nostril gardening, the man who oversaw the biggest accrual of debt and most spectacular financial crash this country has ever seen. Yes. Him.) as one of the front runners for the job.

Really?

Really?

This is the man who Obama pretty much hid behind the sofa from when he came to visit. This is the man I'm sure the SNP are paying the Labour party huge amounts of money to assure he comes out squarely against independence because it would be a certain win. This is the man that Cameroid (rightly, for once) points at saying 'it's all his fault'. Are we to believe that this government would back Brown's appointment? His stock is lower than a snake's scrotum.

C'mon BBC, give it up. You're starting to look like a psycho ex-lover who keeps turning up on the doorstep weeping profusely.

The One That Wants Everyone To Wake Up . . .

Look, I don't care if you agree with me, or disagree with me, but at least take the time to see what is going on. Please?

Obo points out in this post that whilst the majority of the print media leads with the IMF saying we are in real trouble, the main media and news outlet in the country puts up the feeble 'World growth worst for 60 years.' Where is the much trumpeted 'impartiality' that they've trotted out over the last few days about the Palestine appeal?

Guthrum, guesting at Old Holborn's place shows that there is civil unrest in Lithuania and reports (correctly) that there is just short of a general strike in France tomorrow due to the financial mismanagement of their affairs. Putin is coming under pressure in Russia.

Meanwhile there are millions on the move in China, its young economy reeling from the blows, demonstrators in Iceland bringing down the government, questions starting to be asked in Ireland about their continued membership of the Euro, things still not roses and love in Greece.

We have a Prime Minister who declares that he's saved the world whilst his colleagues back away with rictus grins on their faces. Nationalised banks handing out bonuses to staff who have overseen their demise. Most of the banks taking a huge amount of taxpayers' money, and then taking a staggering amount of taxpayers' money, meaning that each individual taxpayer is in debt to the tune of tens of thousands of pounds. Car companies being given over £2bn in public funds and then the government says they'll consider subsidising car workers' wages. Announcements that £300m has still been found to hand over to the victims and perpetrators of the 'troubles' in Ulster.

This isn't financial planning, it's a fire sale.

What do we do? We watch Coronation Street and 'Celebrity' Arseing Big Sodding Brother.

For crying out loud people. Take the time, do the digging. Make your own mind up. It doesn't matter what I think. It doesn't matter what the BBC, the Sun, Heat magazine or Horse and bloody Hound magazine think. It doesn't matter what the Prime Minister thinks, it matters what you think, so please, please, please form your own opinion, won't you?

. . . and some fell on stoney ground. . .