Dan Hannan claims that the drachma is the oldest currency in the world. It would appear that in fact the modern drachma it only existed between 1953 and 2002 and in that time went from initially being 30 to the dollar to 400 to the dollar. An economic miracle to make Iceland look puny in comparison!

Mad as a hatter, he and his gang should be on Disney.

Come on now James – you can’t surely be suggesting people find the great Dan Hannan convincing because of his grasp of facts?

No, I’m suggesting he would like to see the pound decline in value by 92.5% over the next 50 years.

(I should point out that I could be much meaner and suggest that he considers the drachma BEFORE the 50s to be worth aspiring to.)

Hannan’s quote of Reagan is silly since Reagan ran up the deficit in the US (as did Bush, GHW and GW) whereas Clinton reverse the trend. Has Hannan ever said anything that had any truth?

As to the US tea parties, they are minor events they are definitely not “huge”. There are, however, a magnet for some of the most “eccentric” people (to use Cameron’s name for Hannan) in the US. Not the sort of people that any democratically elected representative would want to be seen with.

If Cameron doesn’t win the next election, I think that Hannan will be the leader of the Conservative party by the end of the year. That will be interesting!

I watch this and I don’t know what to say.

I suppose its likely to be a flop when the OAPs learn its not a tea dance.

Why promote it on Fox? Is Murdoch paying or what, its just so weird? Is Earle Hickey coming to have a taste of Earl Gray?

Murdoch is paying.

I never thought I’d say this, but it seems there IS someone in the Conservative party with less knowledge of economics than Cameron and Osbourne.

Is Hannan seriously advocating Reagan’s approach to public spending? Does he realise he virtually doubled it over his tenure?

I do hope to hear more of his helpful contributions to the tory campaign over the weeks ahead.

The US federal debt greatly expended under Reagan. Tax revenue did increase but spending increased even faster. It was this experience that caused Dick Cheney to say a couple of years ago when GW was running deficits ‘ Ronald Reagan taught us deficits don’t matter ‘. However, if Democrats run deficits it is a national crisis. The GOP are always in favour of limited government when they are not the government. When they are in government spending and federal government power increases.

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/02/21/libertarianism

Greece would be better off out of the euro. However, it is dumb to believe the ancient drachma has any connection to the modern currency.

“This is right at the beginning. This is the first interview I’ve given about it.”

What, the British press weren’t flocking to your door demanding an interview, Dan?

My guess – it’ll either sink without trace or float around the fringes of the Conservative Party, to the general embarassment of all in the vicinity.

What, the British press weren’t flocking to your door demanding an interview, Dan?

Yeah – who cares? I would never even have heard of it if it wasn’t on here.

To be honest, although Fox News might love him, the bottom line is that here in Blighty Hannan’s a complete nobody.

Walk through any British street, stop any random person and mention the name Dan Hannan to them, and 9 times out of 10 the reaction you’ll get will be “who?”

Gosh! Were those the only 2 posters that the thousands and thousands of supporters of the American Tea Parties had? Well, I can certainly see why you’d make out they’re all the same extremists if that’s the case.

Just like those Islamofascist and anti-Semitic marchers at ‘pro-peace’ protests meant everyone on those was a Jew-hating Jihadi.

So, our favourite right wing loon is playing his usual game of diss’ing the UK on a TV network consisting of a toxic hybrid of former Reaganites and christian fundamentalists?

This time Danny compares the UK’s financial plight to that of Greece, but isn’t this rather like comparing Man-U to Pompey?

Even so characters like Hannan are essential to remind us what the face of unbridled toryism might look like.
Having said that, at least Hannan is a politician of conviction, an increasingly rare breed nowadays, let’s at least give him credit for that?

After his previous interview bashing the NHS, even The Sun published a scathing rebuttal.

This is a man so vastly out of step with the British electorate, it’s quite hilarious and the Tory party would do well to bin him off quite frankly.

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/danielhannan/100027834/brighton-tea-party-packed-out/

So he had to turn people away because the venue was packed, a good first step…

@18

The comments below that article is a pure Toryfail goldmine, thanks, I needed a laugh today

the idea of greece withdrawing from the € is just nonsense.
by the time the laws had been enacted, the notes printed and coins minted, the punters, realising the currency was about to be devalued, would make sure their savings were safely tucked away in german banks. result-economic collapse

So it’s more likely to be a decent economy from a developed European state which leaves, waving goodbye to the basket case states in its wake? And that still makes the argument for why the only good thing the Prime Mentalist has ever done is prevent us from joining the Euro.

Hannan is very popular with the Tory base who feel Cameron is too centrist, too much like Blair, and not tough enough on issues they feel passionate about (immigration, defecit, EU etc).

Remember, many in the Parliamentary party see Cameron as a useful tool – a vehicle to electoral success, but little else. Hannan is the voice of many Tories – I wouldn’t be suprised if he ran for a safe seat in the future and maybe even has aspirations for No 10. Many in his party would back him – and CCHQ won’t always be the touchy feely pro women shortlist place it is now.