Nick Clegg, John Major, Emma Thompson and other Europhiles believe we shouldn’t be turning in on ourselves by leaving the partnership with our nearest neighbours. However, it has been said by an insider (Anonymous – on the radio) that our diplomats are almost totally absorbed in intra-EU issues with little brainpower left over to engage with … More Neighbours
In democratic systems disappointing leaders are replaced, often with their opposites. Errors are thereby corrected, typically over-corrected, and so the system zigzags forward, never attaining perfection because the process is too coarse and anyway the goalposts move as the world changes. By contrast, without elections but with an ideology frozen in a bygone age … More Democracy versus Ideology
Lies, damned lies and hardly any statistics! A response to the Britain Stronger in Europe campaign leaflet. “Over 3 million UK jobs are linked to our exports to the EU.” What do they mean by “linked”? Will there be 3 million additional unemployed if we leave the EU (or anything like that)? This is typical … More Britain Strangled in Europe
In this essay we shall sometimes refer to the EU as the Project to reflect the fact that it is an uncompleted process. We shan’t pretend that we present a balanced view: we omit much that is good about the EU, mainly because we are unaware of much that is good about the EU; that … More Introduction
We begin in praise of the most obvious achievements. The EU has: made invasion of one EU country by another almost impossible, made the rise of dictatorship in any European country unlikely, introduced a common currency that is widely trusted, strengthened distrust of incompetent and corrupt national rulers and weakened their power, challenged and moderated … More Benefits of the EU Project
It is remarkable that the EU expects member nations to be democratic yet its own institutions are not. At the time of our last referendum, 51 years ago, Tony Benn asked of the EU: to whom are you accountable and how do we get rid of you? These remain good questions, which haven’t been answered, … More Democracy
National sovereignty cannot always be exercised without harm to others so some compromise and pooling of powers is necessary to achieve peace, harmony and wealth. Although senior politicians and civil servants have long been aware of this implication of the Project, they have consistently disguised the truth, deliberately leaving the British public ill-informed about the … More Sovereignty
The fundamental objective The EU was designed in a different age for different circumstances. Even then it had major design flaws and it has failed to adapt to meet today’s challenges. It is especially unsuitable for the UK, which has a history and traditions distinct from most of its neighbours. Although conceived with noble intention, … More Ever Closer Union
Disinformation (lies and statistics) The main goal is in plain sight and yet it is mendaciously obscured. Voters are confused: what they can plainly see is different from what they are told so they lose confidence in their ability to understand and many would rather leave the decision to better-qualified people, such as the mandarins … More Through the Looking Glass
Yanis Varoufakis, recent Finance Minister of Greece, believes his people are persuaded to support the Project by the implicit argument of their rulers that: “If you allow this process of continuing European integration then you can get rid of us”. People are likely to be more keen if they have recently lived under oppression, the … More The UK is different
