Does Biden’s debacle in Afghanistan mean that a European defence coalition is, after all, sensible? Clearly the US, under this president and the last, cannot be relied upon to defend mutual- (as opposed to self-) interests. Should the UK help build such an alliance in conjunction with a proposed EU defence force? In the House … More A European Defence Alliance?

The EU’s Godfather, Jean Monnet, said “Europe will be forged in crisis”. A combination of the eurozone and covid crises will challenge that thesis. A Reformation We have argued that the EU must change but probably not as the theorists or high priests hope and intend. There are many challenges to tackle and these have … More More Or Less ‘Europe’?

There are fundamental design flaws in the European Union project, many of which are invisible to most of us and few of which will ever be addressed by EU leaders and supporters. Our blog has raised and walked around many of these issues, mostly by showing how they result in faulty performance, and dishonest propaganda. … More Where There is Darkness

The Swiss have had enough and pulled the plug on almost eight years of negotiations with the EU, aimed at simplifying over a hundred bilateral agreements and combining them into a single framework. The EU insisted on regulatory alignment and the supremacy of CJEU judgements. It has overplayed its hand – again. A benign organisation … More Swiss Cheesed Off

Implementation of the Northern Ireland (NI) Protocol—which is part of the UK’s withdrawal agreement with the EU—has resulted in shortages in the province and consequent protests that risk renewing the civil war. Our title derives from a different context where the evil was intentional and its magnitude not comparable with the ‘Troubles’ in Ireland. A … More The Banality of Evil, in Ireland

We are firm supporters of UK independence from the EU, which faces us with a dilemma over ‘Indyref2’, the Scottish Nationalist Party’s proposed bid for independence from the UK. Is it possible to support the first but not the second? The UK was part of the EU and its precursor, the EEC, for 47 years; … More Scoxit

It‘s been five years since we began our blog in the run-up to the UK referendum on whether to remain a member of the EU. This post marks the occasion. Strictly, a ‘quinquennial’ post would occur every five years but we don’t plan to keep “banging on about Europe“. Prime Minister David Cameron, fed up … More Quinquennial Post

The EU’s response to the covid pandemic has been slow and underwhelming but one of its (many) presidents thinks we should be looking at the bigger picture—the slow train will safely reach its destination. In its tracks citizens’ lives are lost or devastated. Following up our earlier post under this title, we re-focus on the … More Words versus Deeds – 2

The European Commission has published its report on the results of a survey requested and co-ordinated by the European Commission’s and European Parliament’s Directorates-General for Communication. The full report can be downloaded from [1]: Earlier we commented at some length on the preparations for the Conference on the Future of Europe, so we can be … More The Future of Europe

Of the EU’s many shortcomings, which we have detailed in the course of this five-year blog, two ideas are at the root of them. 1. “Ever Closure Union” is a euphemism for a process of planned unification, whereby Europe is to be reduced to a uniform state (a “level playing field”) from a varied, dynamic … More Why the Union Project is Unsound