Comment

President Obama has urged the UK to remain in the EU, the institution forged from the “ashes of war”. Evocative references to the war made up a strong element of his article in The Telegraph and the “spilled blood” of American soldiers were justification for his interference in the debate. Citing …

Last week George Osborne took centre stage. He started with selective quotes from Emmanuel Macron the French economy minister. Macron told us on the Andrew Marr show that there would be a price for access to the Single European Market (SEM). Macron told us some other things too. Outside, Britain would “killed” …

Is our duty only to obey the law? This question was asked by Iain Martin recently during an article about tax and finance. The issues involved are recent touching upon the way people and corporations may try to pay as little tax as possible. Should capitalism be limited merely by the rule …

Some might say that treachery is too harsh a word but I use this with intent.  The dictionary definitions all talk about betrayal of trust, deception, disloyalty and bad faith.  That seems to be a clear description of what has just transpired in London. Charitably, we might say that the …

“For several decades now it has been fashionable to say that those so-called great men and women are just ephiphenomena, meretricious bubbles on the vast tides of social history. Well, I think the story of Winston Churchill is a pretty withering retort to all that malarkey. He and he alone …

Let me lay out my concerns over the upcoming crisis in Libya, one which will break the EU into pieces, if not accepted and addressed immediately. This is simple.  The facts are there.  The debate is just not happening.  Yet. UK media half-heartedly cover the Libyan crisis, in small news …

Of all the the ridiculous names we eurosceptics (a misleading word; I’m not sceptic about anything) have been called leading up to this referendum, only one has really bothered me: the ‘Little Englanders’ jibe.  In the minds of our critics, our views are old-fashioned, antiquated and do not belong. We …

When discussing the UK’s influence in the EU, a point of debate is our voting power in the Council of the EU. Under the new Council voting system the UK now has a 13% share of the vote, however the powers of the Parliament and the Council are limited in …

Why are the SNP so popular? Some pro UK people think it’s because people in Scotland have taken leave of their senses. Opponents of the SNP sometimes describe their supporters as deluded fools. But as SNP support keeps going up, it becomes harder to maintain that over half the population …

Have you received the propaganda leaflet from the UK government yet?  What did you do with it?  Straight in the bin? Read it?  I tore mine up and sent it back to the Conservative party at their FreePost address.  That way, Cameron’s party can pay 70p for the privilege of …

‘Who counts as the “the European Union” here? Member state leaders have met within the framework of the European Council, but their agreement is in no way a document of the European Union, but a text of hybrid character, which is unspecified and not legally binding.’ Alexander Graf Lambsdorff is …

I have a dilemma.  Jacob Rees-Mogg and Boris Johnson have made it so. My OCD behaviour, I have noticed, is on the increase and I can often dwell upon the most minor of points.  Thankfully the annoyances are more than offset by the cleanliness of my home and my recent …

The EU boasts about having reduced your roaming charges and Europhiles market this like a crowning achievement, unsurprisingly it found it’s way into the government’s leaflet (which I will discuss in more detail in upcoming  posts) While it is clearly patronising to believe people would give up on our status …

There is an establishment in British politics. What I mean by this is that there is a political consensus, for I don’t want to personify the word ‘establishment’ in a way that is not true. It may be that at one time there was a group of powerful people sitting …

Read The Market Solution pamphlet in full Initially an integral component of the environment movement, from the late 1980s, climate change has emerged as a separate policy domain with its own body of law. Despite the EU’s heavy involvement in resultant policy, little change might be expected in the UK …

Read The Market Solution pamphlet in full More so than perhaps any other policy area, environment is an amalgam of international, EU and domestic measures, although new environmental legislation is still a shared competence. We might expect an independent policy to concentrate more on the national interest, although the Government’s …

We are told by some that having a plan is not necessary or helpful and that we are wrong to worry about “unnecessary detail”. Obviously, we couldn’t disagree more. The purpose of a plan is not so that the whole public should read it, but so that it gives our …

There’s something rotten at the heart of Scottish politics. We have our own parliament with extensive powers, including the ability to raise or lower taxes. This parliament may not be enough for some. It may be too much for others. But it is a reasonable compromise between Scottish independence and …

“Europe’s power is easy to miss. Like an “invisible hand” it operates through the shell of traditional political structures. The British House of Commons, British law courts and British civil servants are still here, but they have become agents of the European Union, implementing European law. This is no accident. …

Read The Market Solution pamphlet in full While there are aspects of the CAP which may be tolerable, at least in the short to medium-term, there are no redeeming features of the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). Limited reforms have been largely cosmetic and do not address the main flaws …