On 08/11/2013 12:12, Java Jive wrote:
On Thu, 07 Nov 2013 23:23:21 +0000, John Rumm
wrote:

I am too young to remember much of the detail, but I only recall talk at
the time of voting to enter/stay in the common market. No mention of the
EU or similar terminology. I get the string impression that is how
people at the time perceived what was on offer.

I can remember it well enough. The Common Market came to be rebadged
as the European Union, I didn't and don't see that as a problem or as
being misleading.

I see it as a fundamental shift, and at the root of the current problems.

Even a decade or more later, when Mrs Thatcher highlighted that the
whole purpose of the EU dream from the outset was one of political
union, the deniers claimed that was not the case and that she was simply
being irrational etc. At least now they seem more open to admitting that
as the goal.

Margaret Thatcher was simply a Euro-sceptic, like many here. It is
interesting that despite this, she didn't take us out of Europe. That
suggests to me that she saw that there were good reasons for staying
in.

Perhaps those good reasons haven't changed ...

They haven't - there are good reasons remaining for being "in". However
there are also many reasons for being "out". One has to decide which way
the balance tips. To my mind the balance is tipping progressively more
"out" as time passes.




--
Cheers,

John.

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