As for the EU - well I am "out" - the "performance" since 1973 has been pathetic, and we could do a whole lot better economically ourselves as we proved for over two centuries - although I would not wish for one moment to return to the colonial times. As India and China have shown, it is possible to grow GDP in this environment (check out the EU countries' low comparison base in terms of GDP growth - should be easy to improve upon, one might think...). Comparisons with Norway and Switzerland are not fit for purpose - how about the UK "before" and "after" the EU - in the years when the country's economy was actually being run properly - as opposed to the Wilson/Heath panic mode era..?

A lot of people in mainland Europe are extremely unhappy with the way the EU is run - they could not even get a majority on EU Constitution, for goodness sake - which is why the Lisbon Treaty had to be hastily cooked together. Political over-ambition in Brussels got us to this point, and Europe-wide political incompetence is dragging us back. Time for the populus to speak, and for this cretinous, continued practice of hiring people with no economic background, no qualifications or experience of handling multi-billion pound budgets to run the country to stop immediately. It would be regarded as downright negligent in most listed companies to have such people in charge, and it is utterly unjustifiable when the country's economic welfare is at stake.

A rethink on sovereign governance principles is required, and it needs to start now. Without any pointless bickering about socialiam vs capitalism. We exist in a capitalist society, and not to have our best exponents and experts fully engaged in making the best of this type of environment is a complete nonsense. Removing political parties' right to appoint idiotic, incompetent fools to have a direct say and influence in running the country would be a good start. Let the people elect them based on their cvs and background - i.e. competence and experience - just as the rest of us are judged and evaluated. And that does not mean Chancellors with 3rd Class Honours degrees in Economics, or, as we discovered with the allegedly "bright" Gordon Brown, ex-Economics History graduates, with more awareness about Adam Smith and 18th century economics, (valid though many of those theories may be), than the price of gold on the commodities markets at around the turn of the 21st Century, when Brown sold off all our gold for a song. He would have been fired on the spot for such incompetence in any half-decent business for wilful asset destruction. Or am I being too harsh here...??

Fresh data from the Bundesbank show that Anglo-German trade in goods and services soared to €153bn in the first nine months of 2012, with both exports and imports booming at double-digit rates.

It is one of the fastest growing trade relationships in the developed world. France lagged behind at €150bn as trade stagnated, with the US at €149bn and China at €115bn.

David Marsh from the financial group OMFIF said the trade swing underlines a “sobering truth” that Germany’s fundamental interests are shifting away from the eurozone core as Berlin embraces the wider world. The EMU share of German trade has fallen from 46pc to 37pc since the launch of the euro, displaced by Asia, as well as Eastern Europe and the Anglo-sphere.

British goods exports to Germany rose 20pc over the first three quarters compared to a year earlier, despite the economic downturn. The surge was led by medical equipment, drugs, car components, and petroleum goods. The deficit with Germany narrowed slighty to €17bn, a sign that trade is becoming better-balanced.  Although rarely acclaimed, British suppliers and manufacturers are deeply integrated into the German industrial machine and enjoy the follow-through benefits of German exports to the rest of the world....Now...Does anyone believe British conmpanies have won this business based on EU membership or on the timely and safe delivery of quality products at a competitive price?  The UK and Germany are the two major players and net contributors in the EU. France talks it large and is extremely well represented in positions, but without the massive EU funding it receives it would struggle.  The real danger here is not the UK leaving the EU and sinking, it is that we will leave and surge ahead. Weakening the EU and strengthening our own position. Add to this the repeated polls in Germany where the majority do not want to be run by the EU and also wish to leave the Euro, and the real danger is clear. The UK leaving the doomed EU project will hasten its demise and open Europe up to trade and competition with the World. The very last thing Socialist leaders want.

A thriving UK outside of the EU would prove an irrisistable pull to other net contributors to leave. This is what keeps the EU commission up at night, not wondering what Pro-EU Cameron will mumble in his speech this week.

There has been very little democracy about EU ...

The European Commission is run by 32 people, all of whom are now billionaires (Vivian Reding was the last one into the billionaires club). ...Not a single one is competent in any way....Note that none of them come from a major country - it's all rats and mice stuff - making it easier for France at first and Germany now to tell them what to do.

Democracy? The EU spends a fortune keeping democracy or democratic expression in check. We have allowed the EU to become a machine that serves itself and many thousands of well paid staff - keeping themselves occupied by standardizing everything right across the region via endless regulations. There has been very little democracy about this - save for occasionally carefully calculated rubber stamp exercises - usually by those desperate to get their snouts in the trough. Politicians at the national level have, without the authorisation of the People, serially signed away more and more of the sovereignty of their countries. Snatching back currency sovereignty would be a reversal of this process. You can expect the machinery of the EU to move Heaven and Earth (and every allegedly fixed goalpost the EU has) to avoid it happening. The EU is designed as a one way street. Democracy is greatly feared by these politically elite puppets - Democracy spells the end of their Princely style and worse, Democracy would challenge the source of their wealth and why the Commission found it necessary to protect themselves and their ill-gained personal assets with a Law which prohibits any examination or investigation of them. They are immune to prosecution for any and ALL crimes and misdemeanors.  The last Commission was ignominiously forced to resign en masse - because - they stole £1.4 Billion - yes billion.   Not a penny was recovered.  Not a prosecution was enforced.  They got away with grand theft Scot free....Most of them still work within the EU Commission.
"The European Union has abrogated the Rule of Law for the good of the State. This is the second such abrogation with the first being the exemption of certain European institutions and the IMF from the Private Sector Involvement of Greece. Greece may be a one-off exemption as they claim but we now have a second instance where jurisprudence has been overturned for the good of the nations of Europe. This is not Socialism or Capitalism but rather some sort of Fascist governance which I publically decry as the echo of the jackboots sounds across the Continent once again."