In Private Eye there is a small cartoon of a man showing a paper saying: “No one in EU is fighting for UK to stay.” The bit that catches my eye is the first six words, “No one in EU is fighting…”
So far I’ve seen every aspect of staying in or coming out of the European Union discussed in terms of either refugees – too many “flooding our shores”, or conversely, appealing to the humanitarian in us to provide shelter to the desperate – or in terms of commerce and market behaviours – with some people actually saying that leaving the EU would be good for the National Health Service. I’m still scratching my head over that one. Not usually mentioned is what, to some of us, is the most important thing: the simple fact that the nations in the EU are not actually fighting each other.
Among the feeble who are so keen to leave the EU are doubtless plenty who have education in things such as Greek and Latin history. We may once have sought an empire to breed our own special ways, but our history and that of Europe’s are entirely mixed. If we and they remain together, we’ll always have a chance to affect what they do and have influence with them… without – and this is the crucial bit – needing to bring out the bombers.
Perhaps in the end the only thing that would bring the whole of the EU together again would be having a fight – against Russia or the Middle East. But while we are still within the EU, we can have a hand in how its nations treat us. If we walk off, then they can be and may become, as they have been in the past, our enemies.
What do you think? Have your say below
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