For a long time now, I've considered the idea of having a web page on my site which might, perhaps, be a little controversial.  Everyone has different ideas but these rarely get the chance to be discussed, often because of the fear of upsetting someone in this "political-correctness-gone-mad" world of ours or perhaps there are people who have opinions about a particular subject and simply want to make them known but are perhaps frustrated over the obstacles that are in their way.

For example, only a very few get the chance to voice their opinions or ask questions on the radio or television and the same equally applies to the newspapers.  Thus, the vast majority of us are reduced to listening or reading about the views of a few and talking about our own to friends, relatives and anyone who is prepared to listen but as I've said already, this rarely happens.  The fact that this rarely happens often results in all our thoughts being bottled-up and hidden . . . so the frustration continues.

Then I thought, because the web is an ideal way of airing opinions etc., I'd put a few words into print .....

 . . . . . so, on the subject of the United Kingdom and the European Union, here goes . . .

One of the most worrying things going on here in the United Kingdom is the matter of whether we should become more integrated with Europe.  Most of the political parties are either totally in favour of full integration or have a number of members who are pro-Europe.  We constantly hear from the Labour Government how much better off we'd be and they go on to quote all sorts of percentages of this and that, knowing full well that they can't be disproved.  The words, 'confidence trick' comes to mind.  The Scottish Nationalists would take us into Europe without a care in the world and the Liberals are in favour too.  The Tories appear to be fighting against it but there are those in the party 'who would be king' who are very pro-Europe. 

The only party at the moment who is vehemently against all of this and indeed, who wants to break all ties, apart from trade agreements as in the original Common Market, is the United Kingdom Independence Party.  I have voted Tory all my life but, for the first time in my life, it was the UKIP who got my vote at the recent elections.  It was a sad day for me and some might say I cast a wasted vote but how could I support someone or a group whose ideals I don't share?  It was Edward Heath, the Tory Prime Minister in the 1970's, who started the ball rolling without telling everyone the true picture and, if he had been around and done it a couple of hundred years earlier, I'm sure he would have been tried for treason.  And now it's gone further . . . with EU emblems invading our daily lives such as our passports and driving licences and vehicle number plates to name but three.  There are hundreds more. 

For an act to become a crime, it was our own Parliament in London who had the sole power to legislate over the people of Britain.  Now, little gray men in little gray offices in Brussels dream up numerous ways to control us which become binding in law, a law that isn't even discussed in the so-called European Parliament.  Spain and others fish our waters while our boats have to remain in port.   They get away with it while we are bound by 'quotas'!!!  Double standards abound.  It used to be the case that a vote would be taken to decide on a particular matter and, whatever the result, the decision was made.  Now, when we hear of countries voting either for or against the EU, there is always a second vote carried out if the first result is against them.  This is not right . . . and certainly not democracy. 

We've had two world wars and a lot of people died for our freedom.  Are we now just to sign it all away at the stroke of a pen?  I don't want to be governed by foreigners, irrespective of whether I like or dislike them.  I certainly don't trust either Germany or France at all.  A lot of people might dislike the United States but I think we have a great deal more in common with them than we do with Europe. 

And then there's trade.  So many reports in the papers and on radio and television keep insisting that if we left Europe, our trade with those countries would suffer.  This is nonsense!  We don't 'belong' to other countries around the world yet we trade with most, if not all, of them so why should we 'belong' to the EU?  The bottom line, in reality, is that Europe needs us far more than we need Europe.  Some years ago, I believe Greenland was a member of the Common Market or the European Free Trade Association, probably because of their connection with Denmark and that there was great unrest (in Greenland) over their membership.  A decision was made to leave despite the 'experts' depicting doom and gloom if they did.  As far as I'm aware, they've never regretted their decision to be 'outside' and their trade has increased. 

I always liked pounds, shillings and pence, what millions of people in the UK today still call 'real money'.  Then pounds and pence came into being which we, grudgingly or otherwise, accepted.  Now the euro threatens us.  It means nothing to me and I don't want it.  Similarly, every now and again, our Greenwich Mean Time is threatened and our imperial weights and measurement system is slowly being eroded.  All of these, we're told, are for our benefit within Europe.  What these 'experts' fail to understand is that the European countries are not the only ones on this planet and the use of our own currency, time and imperial weights and measurement system has never done us any harm when we've dealt with other countries in the world in times past.  One time for the whole of the EU?  Utter rubbish!  The US has 5 time zones, Australia 3 and Russia 11 (or is it 12?) and they don't suffer because of it. 

There are those in this country and abroad who won't be satisfied till the UK ceases to exist.  John Prescott, to name but one, has plans to carve Britain up into regions.  Do we want this because I certainly do not.  (I didn't even want our counties to be carved up and be given new names.  I went to school in Somerset, not Avon and I live in The Outer Hebrides, not The Western Isles!)  Germany must be laughing all the way to the bank!  After all, it's our money that's there anyway.  Our troops and power will go and Europe and their European Army will be in control.  Both the Iraq wars showed there were, perhaps allegedly, vast numbers of people in this country and elsewhere who objected to our actions and presence there but irrespective of whether it was a right or wrong to do, the fact remains that, even if all the people in this country agreed to a war, if Europe didn't want us to, we wouldn't be allowed to. 

I could go on but, suffice to say, my membership of the recently-proposed name and so-called country of the United States of Europe (or whatever it ends up being called) is not for me.

Personally, I hope we never integrate but if there is a choice, then a referendum must be held with a simple question written in plain english such as "Do you want Britain to be a member of the EU?  Yes or No" and if it's "No", then the rest of the world and particularly Europe, must abide by the will of the British people and not insist on having another referendum until they get what they want like they have done already in a couple of European countries.  For me, it would be a big "NO!"

Thanks for your patience in reading this and if you have any thoughts, whether for or against, about what I've written, please drop me a line in my guestbook.  Perhaps I should start a forum but I'll see how this goes for the time being.