More fun in Europe...

[David-G]

You miss the point.

It is the threat of 'not being in' which is the problem. If you were head of the US delegation responsible for any trade talks with the EU, who would you rather meet and talk to ... 'Angela' or 'David' ?

It seems to me that you miss the point that, for good or ill, the mood of the country is becoming increasingly eurosceptic. It's not a question of "he and his Party" quickly deciding whether "they" are in or out of the EU, it's a question for the whole country.

And I think that if I were the head of a US trade delegation, I might actually talk to both.

[french frank]

I see the kindergarten crowd has been let onto this thread again. I thought you lot had been warned about these silly, trolling posts. If you want to address the issues, fine: if you aren't able to do so, why not go and make a cup of tea or something useful, eh?

We-e-e-ell, I'd have to say that your constant posting on a forum which is really focused on Radio 3 and allied subjects seems to me like spamming: using this forum to propagandise against the EU. Spammers or trolls?

5bn may not be a vast %age of the budget, ff. But it's a great deal of money and I'm surprised you are so blase about it.*

*Actually, maybe I'm not. Talking about true colours - which I am very happy to agree with you about as regards myself! - can the EU ever do wrong, in your eyes?

It's a matter of getting things into perspective. £5bn would be a great deal to me if I found my BT bill had amounted to that one quarter. In national terms it would be just about noticeable. In European or global terms it begins to seem less impressive. The US presidential elections cost $2.5bn, for example.

As has been said, over and over again, the EU has much stricter accounting standards than the UK, and anything over a 2% error rate (which is not 2% of the budget) would mean the accounts wouldn't be 'signed off'.

Of course the EU makes mistakes: don't you?

It continues, year on year, and nobody seems to tackle it. I expect they're more interested in How much good could have been done with that money, spread among the nation states, over the past 18 years?

You don't need to go beyond these shores to find fraud and corruption of which the proceeds would do a lot of good if shared among the less well off. And it would be ALL OURS, whereas the £5bn would have to be shared among 27 countries