[Sephiroth]

Originally Posted by Hugh

Handy hint - others can make an judgement if your (or anyone else's) observations are "fairly balanced", not you; you (or anyone else) making a comment/observations are biased towards the view you/they are putting forward, otherwise, why would they put it forward?

It's also called "marking your own homework*"...

*The expression implies that whenever a person or group self-assesses and/or self regulates their own work they will usually treat it more favorably than if it were assessed by an independent person or group.

Stop it. Get off your high horse.

---------- Post added at 17:51 ---------- Previous post was at 17:44 ----------

Originally Posted by jonbxx

Ask away....

Is the EU perfect? No. Is there a danger of a large union being sluggish and not dynamic due to many vested interests? Yes. The vaccines issue was a good example of where the EU fails by having multiple levels of drug regulation and trying to get a consensus on things in a rapidly changing environment.

BUT...

Is international cooperation and ease of doing business a good thing? Yes. Are there sacrifices to be made to create a level playing field across a large region? Yes Are those sacrifices worth it? Yes. Does freedom of movement create opportunities for my kids? Yes. Does insularity benefit us individually and as a country? No.

Things are not black and white even if some try to make things that way - UK good, EU bad, full stop. There are shades of grey.

So, in summary, is the EU wonderful? No. Was it the least worst option available at when a decision needed to made between leave and remain? Yes

I like your reply.

My followers (!) may remember that before we left the EU, I was content to stay in the EU so long as we could prick them with our picador sticks. All of my criticisms of now stood then. It may also be recalled, that the one EU policy I supported was Free Movement (and by corollary the Single Market).

However, by no means did I regard the Single Market as something that we MUST have. I dislike the EU as an institution and am thus equally content to have left the EU.

Contrary to Hugh's ridiculous attempt to lecture me, I'm sure you see me as capable of fair balance, even if I do hate the EU institution.