The EU Constitution; ummmmm. Now here’s a funny thing that occurred to me at about 1 am this morning, upon returning from an (unsuccessful) fox shooting trip. In the European countries where the ratification process has been put to a popular vote, the electorate have said resoundingly ‘No’. In the countries where ratification has been via a Parliamentary vote, they have said ‘Yes’. Worrying to think how out of step the political class is with the common man in whatever country.

As I prepare my celebratory lunchtime Edam feast, you might just want to have a little look at Anatole Kaletsky’s view of what has been going on …

"...there is a deeper error in the Europhiles’ excuse that the referendum results were really a popular protest against globalisation: the vision of Europe as a bastion against globalisation and Anglo-Saxon economic liberalism is not only a political fantasy, but also an economic pipedream.

The idea that closer political integration could somehow turn these self-indulgent dreams into a new European “economic model” has been the dirty little secret of the EU project. Of course the citizens of Europe would like ever-rising incomes and ever more job security, in exchange for doing less and less work and retiring earlier and earlier — and they might be tempted to vote for a constitution which guaranteed these fantasies as fundamental human rights. On closer inspection, however, the citizens have begun to realise that their politicians have been selling Europe on a false prospectus."

More good stuff here