[Margaret Pilkington]

Hmm. I think there is a bit of a difference here mobertol. People all over the world have always been wanderers....and those who have wandered(even those who have settled in sunnier climes in retirement) do not expect to be allowed into the country and claim benefits.....they have lived by the rules of that country, those who have migrated abroad have worked and made their niche in the society they have adopted. they have added something to the community......not subtracted from it.

If you can go to a country and make it your own by working there, or in the case of retired people....improve the economy of the place they have settled in by buying their goods and services, by encouraging friends and family to add to the local economy by spending their tourist cash....then they are entitled to do that.

I do not see the EU as a 'club'. My view of the EU is clearly documented in previous posts, but to reiterate, it is undemocratic....we have no say in who is making the rules......if we don't like what they are doing there is absolutely no opportunity to vote them out.
Many of the countries in the EU choose which rules they will play by and which they won't......but the Uk follows them slavishly.

In the beginning the EU was called the 'Common Market'....it was set up with the precise aim of encouraging trade within the borders of the countries in the EU.

Now, it isn't like that at all, it isn't about trade, it is about politics.........The EU wants to become the United States of Europe....it wants to have more say in how we deal with finances.

The single currency wasn't to make things easier with one type of money throughout all the countries, it wasn't to make trading easier or more economic,it was a cynical political ploy to shackle all the countries together with the manacles of a single currency.
Badly thought out, and look where it has got us.....so why would we want to allow the EU more say in financial policy. It's foolish.
We should have been allowed a referendum before the treaty was ratified.......Ireland had a referendum....they voted No. This vote was not accepted......they were told to go back and vote again and come back with the right answer! Democratic??????? NO, NO, NO.

And just because something is hard....is that a reason to avoid doing it? Should we continue to not mention the elephant in the room because it is an uncomfortable subject.
Ignoring the problem has never been the right answer.
It isn't going to get better and it isn't going to get easier until something very radical is done about the way the EU is run and managed.
Do you know that they(the EU) haven't had a budget audited/ratified in something like 14 years.

For God's sake.......someone please have the guts to get us out, it is sucking us dry.