[Epona]

Hi Yorick, good thread.

Although Scholarcs talks about anti-American sentiment, there is a split in England about our involvement in Europe. Some of that is due to those who think England should be able to stand alone (they forget that the Empire is gone, poor things). Other business interests are much more in favour of throwing their lot in with the US, hence their anti-Europe stance. They live in the modern world enough to realise that the British economy cannot stand alone in the Global Village (especially since most of our industry has been decimated over the last 20 years), but want to go 'Anglica' as Yorick says.

The media is used to try to whip up people's fears about going into Europe by telling us we will be ruled from Brussels, we will all have to speak German, and the Queen's Head will no longer be on our currency, but there is an agenda behind this - we have to go one way or the other and throw our lot in with Europe or America.

Personally, I am very dubious about both. This is not because I am under any delusion about the strength of the British economy, but simply because the agenda is set by big business - who at the end of the day will make sure that whatever happens works in their favour. And that usually means shitting on the rest of the population.