Saturday, February 20, 2016

Answering Michael Gove on Europe - a quick few words


If you haven't read Michael Gove's statement on why he is backing Brexit you can do so here:

Gove's  statement


And here is my brief response: 

Gove was trained as a Journalist and writes well. And as the most senior dissenter in the Cabinet he is right to tell us why he has take the action he has. But he, like so many Eurosceptics, look back not forward. Back to some distant "Golden Age" where Britain Ruled the Waves. I was born just after the end of WW2. That "Golden Age" has not existed in my lifetime and I think you probably need to go back to before WW1 to find it. As Churchill so rightly predicted and argued in the year of my birth if the follies of conflict were not to be repeated yet again we needed cooperation between nations not isolation. It took a while but now it is here it isn't going to go away. Thankfully. Yes Britain could slam our doors and hide. Yes we are large enough to survive on our own. But it would be folly to do so. "Folie de grandeur" that most stupid kind of hubris. 

The modern world is interdependent and even a Nation as substantial as Britain cannot ignore this. The new "Golden Age" for the UK could be as one of the leaders of a united Europe. What a rich prize that would be! What a proud new tradition we could create if we let that happen. Far, far better that than to pull up the drawbridge. The chance to move forward together with Britain at the centre of European progress that may never come again in our lifetimes. Better together. By far.

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