Small-minded parochialism and petty nationalism

And other similar beliefs preponderant among a large number of British MPs and their constituents.

111 MPs (and not just backwoods Tories - the Labour MP for the place where I used to live was one of these 111, though telling the difference between his opinions on anything else that differs from those of the Tories is extremely difficult) voted for a referendum on British membership of the EU the other day. If they wanted a referendum, it sounds like that that equals "we want out entirely".

And where would they take the UK then? The British economy is based upon the same principles of speculation and debt that landed the US in a mess. In many respects the UK is already the 52nd state (Israel is de facto the 51st). Or creating a large version of Switzerland floating out somewhere in the North Atlantic? Well wasn't that the idea of Thatcherism? Get rid of the industrial base and create one huge bank?

Which is why IMHO the country is in one diabolical mess.

One factor to realise with the reduced industrial base is that much of the incoming capital investment over the last few years has been brought about by the establishment of plants by international (notably Asian) companies who liked being in an English-speaking country and also wanted to be in the EU with all its trading possibilities. Take the UK out of the EU, would they stay? Ireland is staunchly pro-EU, they have an English-language culture, moving there would not be that difficult .... And how many unemployed would that create? Check the 1980s for details.

Still if we want a referendum on the EU, why stop there? Why not have a referendum on what the "Occupy London" (the British spin-off of "Occupy Wall Street") supporters want - if they can define something positive as to what they want to see, rather than just protesting about what the banks have done, as evil as that may be!

AND IT IS DEFINITELY TIME FOR A REFERENDUM UPON WHETHER PEOPLE WANT TO SPEND BILLIONS UPGRADING THE ANACHRONISM THAT IS THE INDEPENDENT BRITISH NUCLEAR WEAPON!!!!!

I anticipate that the 111 parochially minded individuals who want a referendum on British membership of the EU would agree!

They wouldn't? (Yes, I know perfectly well that they wouldn't!). Why not???? If government by referendum is the road to go (and the whole flawed thinking about holding referenda I will examine in a future post), then surely it would be logical to do so. But you do not simply hold one upon issues that suit you and your backwoods thinking, do you?