I’ve been fortunate with my Doctor Who books so far this month; Matrix is a Seventh Doctor / Ace Past Doctors Adventure, set not long after Survival, which couldn’t really have been done as a New Adventure because by the time the series had matured to the stage where a story like this could have fitted, Ace’s continuity had moved on. It has a remarkable section featuring an alternate Ian Chester and Barbara Wright in whose world the UK has been annexed by the USA, and also manages to breathe fresh life into the Sixth Doctor’s trial and the Cheetah Planet, neither of which is normally my favourite bit of continuity, with Jack the Ripper and the Wandering Jew thrown in. Perry and Tucker keep it remarkably well disciplined. I couldn’t recommend it unless you are familiar both with the Trial of a Time Lord season and Survival, but if you are, it is well worth reading.
From the Heart of Europe
Books, politics, languages and life
I don’t really have time at the moment for a point by point discussion like this. But if you understand that we want large areas of sovereignty back then you do in fact understand the key driving issue of British euroscepticism.
If you want a clear example of some of the sovereignty many of us would like back I can direct your attention to a recent blog post by Dan Hannan. There is plenty more out there giving detailed proposals if you care to look, that is just one example I have at the top of my head because it was recent. Of course euroscepticism is not a single uniform thing, and yes the criticism of the EU from the left differ markedly from those that come from the right. But yes, the issue of sovereignty is at the heart of it. Too much has been given away without a proper mandate to do so, and more and more of us want it back.
And I’m not claiming to channel the collective will of the British people – don’t be silly. I’m just summarising from polls and so forth. And from memory which is why I’m not quoting figures. Again these are readily available online if you care to google.
Finally, I cannot stress too strongly that our leaders – that is the principle people in all of the main political parties – are pro-EU. Far from stirring up euroscepticism they spend most of their time trying to damp it down or brush it under the carpet. If by leaders who are lying you mean leading eurosceptics then if you actually read what they are saying (as opposed to what is said about them) you will find very few examples of people ‘stirring up resentment against foreigners’. That is not what euroscepticism is about. It is about our sovereignty.