Back in 1978 Prime Minister Edward Heath persuaded us that we were joining a free trade area then known as The Common Market. What he concealed from us was the intention to create a super-state. We are now returning, it could be said, to a position from which we could negotiate trade agreements and, who knows, form a new free-trade area: Norway, Switzerland, then perhaps other European countries with Eurosceptic tendencies might follow.
We naughty “wrinklies” who have allegedly destroyed our children’s birth-right, knew from our parents something of what this country could do with its back to the wall and we have welcomed many to our shores, displaced peoples, workers from the Caribbean and refugees from East Africa. More recent waves have reinforced the notion that we are an attractive destination for many people. The younger generation has heard more of the EU’s self-importance and has fallen more readily for recent attempts to scare them at a vulnerable time in their lives, as many of them embark on the demanding business of parenthood.
Our children’s anger is understandable but we must return them, not more anger and ridicule, but love and affection, support and encouragement; their capacity for anger and passion is something of which we should be proud and of which we should take notice.