Yes, we voted to leave the EU – but I don't recall voting to leave the EEC

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Michel Barnier and David Davis appear to have made little progress during Brussels discussions (AFP)

I am 72 years old, and in the 1975 referendum voted “Yes”. At the time, I was 30 years old and a director of a small manufacturing company in Daventry.

We desperately wanted to get involved with the European export market. In order to do so, if I wanted to jump into my car and drive around Europe demonstrating my wares, I had to apply for a carnet which allowed me into European countries on a temporary basis – without having to pay any import duties on the goods within my car.

At every customs point along the way, I had to join a long queue to the customs office in order to get my entry into the next country logged, and my carnet suitably endorsed. In simple English, this was torment. If one succeeded in getting an order, more seemingly endless documentation ensued. By the time one finally got paid, one really wondered if it had been worth the effort.

Along came the EEC – brilliant! No more customs, a free trade zone, exactly what we wanted – nothing more, nothing less.

Subsequently, various politicians / governments involved us in the wretched currency snake thing – the precursor to the euro – which nearly broke us when interest rates went ballistic. We came out of it, thank goodness, and we retained the pound – so at least we could revalue and devalue as required.

Now, the euro – the German Mark in disguise – has managed to bankrupt the Greeks, with other southern European countries nearing the brink. One day people will realise that a Federal Europe is a no-brainer. Greeks will always be Greek, Italians will always be Italian – the same applies to the Iberian Peninsula countries. Hopefully Brits will always be Brits.

The eurozone depends on all countries adopting a common structured way of life, with common economic practices and work ethics. Most of these guys, possiblyalong with the Irish , regret joining the Euro as they cannot devalue or revalue their currencies – only the Germans can.

My point is this: I, along with many fellow Brits, voted to come out of the EU. I, along with many fellow Brits, do not want to come out of the EEC – we voted to be in it. It’s the U bit we object to, and all the governing ambitions of a Federal Europe.

None of us voted for an EU; we weren’t given the opportunity – politicians just did it without any formal consultation. The Irish problem wouldn’t be there if we were all just in the EEC.

Politicians seem completely adept at shooting themselves in the foot and spouting off about “What the people want”. They don’t know what we want – that’s the problem. So sad!

Michael Johnson
Northampton

The Cabinet needs to stop posturing on Brexit

Brendan Howlin’s piece (The UK Government must act before Brexit destroys the hard-won peace of Ireland) made me realise that the posturing of the May Cabinet reminds me of the words attributed to Major-General Elphinstone in the First Anglo-Afghan War, when his forces occupying Kabul were threatened by popular insurgency: “We must certainly decide what is best to be done.”

In his case, he decided on the retreat from Kabul, which ended in the almost total destruction of his command in the bloodied snows of Gandamack.

We can but hope for a less disastrous outcome for the present “constructive ambiguity”, but it’s getting increasingly hard to do so.

Bruce Napier
Derbyshire

What would Boris do?

A physicist, a chemist and Boris Johnson are shipwrecked in the Pacific, and end up being washed up onto a small island with no food. However, a can of beans was also washed up with them onto the island. The situation was clear: they needed to get that can of beans open and eaten, in order to give them more time to be found.

There was enough driftwood and dry leaves to get a fire going, so they each in turn gave their proposal to get the beans out of their can by using their fire. The chemist said he would calculate the time it would take for the can of beans to explode open. The physicist said he would calculate the exact exit trajectories of the beans for the three of them to catch and eat.

Boris Johnson said he would presume they had a can opener...

Dr P J Graham

It’s time we all embraced ‘Autism Hour’

We would like to thank all those shops and businesses who will be helping customers with autism during the UK’s first “Autism Hour” next week, and encourage others who aren’t already to become involved.

This week-long initiative, organised by the National Autistic Society, aims to provide autistic people with a break from the daily overload of too much information, and raise awareness of how small, simple steps can be taken to create a more autism-friendly world.

Autism is a lifelong developmental disability that affects how people perceive the world and interact with others. If you are autistic, you are autistic for life; autism is not an illness or disease and cannot be ‘cured”. It is estimated that more than one in 100 people are on the autism spectrum.

For 60 minutes, shops and services will turn down their music, dim their lights and offer a helping hand to autistic people, for whom the world can seem a scary place, full of too much noise and information. Many people don’t fully understand how an everyday activity, such as going to the shops, can become impossible for autistic people and their families. Noise, bright lighting and crowds can all be triggers, resulting in 79 per cent of autistic people feeling socially isolated.

We would encourage shops and businesses across Scotland to get involved. It doesn’t cost anything to go the extra mile and create an autism-friendly environment, making a major difference to autistic people and helping raise awareness of the daily struggles they face.

The Scottish Children’s Services Coalition:
Tom McGhee, managing director, Spark of Genius
Duncan Dunlop, Chief Executive, Who Cares? Scotland
Sophie Pilgrim, director, Kindred Scotland
Stuart Jacob, director, Falkland House School
Niall Kelly, managing director, Young Foundations

Labour has a selective memory about the past

Listening to the Labour Party Conference promises, they are clearly hoping that young people will never hear about the fact that their last attempt at government left us in such a mess that we are still paying for it!

As in business, “the bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of the lowest price is forgotten”.

Let us heed the experience of the past.

Doug Fowler
North Somerset

Labour is stifling debate

How can the Labour Party hope to convince anyone that they are democratic when they stifle debate on Brexit, the biggest issue facing our country at the moment?

Helen Watson
Goring Heath

It’s all in a name

After a summer when, coincidentally, the winners of golf’s four major championships – Sergio Garcia, Brooks Koepka, Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas – all have both forenames and surnames containing six letters, I see that remarkably the three leading scorers in this season’s Premier League to date – Sergio Aguero, Alvaro Morata and Romelu Lukaku – are similarly monikered.

Jeremy Corbyn – this must be your year!

David J Williams
Colwyn Bay