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"Has anybody actually made the economic case for leaving?" Two can play at that came, Anon. Has anyone made the economic case for staying? If so, I've not seen it - only a mass of vehement and unsupported assertion. Nigel Lawson, a former Chancellor of the Exchequer, once remarked that he had never been able to identify a single economic benefit which unquestionably stemmed from our EU membership and could not have been had otherwise. But why would the"economic case" be determinative anyhow, since the questions of allegiance and ultimate control are so much more vital?

As for the other Anon's nonsense (I hope not the same Anon) about "fear for the future and suspicion of foreigners", this is just the standard "Europhile" patter. Who suspects "foreigners" (i.e. continental Europeans)? David has already made clear that he likes them, and so do I - often a great deal more than I do the modern British. But that's not the same as wanting one's country to be governed by foreigners, in foreign interests and for foreign goals.