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Thank you very much for that interesting and informative post, Martin. I have listened a lot to the debate in this subject, (is there anything else to listen to on serious stations?) and it appears to me that the 'outers' are more fact based than the 'inners' who predict a plague on all our houses if we leave.

Here are two facts which go towards my wanting to leave:

1. Anyone who pays 250,000 Euros or more for a house in Cyprus is offered dual cypriot and whatever citizenship. This entitles him to go to live or work anywhere else in EU;

2. The murderer of Philip Lawrence had a a single mother who was Philippino, but his father was Italian. Because of these facts she found she could come and live in any EU country. She chose UK because its benefits system is the most generous and as a single mother she would automatically qualify for a council flat. That is her, and her son's, only connection not only with this country, but with this continent.

No one should ever put off doing what he believes to be right just because that choice entails hardships. The hardships of doing the wrong thing will be far worse.

Finally, not only am I for coming out, but also for exploring doing deals with countries such as Germany, Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg and Scandinavia which have a work ethic and economies more aligned to purr own. But they should only be ad hoc, piecemeal deals, not complete marriages as we have now with EU.

On Wednesday I am off on a Grand Tour of Europe by train and I shall talk to anyone who will speak to me and ask for their views on these issues. I am sure of one thing, the northern countries will want to get out just as much as we do, but most of them are hobbled to the Euro.