Being in Europe is a bit like going down the pub.

When you go to the pub, you join a club.

Lots of different people are members of this club.

There might be a managing director of a successful company. There might be someone unemployed.

There will probably be lots of people from all walks of life, Some of them rich, some of them poor.

All offering different levels of input.

Some offering advice, some offering generosity. 

Some offering practical or physical help. 

Some offering a shoulder to cry on. 

Some offering the most interesting conversation. 

Some offering jokes. 

Some offering music or songs. 

Some offering gossip. 

Some you might even have special little arrangements with.

One person does a bit of plumbing for you. Another you helped clear out their garage recently. Another gives piano lessons to your children.

Members lucky enough to have succeeded in their chosen paths will from time-to-time find themselves buying drinks for the others perhaps less fortunate than themselves. 

This can be expensive. 

Those members accept that, and do so gladly, because what the less fortunate can offer is not always financial.

The club will also have a few rules. 

No glasses outside after 9pm. No pets. No ordering from certain sections of the bar.

You might not agree with them all, in fact some you might find annoying.

Stifling. ludicrous even.

But being a member of this club means you have your say and be able to voice your opinions, maybe get the rules changed to suit you better.

What you get from this club is community. companionship. Strength in numbers. Solidarity. Support.

Now, if you suddenly start to feel that you buy too many drinks for people, or you don’t like the rules, then you can leave the pub.

You can go outside, buy your own drinks, sit on your own, and drink by yourself. 

With no support, no conversation, no-one to talk to. 

No friends to sort out that bit of plumbing.

No friends to help with the piano lessons.

No help, no jokes, no friends.

A loner. 

The current E.U. Brexit campaign seems entirely based on a quite selfish, xenophobic and often racist argument. 

How much we get out of Europe financially? How many immigrants we have to put up with? It’s frightened and stupid.

We should think of the EU like going down the pub. 

Not everyone is as successful as others, some of the rules are frustrating and sometimes you find yourself buying a few more rounds than some. 

I’d rather be part of the community, with all its faults, than the selfish lonely bloke, outside, drinking on his own.