I cannot believe the utter tosh that UKIP is spouting in relation to the EU elections ...

[Countingthegreyhairs]

Why does no-one ever, ever put the other side of the story?

It is not a question of them and us. The UK is a Member State and as such benefits hugely from the European Union in terms of stability, prosperity and security.

Why do none of the British papers ever highlight this?

Europe is the UK's largest export market and thanks to the single market we have preferential access to 380 million consumers. Each person in the UK has the right to sell to members in 27 member states - no other organisation in the world provides such an economic advantage as the EU.

Issues such as pollution, crime, health (pandemics) are not restricted to national borders. It only makes sense for them to be tackled cooperatively

... for example, now we have a global market, the EU entity stops imports of dangerous foods or toys in to the UK and also in to other EU member states such as Spain or France where we might be holidaying

And to contradict UKIP, the EU DOES allow Member States considerable freedom to do their own thing in relation to defense, foreign policy etc

Why are these arguments never heard in Britain? Arrggh!! It makes my blood boil!!!

What do we export to Europe ?
Why is so much stuff we buy in UK made outside the EU .I've just picked up the three closest things to me as I type:-
(BT phone handset - made in china,DDs discarded jeans - made in china Computer mouse -made in china too !

yes the Churchill image amused me as well

I'm afraid their use of the Churchill image made me cross: the well informed might be aware that if Churchill had had his way, we would have been in Europe earlier and he would have pushed for far more integration, but as it is, it's just reminiscent of those awful images of Gazza etc with army helmets on "winning the war against Germany" again. It is sickening to me.

As for "what did Europe ever do for us"... try all the equal treatment in the workplace legislation over the last 30 years or so.

All European countries have a special culture that they would want to protect. I don't think that it's the UK's membership of the EU which is damaging its culture, but it is a convenient scapegoat.