Inspired by the lively debate in another thread (http://www.railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=107466) I thought I'd start for people to share their opinions on the European Union and UKIP (as they seem to be so tightly tied to each other in the debate on the EU in this country) generally.
Personally, I'm very much pro-EU in the sense that I believe in the aims and principles of the union, that of closer integration, co-operation and trade between member states.
I watch the anti-EU sentiment and support of UKIP in parts of the population with sadness, and as taking us backward rather than forward, something that seems to have intensified since the 2007-08 financial crisis. It seems in times of crisis we withdraw and look inwards, seeking to apportion blame in all the wrong places. Anything that makes the EU look even slightly silly is sensationalised by certain parts of the media, rarely counterbalanced by its achievements and benefits.
At the moment the focus is on the EU asking us for an additional contribution to its budget, based on revised financial data submitted by the UK (the latter being the part of the story most commonly overlooked). It's certainly an early christmas gift for UKIP. To me, it's a non-story - we sent revised data to the EU, on which they base member state contributions, and they sent a revised budget contribution to reflect that. It seems that we want all the best parts of the union without contributing to its success and the wellbeing of the union as a whole. Some of us are selfish, basically, wanting our own interests served and to hell with everyone else.
Migration and free movement of labour seems to be another sore point. Hysteria abounds, in the face of evidence that the majority of migrants take less from our social security than Britons, making them net contributors. But to hell with the evidence seems to be the Daily Mail school of thought. There's just too many migrants, they say. Well, I for one am proud to live in a multicultural society and to have the opportunity to work alongside and meet some wonderful people from across the world. If I apply for a job and a Pole gets it, I don't blame failures in immigration control. If there's a better candidate, it doesn't matter whether they were born here or not. Fact is, I've worked alongside more incompetent and lazy Brits than I have incompetent and lazy immigrants. Could it be that some people are just worried that they're exposing their own shortcomings?
I find it baffling that this kind of mentality pervades into 2014. We've had two world wars and countless other smaller wars. We've had financial crises and face serious environmental problems in the coming decades. How, after all this, have we not learned to work together for the betterment of humanity rather than working on the basis of lines on a map? How, in a world increasingly dominated by single-nation superpowers like China, can we possibly think it's a sensible idea to try to fend for ourselves and reduce our voice in world politics? Because that, I think, is the reality of withdrawal from the EU. Britain is not a large or particularly influential country on its own. We forget that we owe no small part of the influence we have now to our former 'glory', if you could call it that, as a world superpower ourselves - but that won't last forever. Memories of those times are quickly fading, and outside of the EU, a lot of the remainder of our influence would dwindle away. We have a seat on the UN security council, for example, something of an anachronism even in the current circumstances, let alone in a 'UK out of the EU' future.
And the world is taking notice. I have two friends of Filipino origin visiting from Canada later this year, and one of them was entertaining the idea of moving to the UK (having lived in Canada for nearly all of his life) - but he said he would be hesitant because "The UK doesn't seem very friendly to immigrants" - something I found very embarassing indeed as a reputation to have (Canada being a country with a higher proportion of immigrants than the UK, and doing quite well economically itself).
Personally, I'm very much pro-EU in the sense that I believe in the aims and principles of the union, that of closer integration, co-operation and trade between member states.
I watch the anti-EU sentiment and support of UKIP in parts of the population with sadness, and as taking us backward rather than forward, something that seems to have intensified since the 2007-08 financial crisis. It seems in times of crisis we withdraw and look inwards, seeking to apportion blame in all the wrong places. Anything that makes the EU look even slightly silly is sensationalised by certain parts of the media, rarely counterbalanced by its achievements and benefits.
At the moment the focus is on the EU asking us for an additional contribution to its budget, based on revised financial data submitted by the UK (the latter being the part of the story most commonly overlooked). It's certainly an early christmas gift for UKIP. To me, it's a non-story - we sent revised data to the EU, on which they base member state contributions, and they sent a revised budget contribution to reflect that. It seems that we want all the best parts of the union without contributing to its success and the wellbeing of the union as a whole. Some of us are selfish, basically, wanting our own interests served and to hell with everyone else.
Migration and free movement of labour seems to be another sore point. Hysteria abounds, in the face of evidence that the majority of migrants take less from our social security than Britons, making them net contributors. But to hell with the evidence seems to be the Daily Mail school of thought. There's just too many migrants, they say. Well, I for one am proud to live in a multicultural society and to have the opportunity to work alongside and meet some wonderful people from across the world. If I apply for a job and a Pole gets it, I don't blame failures in immigration control. If there's a better candidate, it doesn't matter whether they were born here or not. Fact is, I've worked alongside more incompetent and lazy Brits than I have incompetent and lazy immigrants. Could it be that some people are just worried that they're exposing their own shortcomings?
I find it baffling that this kind of mentality pervades into 2014. We've had two world wars and countless other smaller wars. We've had financial crises and face serious environmental problems in the coming decades. How, after all this, have we not learned to work together for the betterment of humanity rather than working on the basis of lines on a map? How, in a world increasingly dominated by single-nation superpowers like China, can we possibly think it's a sensible idea to try to fend for ourselves and reduce our voice in world politics? Because that, I think, is the reality of withdrawal from the EU. Britain is not a large or particularly influential country on its own. We forget that we owe no small part of the influence we have now to our former 'glory', if you could call it that, as a world superpower ourselves - but that won't last forever. Memories of those times are quickly fading, and outside of the EU, a lot of the remainder of our influence would dwindle away. We have a seat on the UN security council, for example, something of an anachronism even in the current circumstances, let alone in a 'UK out of the EU' future.
And the world is taking notice. I have two friends of Filipino origin visiting from Canada later this year, and one of them was entertaining the idea of moving to the UK (having lived in Canada for nearly all of his life) - but he said he would be hesitant because "The UK doesn't seem very friendly to immigrants" - something I found very embarassing indeed as a reputation to have (Canada being a country with a higher proportion of immigrants than the UK, and doing quite well economically itself).
