Britain & the EU - What's Happening?

[Geoff Winnington-Ball (RIP)]

Originally posted by dougiebarder
...If Britain need's to have closer ties with any country,it should be our old allies (as in real allies) America, Australia, Canada etc).

Ranting thou art not... this is surely a potentially earthshaking decision, given your (our) history.

Two things occur to me... first, for insight, what are the perceptions and experiences of our other European members on the EU as a whole and how it's affected their societies, socially and economically?

Second, and given that NATO is basically redundant now - especially in light of the EU - and given the power shifts and changing pressures in the world since 9/11 - I've begun to wonder why there shouldn't be a new emerging organization perhaps called CESCO - the Coalition of English Speaking Countries.

Doug, as per your last comment, it seems we're all in this together, politically, militarily and financially, and with certain lines being drawn both culturally and economically, does it not make sense? Membership, of course, would not necessarily be restricted to the countries you mention, but the founding members would have to go out of their way to ensure another bureaucratic and political fiasco such as the current UN (or for that matter the Commonwealth) was not its ultimate evolution, and that our shared values would be maintained and built upon.

What do you think? Too difficult because of cultural diversity and the great altar of political correctness? Or emminently practical?