I can just imagine the responses but here goes anyway.
We need a reasoned debate on this very important subject. I know on another thread I have been dismissive of some of the personalities for which I am perhaps a little sorry ( but only a very little….). I fear, however, that the EU referendum debate will make the Scottish referendum debate seem well-informed – which would be a massive achievement by any standards.
We only really hear about the negatives of EU membership, promoted more often than not by the right of centre press. The headlines to do with Brussels are always sensationalist.
in the vast majority of cases our laws and policies are in line with and in many cases ahead of Brussels. The idea the the EU controls every aspect of our lives and meddles in everything is a complete fallacy. Many EU laws are standardisation between states, so we can afford the same protections in whatever state we wish to travel to.
But, that is not to say some laws are not bonkers, but then so are some of our home grown ones- bedroom tax anyone?
Again because of the lack of positive press coverage, I think the general population are completely unaware of the amount of money the EU contributes to big projects. Those on the fringes of the UK away from the metropolitan areas are well aware of how the infrastructure has benefited from EU funding.
It always has made me smile when I hear the phrase “unelected Brussels Bureaucrat”. They are civil servants in the same way we have “unelected London Bureaucrats” in the Home Office, DEFRA, etc.
This chance may never come again in our lifetimes, which is why I will take the opportunity this referendum provides to vote to stay within the EU and not get mired in the longing for a fictional rose tinted past of empire and embrace a better future within an (even marginally reformed) EU

I never met him, but condolences to his family and friends.

I lived for 18 years less than a mile as the crow flies from his workshop, and saw various aircraft taking off and landing from the strip over the years, my favorites were the DH 60 moths.

Well John, regarding sweeping statements as you are the past master of them, perhaps I should bow to your intimate knowledge of my friends, acquaintances and the local media for how well he is regarded in the my local area. Where do you live again?

For example, we were actually talking about this issue last week in the pub, and many of the people in my cycling group ( 20 + on that occasion) who are quite a bit further in your direction politically compared to me were saying that they would want to stay in the EU for economic reasons as almost all of them own small businesses in the area. None had a good word to say about Boris although this was before he took his decision

Boris’s attraction to voters is seemingly inversely proportional to his distance from London.

When it was mentioned on another forum I frequent a similar comment to the above and how he would turn the debate around as he was so charismatic, one reply amused me, probably because I agreed with it:

Or a mop-headed, self-aggrandising, totally untrustworthy cockwomble, depending on how gullible you are

and when another said he was a great orator the following was the reply:

Does mumbling, hesitating, obfuscating and generally talking unintelligible b****x count as being a good public speaker these days?

In short, he may make those who have made up their mind to vote leave happy, but will he sway the floating voter? I am not completely convinced he will be as influential as the media circus seems to believe.

I live in deepest Herefordshire, and there are not many Boris fans around here, he has been seen as a bit of an irrelevance up till now.

And it seems that he may not be doing as well as hoped in his fairly blatant leadership bid. It’s in the Torygraph so it must be true
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/eureferendum/12168067/Boris-Johnson-has-just-blown-his-first-audition-to-be-prime-minister.html

I was lucky enough to meet and talk to him twice. A true gentleman. It was his articles in Air International in the 1970’s that started my interest in historic aviation. RIP and Panzer john, if appropriate, please pass on condolances to his family.

The problem is that you are again projecting your own narrow view of the world onto another with insufficient evidence to support your apparently blinkered position.
It is this lack of understanding of others perspectives, probably due to relying on narrow sources of evidence, that leads you to inaccurate conclusions.

I strongly recommend a broader range of daily reading matter to help you understand alternative perspectives. You may not agree with the material but it will certainly make you better informed.

I am no class warrior. Nor am I, nor ever have been, involved with any organised politics of any persuasion.

Thank you John for making me laugh out loud. They do say laughter is the best medicine.

As is quite usual, you are way off the mark on this one.

Keep it up, we need to be cheerful on such a damp old day

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The rats are emerging from the woodwork pretty quickly.

Six good reasons not to vote No. Particularly the personification of smugness that is IDS

I do hope that he will persuade his wife’s family to repay the £1.5 million in farming subsidies that they have taken from the EU in the past ten years so that he can’t be branded self-serving. Or perhaps he will insist that if, God forbid, the No campaign wins, that the UK goverment will continue to subsidise the extremely wealthy land owners with tax payers money whilst making sure the poor stay that way.