Europe...

I've always been a supporter of Europe.  That's pretty unsurprising, since I lived in France for eight years and appreciated the lack of real borders between France and the UK.  I could live in Bordeaux, or La Rochelle before that, and take a plane to London to work each week, and nobody questioned my right to do so.

Since I've been living back in the UK, I've paid a lot more attention to the way other people view the EU.  And the impact of the financial crisis on all of us - the ongoing impact of the big financial experiment - has had some interesting repercussions in my view of what Europe should stand for.

In general, over the past few years, I've figured that the less we have borders in this world, the better it is.  After all, we are all humans, we are all life, and we should share our fortune with others who are less fortunate.  But what exactly does that mean?  Does it mean that we should pay for others who seemingly don't have the same feeling of responsibility as we do?  Does it mean that whatever we do, we have to equalise and harmonise everything so that everyone arrives at the same result, irrespective of how we react to the same set of problems?

There is a huge groundswell of opinion now in the UK that is against everything that the EU stands for.  But that's not necessarily something which is against the European ideal - in fact it's based in a mistrust and criticism of all that is politics.  The man in the street, on average, seems not to think that politicians are on his side. 

If you are in a relatively comfortable position, then what you want from politics is probably the preservation of the status quo.  If you have found a way to make the system work for you, then from a personal perspective, change is the last thing that you want.  However, the social conscience is in there somewhere, and I think that it becomes stronger when you are in a more comfortable position than it was during the years when (if) you were struggling.

I've seen both sides of that line.  I've worked a full week and still had to eat plain boiled pasta and HP sauce to keep hunger at bay.  I spent a whole year when my "friendly" bank took all of my salary to reimburse an outstanding debt.  That was in the days when banks could do such things, before legislation came in to stop them.  My only source of rescue was a moonlighting job, playing in a band, that gave me enough cash to live on.  Having struggled through that time, in my early twenties, I can see why people are so up in arms about Europe - why those who have knuckled down and fought their way through the depression are now coming out fighting against those who have done precious little to help themselves but now expect the others for help.  Why should us Brits, who have struggled through cuts and pay freezes and increases in the pension age and extortionate university fees, subsidise others who have done nothing, who still follow the path of spending all that they did before and stick two fingers up at the rest?

I really don't have an answer to that.  at least, not one answer.  Half of me says "bolt the doors and leave them to their stupidity", and the other half says "we're all in this together".

At least, being an island, the UK has more of a choice in that decision.  But will I still feel good about us if we make the wrong choice?