Letter: Time to ditch begging bowl and break Europe's shackles

That is an oxymoron. A company would have to be in dire straits to need to constantly improve its performance.

David Cameron's constant approaches to the EU with his begging bowl is an oxymoron too. He begs for a pittance, and we are expected to applaud and be grateful, if he gets one.

This is demeaning for a nation which, for all its many mistakes, is nevertheless a basically proud and ethical one. We should not have to be begging favours from other countries, many of which are in no position to tell anyone what to do.

Morgan Johansson, the Swedish Immigration Minister, berates us for not taking in more refugees. As though we have as much land mass and as little population as Sweden? Of course we should be taking more refugees; that is what we have always done, but we can't. Not any more; not since we have had so many economic migrants foisted on us by EU rules. We have become a "standing room only" nation, particularly in England.

EU ministers want us to stay in the EU, not because they love us, but because they fear us. If they loved us, they would abide by whatever choice we made, with their blessing, but they suspect we will actually be stronger without them, and this unsettles them; they do not have the courage to do the same.

So the status quo must be maintained, we must continue to be held in the EU prison and sustainability can go out of the window.

We can no longer be true to ourselves; we can no longer adhere to the values that have always meant so much, because we are constantly (that word again) being watered down by ridiculous EU directives.

Our lives are dominated by the narrow views of continental bureaucrats, and that disturbs the sleep of many thoughtful people and may even be one of the reasons so many more men are committing suicide. We can no longer reach for the sky, which, come what may, we might have a chance of doing again, if we were freed from the shackles of Europe.

Will Knott, Shrewsbury

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