Re: A UK $

[quk@isham-research.demon.co.uk (Phil Payne)]

In message <36B7F99E.98D061A1@one.net> "Theodore R. Harlan" writes:

> The United Kingdom did not wholly ratify the Maastricht Treaty.

No one in the UK even _understands_ the Maastricht Treaty.  Even the
Foreign Minister of the day admitted he signed it without having even
tried to read it.

And you can't read it - it's actually a collection of obscure changes
in obscure language to equally obscure parts of other treaties, some
of which have partially superseded or modified each other.

> Accordingly they will not be adopting the Euro as their currency any
> time soon. I believe that they still use the Pound, but it does not
> readily appear on a US keyboard! Frankly, My observations show that the
> Euro would not be good for England, as it is likely the most free
> country in europe, and the full body of Maastricht carries a bunch of
> extra regulations. _The Economist_, however, has not been as vocal as I
> had expected it to be.
>
> I'm curious as to what you think, Phil. Do I have my facts straight?

The reason we have not yet joined is political, and to do with our
adversarial two-party system.  What ever the party in power wants to
do is, in the eyes of the opposition, _WRONG_.  Whether it's a good
idea or not.  So - the Tories are in power and are all in favour
of Europe.  This de facto makes the Labour party rabidly anti-Europe,
although they would be (and have been) hard pressed to come up with a
reason.

Then - the Labour party gets elected.  In their Manifesto, they promised
to oppose the Euro - it's now become dogma, and they have to do it,
irrespective of whether it's a good idea or not.  For my part, I would
_LOVE_ to be able to order Bosch parts direct from Zuffenhausen and
pay in my (and their) local currency - the Euro.

--
 Phil Payne
 Phone: 0385 302803   Fax: 01536 723021
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