The caricature of anti-EU types in the UK has, for the last thirty years or so at least, been of xenophobic, flag-waving middle class little Englanders who love the monarchy and aristocracy - relics of a bygone age. In the same period, pro-EU types have come to be stereotyped as wishy-washy liberals, looking at the utopian EU ideal while ignoring the grotty reality. Both are, naturally, massive oversimplifications.

But how, considering the fundamental lack of democracy within the EU, can any democratic-minded person possibly support the European Union? I count myself in that group, and am not sure if I have any rational answer.