On the Edge

During the past twenty years the British discussion of European issues has increasingly lost contact with reality or rationality. Wilful ignorance, political opportunism and media manipulation have unrecognizably distorted the European debate in the United Kingdom. Even those in theory favourable to a central and constructive British role in the European Union have found themselves endorsing many of the premises of their opponents. In this short book, British attitudes to the European Union, particularly those of the media and political classes, will be critically reviewed. The authors conclude that Britain's position within the Union is currently in great jeopardy; and that those who sincerely wish to ward off this danger need fundamentally to reconsider the political tactics and rhetoric they have employed until now.