England . . . wasn't that a country once?

In the next few months and years when people discover that we have been reduced to the role of a rural district council on the fringes of Europe with the same sort of influence we have in the Eurovision song contest then remember the two Scots responsible, Brown and Blair.

Thanks to them we now live in a country where most of the important decisions are taken by people we have never heard of let alone voted for while before long we will find that far from having a place on the world stage we just have a seat in the audience where we will be told to turn off our mobile phones along with the likes of Chile, Thailand and even Zimbabwe.

It is easy to blame the Czechs for agreeing to the Lisbon stitch-up or the Irish where you feel they would have had a referendum a week until they voted yes but let's be honest it is our lot, led by the two Scots, who denied us a right to vote on our own future for their own reasons.

WIth Blair it probably did not fit in with his business plan for T Blair Ltd while with Brown who knows? Maybe he wants a seat on the European gravy train when he is run out of No 10 or maybe he knew what the result of a referendum would be - and New Labour have never been great admirers of democracy.

Whatever, just remember their names though when your children and grandchildren ask what it was like when England RDC used to be a country.