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But Letta is a conservative politician, why bring the left into it? That's part of the problem with the debate on the EU, people want to make political points. Wondering Soton could have raised very valid objections to Letta's speech but had to put a political slant on it. There are many who...

But purchase tax also attracted different rates. The example that's often given was a radiogram (note for younger readers: a cupboard that enclosed a combined radio and record player) that attracted different rates for the furniture, radio and record player, so it wasn't a simple percentage...

I'm self-employed and am old enough to remember purchase tax (although I was at school then, I remember it was a real pain to calculate). No. I'm not pro-EU but do recognise there are some advantages to VAT. You also have to remember that VAT was originally 8% and the Thatcher government's...

VAT replaced purchase tax in the UK: this could be as high as 33% and was certainly more complex, with an array of different rates and exceptions. VAT is considerably simpler and cheaper than the alternative

Don't think he is necessarily. If you look at the works of Adam Smith, generally regarded as the founding father of capitalist economics, he talks often of the need for the government to step in - for example, in breaking up monopolies or in implementing relief for the poor. He was quite happy...

I wasn't making any comment on the logical consistency of Jefferson's statement (as someone who very nearly became a lecturer in logic, I'm fully aware of such things). My point was that Jefferson was being a tad hypocritical in saying it. But then, what can you expect from the man who wrote...

Said one of the founders of the United States, a country set up when the American insurgents entered into an, er, alliance with the Dutch, the Spanish and, especially, the French

Japan is a really good example. The country is beginning to accept that its hostility to immigration is causing it serious problems which is why it's looking at taking off the brakes - not without some serious debate and a reluctance to relax the policy. One of those articles sets out the...

Not true. The EEC was formed in 1957 after the six founder countries signed the Treaty of Rome: that's what we joined in 1973. The Common Market was the colloquial name for the EEC - it wasn't a different entity

Well exactly. In fact, the only complete, up-to-date figure that Soulman quoted (from the Treasury) was actually less than mine. His argument seems to be: there are lots of different figures bandied about so Farage's are as good as anyone else's (even though they're twice as much as most of the...

One thing that does bother me about the out campaign is this figure of £55m a day that I keep seeing quoted as the cost of EU membership. My understanding is that it's about half that. According to the Telegraph (a paper that is anti-EU so there's no bias here) it's £9.5 bn a year (which works...

No it's not: the first line said "could possibly lose" - that's pretty meaningless. It could have said "could possible be forced to have a tattoo on their neck saying 'non EU' and would still not be untrue. I agree though that it's highly unlikely - just as it would be highly unlikely that...

I imagine many would rather pay no fees than £27k for their course. They may seem little to you but it's quite a lot to me. But we're not though: we're not building anything like the number of houses we need. I totally agree with you that house prices are bonkers but there seems to be no plans...

Maybe. But they'll also have the option of working elsewhere in Europe (as several people on NSC do) and, even more importantly, studying in Europe. My son's only 10 but he's already worried about the cost of going to uni. Courses are cheap or even free in other European countries: that's going...

That's in line with countless surveys on EU membership. The group that is most firmly opposed is the Over-65s; the group most firmly in support are the Under-30s and in large numbers . See here for more details http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/8112935e-e2ca-11e4-bf4b-00144feab7de.html#axzz3zx7dimQr...

Is that sold on a spot market? :-)

Which is what I said. And is why it doesn't require any treaty changes or referenda in other countries

Well, if it's major enough to trigger a referendum then it's clearly not "scraps on the table" but a significant deal (FWIW, I don't think it's a big deal and I think it will get passed by the other EU countries pretty easily)

I agree with you that it's a pretty poor deal but it doesn't make any sense to say the rest of Europe will reject it. If it's only the symbolic gesture that you say it is, then the rest of the EU will lap it up. And you're surely wrong to say that this will prove to Eurosceptics that the EU...

One of the reasons for this may be that some SNP supporters think that voting to leave would make it easier to force another independence vote. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/eu-referendum-scottish-nationalists-may-vote-to-leave-to-speed-up-route-to-independence-a6839966.html...