I did it my way.

It's an interesting thought that the will and determination to remove boarders in Europe for the economic prosperity of the continent as a whole is not the work of Jean Monnet but goes back further. "The new Europe of solidarity and cooperation amongst all its peoples, a Europe without unemployment without monitory crisis will find an assured foundation and rapidly increasing prosperity once national economic barriers are removed", so said Joseph Goebbels, the Third Reich's Propaganda Chief.

It's slightly chilling to think that the "European Project" was conceived by the Nazi government and whilst the means dictate the ends and we are far from the totalitarian concepts of the Nazi Party in today's Germany, the seed of a united Europe have been around in that country for a very long time. To conquer by the might of arms, or by the force of economic might is not purely semantic but the ends do justify the means.

Tracing a thread from Kaiser Wilhelm to Mrs Merkel is a difficult proposition but there has been in the German psyche an assumption of superiority which has been shown to be true so many times that you can't afford to ignore it. The discipline and a willingness to be coerced as a nation, a national temperament willing to be led, has tremendous advantages over a nation like the French who pride themselves on the strength and importance of individualistic liberte. We, like the French find authority difficult, we rail against common cause, we question leadership and find that believing in ourselves is somehow pompous.

One of my founding reasons for wishing not to continue in the European Project was that I feared a world of plasticity where you had to fit some sort of Germanic inspired template. 

We are not widgets in a manufactures assembly line, often we will do irrational things and the cause for which we struggle does not have to be measured by our ability to succeed .

The economic prerogative is an artificial one. Obviously there are needs, to feed, clothe and put a roof over ones head are usually considered essential but 'what you eat', 'what you wear' and 'where you live' should be your choice, not a statistic in some sort of economic plan or an essential component of some multinational company's balance sheet.

I am not drawn to clubs or routine engagements. I much prefer the chance occurrence, the unplanned event in which you are as much a spectator as participant.

It's all very un-Germanic and whilst I won't be around to take advantage of our new found freedom, it will be as much as it can be, freedom. 

Freedom to make mistakes, freedom to experiment with the choices which appear out of nowhere and above all freedom to look back and, as Sinatra would say, "I did it my way"