WE HAVE LIFT OFF..

It was all very predictable, I suppose.   Early in the morning we had Dave`s long awaited speech about Europe, since when we`ve had all the expected responses from `opinion formers,` political analysts, social commentators, the chattering classes, Uncle Tom Cobley and all.   I thought it best to avoid all that in the hope that I might be left in peace to draw my own conclusions about Dave`s vision for our future `relationship` with our friends across the channel.   But I made the mistake of tuning in to BBC`s Newsnight late last night and once again witnessing not only the BBC`s institutional bias towards the EU but also the Labour supporting presenter Kirsty Wark`s now infamous interviewing technique.

Her `guests` - or rather her victims - for last night`s natter about Dave`s speech included the Europe Minister, the Shadow Europe Minister, the ubiquitous UKIP leader Nigel Farage and one time LibDem leader, Sir Menzies Campbell, along with a bit of a sideshow involving the Czech Ambassador.   And once again we saw the Wark interview technique in all its stentorian glory;  asking leading, biased, presumptuous questions, constantly interrupting her victim`s responses, not allowing them to finish a sentence before being harangued about what few words they had managed to utter. More hectoring than interviewing and leaving yours truly in a state of late night bewilderment.   No wonder I didn`t sleep very well.

But, of course, this was just part of the lift off we now have for the years of misinformation, argument, counter-argument, political shenanigans, lies, damned lies and statistics with which we will be bombarded until a referendum about Europe might eventually arrive.   I say might arrive, of course, because it all depends on whether Dave wins the next election, whether our friends in the Fatherland and elsewhere are interested in renegotiating the UK`s terms of continued membership of the EU or, indeed, whether there will be an `r` in the month.

I think I`ll try and ignore it all with the most likely outcome being that, by the time all these hurdles have been jumped, all these hoops have been gone through and the day of a referendum finally arrives, I`ll quite possibly be pushing up the daisies anyway.   I wonder if you can get a postal vote from the great beyond.