Well, I have definitely nailed my colours to the mast here haven't I? What I hope is that, in the course of this diatribe, sorry opinion, I will outline the reasons why I think that the United Kingdom should join the Euro. I will also be highlighting traditional questions that crop up and answering them in my own inimitable style. But first why do I think we should join?

I am a teacher, and my subject specialism is Modern Languages (French and German). Consequently I spend most of my time attempting to educate the youth of this country about the wonders of conversing with someone from abroad. However I also believe in educating them about the culture of the countries that speak the language, and I admit, I have touched on the Euro. I haven't given my opinion to the kids, I am far too sensible for that, but I have been asked about it. It is even the default currency in GCSE Oral exams now!

Before I continue, I should also like to admit my other qualification (and I don't mean my Boy Scouts Golden Woggle). I also have qualifications in Economics and take a keen interest in the subject, so I do have an idea about how these things work.

Well, I like to go on my hols, as we all do. The one thing I hate, apart from encountering drunken English yobs leaving a British bar in a resort (why have a British Bar in a resort, just go to Brighton if you want British culture!), is paying commission on my currency transactions.

We spend far too much money to the people in those rooms in the City who gamble our nation's currency, and who stand to lose us millions. How do you think the Nick Leeson's of this world happened. They are given almost free reign to gamble in the hope that they make a profit for their bosses. They aren't doing this for the good of our country- everything is done in the name of profit and loss accounts. A few years ago an experiment was carried out- a journalist went round the various countries of E
urope with £100 in cash, which he exchanged for the currency of the nation he entered. He paid for his holiday and everything in it by plastic, so you would expect him to have a lot of cash left at the end of it. When he reached Britain again, currency exchange rates and commission charges had reduced the £100 to around £40. It doesn't take an Einstein to work out that he had paid £60 to the banks and currency exchanges and had received nothing tangible in return!

The same applies to businesses. If they were dealing in the same currency as their major partners they would find it much easier to survive.

So, what about these questions then, Nolly? Okay, here goes:



WHAT ABOUT LOSING SOVEREIGNTY AND THE QUEEN'S HEAD?

A favoured question by readers of the Times, Torygraph and Daily Snail. Well, the coinage has been going for ages, but there will be a national symbol on the obverse of the Euro coinage, so we still have some identity. Having the monarch's head on our notes is only a relatively new idea (100 years or so, if that!), so we wouldn't be getting rid of the age old tradition that some like to make out, would we? Anyway, if your idea of patriotism is only having the monarch's head or face on money there isn't a lot going for you is there. Patriotism is a feeling you have inside you. Needing material symbols smacks of fragility of patriotism or even jingoism.

By the way, I read the Lincolnshire Echo, I don't read daily newspapers as I don't trust them.


WE NEED TO BE ABLE TO SET OUR OWN INTEREST RATES, DON'T WE?

A debatable one. The last few years have been the only time when interest rates in this country have been relatively stable. If we are in synch with the other economies, and the fabled economic tests should determine this before we enter, the central bank will determine rates easier. Their rates are currently lower than ours. If you'd like p
oliticians to do it, remember September 1992, when the currency speculators (again!) forced Norman Lamont to raise interest rates to 26% to save Sterling. I don't want that ever again!

BUT THE REST OF EUROPE DON'T LIKE IT, NOLLY!

Incorrect I am afraid. A lot of right-wing media across Europe has hoped it would fail, and it hasn't. It has actually been a great success with no inflation triggered by it and Euro interest rates are still lower than ours!


WHAT ABOUT OUR SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP WITH THE USA?

Er, so what? 260 years ago they kicked us out and left the Empire. We keep going back and asking for more and are invariably disappointed.


IT WILL BE A LOGISTICAL NIGHTMARE!

Sorry no. Software is already Euro compliant and most stores are able to take it now and give change in Sterling! That is a red herring by the anti-Euro brigade. No more difficult than the decimalisation change, in fact easier because the Euro is a decimal currency.


AREN'T WE BEING RAILROADED BY THE GOVERNMENT?

How can we be. Eventually they will suggest it is time to enter. This will be put to a referendum of the electorate. If the electorate votes for, it will happen, if it voted against, it won't. The figure needed in the vote is, in my opinion, 50.1% or more. Both sides will claim victory if they reach that figure, so let's not quibble. The majority is the majority, not a good majority or a big one, but a majority.

So there we have it. I am pro Euro. I am also pro-Europe. Our future lies in partnership, not isolationism! There are too few pink bits on the map of the world for us to stand up and say we have other things to be worried about. Let's cut the crap and just get on with it. Don't get stuck in the past, join the future!