Quote Originally Posted by Gelatinous Cube View Post
As for the EU, I don't claim to be an expert on how it works or what needs to happen for it to be better or worse or whatever. What I do claim is that Britain has a stronger military than most European countries, and a stronger economy than most European countries, along with a more stable and resilient social structure than most European countries.
Which? In fact, the UK is culturally a country with very, very, weak social structure when it comes to a safety net. They were probably relatively advanced in the 1800s or so, but this is 2014. Large parts of North England are still a dump, 30 odd years on. Wales and Scotland fare better only because they've sort of convinced to let London pretend they're really the UK equivalent of East Germany and therefore deserve lots of special privileges and tax breaks and funds. Still, were Scotland to say "bye" to the UK the prospects for the Scottish economy are quite bleak since, eh, the Scottish economy is basically nonexistent. (It's pretty much in service to England, it's the English that basically pay for the Scots to have a job).

These days economic growth means that they've restarted a few coal mines 'cause that the price of coal has risen enough for that to be worthwhile. Not that they employ a similar number of people, of course, it's not nearly profitable enough.

The UK is simply more valuable to Europe than it is to the USA. Heck, Australia is more valuable to the USA right now as they are openly courting China, Japan, Canada, and us for their cooperation in that part of the world, economically.
Well of course, but let's not pretend that the growth is in the UK or that the EU can't do without the UK or that the UK can't do without the EU. The growth is in countries like Poland. Or China. For the EU, common cause with assertive emerging economies (Brazil, India, China, Indonesia) are a far better bet than Whitehall. It's simply not 1950 anymore, and not having the UK as a member of your club is not nearly as significant as it once would have been.