timppu: It'll be interesting to see if UK really leaves EU (I hope you do, from my point of view I don't like UK getting all kinds of privileges and reliefs already now that other EU countries don't get, and still complaining), but somehow I fear that will not happen.
I've got no idea how the referendum is going to go. The polls have gone from depicting the Out campaign to being a lost cause to saying that it has a noteworthy majority. If Cameron seals his deal as it stands it's hard to say how that will change things. On one hand it would set in stone some important changes that are needed. On the other hand it leaves out some proposed reforms somewhat inexcusably. As far as I'm concerned if other countries want us to pay benefits to their people living in their country then they should pay those benefits themselves. Anything else is unjustifiable. Especially as there are tens of thousands of instances of this happening at the moment.
But of course you're right. Polls proved to be completely worthless in the elections last year and the Scottish independence referendum. So there's no reason to think that they'd be any more accurate about something that is arguably even more significant.
The EU seems like a real shame to me. It could have been something great. I like the idea of close European cooperation. But it needs to be on the basis of respect for each country's differences - cultural, political and economic. But the EU overstepped and not only that they're continuing down that road with no sign whatsoever that they have any intention of fixing the fundamental problems with the EU, such as it's lack of democratic principals. Its current direction leads towards totalitarian dictatorship. I'm not saying it would ever get there. But you have to question why would you even set off down that road.
In the UK we have the UK Independence Party or UKIP as they're known. I'm not hugely fond of the way they skew the facts to their point of view. But even so it's hard to ignore how they were completely screwed over by our 'first past the post' voting system which left them with 1 seat in parliament despite gaining 3.9 million votes. Something which would have got them 83 seats under a more proportional system.
Pretty much every party, once in power, winds up doing more or less the same centralist things irrespective of their claimed political leanings. UKIP would be little different.
