Yesterday's blog drew some comments which is great - it's lovely to know that somebody is reading my ramblings and it's great (good) to see that people are interested in discussing Europe. The comments all came from people whose blogs I have been reading regularly - synchronicity, like minds maybe, interesting.

Meet Dawn, my new buddy. She runs 3 blogs, including a sad and powerful story blog Their Night of Terror . She's in New Zealand (is it polite to call you Kiwis?) so isn't being bombarded with the details like us poor sods. There's a clear explanation of the EU budget, complete with pretty charts, on the BBC website.

Margaret Thatcher famously brought her handbag to Brussels in the 80s and cowed Europe into filling it with loadsa money to take back to Britain. She had that sort of effect on people. Her argument (a bit of an understatement when applied to said lady) was that England was paying more in and getting less out because its relatively small farming sector commands less agricultural subsidies than in other countries. Every year, each member state has to contribute a proportion of this rebate, which they're peed off about. But Tones argues that the root of the problem is not fixed and he won't give it back unless they look at the common agricultural policy at the same time.

Now it's stalemate and they're all slagging each other off. But the future of Europe is in all our hands. They've put everything on ice until they can figure out a strategy for the future - like ostriches the lot of 'em. They are reeling from the reality check of the referenda. Chirac spoke the truth before the referendum when he warned that there was no plan B. What are we paying these people for - no plan B when you're shaping the geo-political future of a continent. The European project is in deep crisis - I'd like to think somebody somewhere had a notion how to revive it.