I want to show doubters on the left from where their inspiration comes by quoting the gospel according to Margaret Thatcher. Speaking in Bruges in September 1988 the then British Prime Minister said, "We have not successfully rolled back the frontiers of the state in Britain only to see them reimposed at European level with a European superstate exercising dominance from Brussels." Fourteen years on the so-called European superstate is so much Thatcherite drivel and I am astonished to see anyone purporting to be of the left, who presumably advocates an enlarged role for public intervention at all levels, spouting it. The European Union is not even a state, let alone a superstate, and both are inconceivable on the basis of a budget ceiling of a mere 0.7% to 1% of GNP. Most of the power and resources remain firmly in the hands of member states.