One of the many features which make this blog so interesting is Mary’s tendency, born of integrity, to go gloriously off-message.

She states quite blatantly that there is and should be a redistribution of money from the wealthier EU countries to the poorer ones. This is refreshingly honest. So often we are told that we are not redistributing wealth but that we are investing in the poorer EU countries and that we will eventually receive a benefit from it.

The usual EU practice in the wealthy countries is to keep quiet about the redistribution and to say that the funding is only tiny or that it is investment. In the poorer countries the message is different. They are told how great it is being in the EU because of all this money from the wealthier countries. It is usually phrased a little differently so that the poorer EU country does not have to feel grateful or beholden to Germany or the UK, the funds are described as EU Funds; as though the EU had funds of its own quite separately from the national contributions.

There are the ridiculous tariffs on imports into the EU but apart from that, the money comes from Germany and the UK.

Few of us would oppose the principle of the rich giving to the poor but the EU is rather muddled about who qualifies as rich and who is poor. For years the UK has been redistributing its wealth to France.

Last time I was there it did not seem to be substantially poorer than the UK. Wouldn’t our money be better spent in Bangladesh, Uganda or any one of many countries who are much more deserving of our aid than our neighbours in France? They have an excellent health service, high speed trains, generous state funding for the arts, etc.

It is foolish of us to put money into a begging bowl which appears to be made of gold and studded with diamonds.