"In a club of 28 (by now) there will always be something or other you don't like. The rational thing to do is to negotiate from within."

Perhaps either Steve Shaw or Backwoodsman could tell us the ways in which the UK has managed to influence or reform the EU from within during the 43 years we've been members. Anthony Charles Lynton Blair had a crack at it when he negotiated away much of our rebate in exchange for the supposed scrapping of the EU Common Agricultural Policy Scheme - This resulted in the UK receiving less rebate yet the CAP sails merrily on. In any negotiation "within" Europe we will always be out-voted.

The EU is a cosy little club specifically run for the benefit of the Germans and the French always was and it always will be.