I seem to be the common nub of disagreement in this thread.


All I can say is Terribus, you have to live through these situations before you understand them. Existentially you are quite correct, we always have a choice. I think all this proves is that Jean-Paul Sartre was a bit of a twat.

As for Akenaton's points. i think EVERYBODY with a grain of sense knew we on to a hiding to nothing - certainly our leaders did. So now the question is, why we did it. The reasons were many and complex and only politicians who are a bit dishonest pretend otherwise.