2nd September 2011

The weather in Scotland has been fine this week.

Sitting outside the oldest pub in Scotland, drinking Thrappledouser and eating Bacon and Brie Sandwiches we must have been caught in a dozen photographs as holiday snappers captured the hotel for the holiday album.

Opposite us in the square men working on the refurbishment of the Golf Course were also drinking and eating.

All their vehicles had French number plates.

So not only does that fine nation own the water and the power, apparently they are market leaders in designing and building golf courses.

We really are now part of Europe.

Not only have we joined forces with our French allies to assist Libya to effect a change of regime, we just didn’t use the phrase ‘regime change’ but that’s what it amounts too we share a great deal with the French and other European partners, France it seems for power and water and golf course building, Spain for Banking and I remain partial to Italian Beer and Pizza.

The only real rivalry remains on the Football Field and it seems that after Man U’s drubbing of Arsenal they have almost, at least those players who qualify by being English or who have a choice to make about being English or not, formed the basis of a new national side.

Perhaps they have learned their improved skills by playing with French and Spanish players at Club level?

The next two challenges facing the big society are building enough houses to meet demand and getting the NHS to run on time and on Budget.

Fortunately I have never been ill or hospitalised in France or Spain, I did have an occasion to visit an Italian hospital, intriguing and very Italian, lots of bureaucracy, a very early start, the queues for the blood tests were forming at 6 30 am and then the results were posted on the internet by 11 00, remarkable combination of tradition and the best use of modern technology.

So the Italians to run the NHS?

And perhaps we will partner with the Germans to build houses; they demonstrated their efficiency with East Germany’s transformation after unification.

Although there may have to be a change of common tenure arrangements as, if we follow the European Model there will be more renting and less ownership, so Mrs Thatcher’s dream of a property owning democracy may appear somewhat hubristic.

So now we are European in all but name all we need to do is pay for it, now what about that dratted Euro?