DH-A: That may not suit you, Jay, with your foreign holidays, but for those trying to make a living in the UK, it will help very much if they are able to export their goods competitively to the rest of the world without the value of our exchange rate being settled by a bank over which we have no control. 

PPR: That is banana republic finances, when you have had to debase your currency to survive. It is pathetic for a great country like ours.

DH-A: The US has its own currency, and it would be against their constitution if they ever tried to give it up. It is the mark of a free country, and certainly one with self-respect that it can manage its own currency and has its own monetary policy. As the sixth biggest economy in the world, I think that we are allowed one. And indeed I am very glad that we retained it and didn't hand over this aspect of our democracy to people we don't elect and can't remove. 

DJ: But didn't the Irish vote "Yes" this time partly for economic reasons, because they needed to be bailed out? 

PPR: And Iceland is desperate to get into the euro.

DH-A: I think that we need a decider in Europe. There is one vote "No" and one vote "Yes", I think that we now need a third one to decide it. It is really shameful the way that Europe bullies small countries. The Irish showed great character and independence in voting "No". But it is asking a lot of a country to hold out against the full force of the EU, and all its money, for a second time. And they gave in. But it hasn't settled the argument. 

PPR: I agree that Europe has become democratic since the war, and very much on the British pattern. The Germans in particular modelled themselves on the British system of democracy. The British helped draw up the constitution of the Federal Republic and that is one of my great disappointments in the Eurosceptic point of view. Since the end of the war, Britain has had a wonderful opportunity in Europe. English is the lingua franca, the English are admired by all the European countries. If we had risen to the occasion, we could have moulded Europe in our image, but we fell short because we were so preoccupied with the Commonwealth, all these little remnants of Empire. We got completely bogged down in our past.