tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6861480576960760833.post3062884603828763859..comments2024-03-09T05:43:16.935+00:00Comments on Woolgathering in North East England: Michael Sadgrove's Blog: A Christian Vision for Europe: learning from the pastAquiloniushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15098649175728796819noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6861480576960760833.post-12233224419252393062016-04-26T16:45:21.023+01:002016-04-26T16:45:21.023+01:00Michael, I agree with all you say. However, are yo...Michael, I agree with all you say. However, are you (like me) at risk of taking a slightly romantic libral view of the EU. Giles Fraser has recently been talking about the TTIP and how a vote to be outside of the EU would spare us from this scary and destructive deal. He also writes very well in the Guardian ( link is - http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2016/apr/21/why-our-landed-gentry-are-so-desperate-to-stay-in-the-eu) - I, and I am sure others, would value your thoughts on this, something more than than the stump we hear from the Remain camp that it is better to be in and change things from the inside....thoughts!?Thanks : )Bill Ferneyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17508993354498330927noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6861480576960760833.post-29527486047540200222016-04-24T20:11:04.662+01:002016-04-24T20:11:04.662+01:00There was a group of high minded intellectual UK b...There was a group of high minded intellectual UK based Roman Catholics (many Labour leaning) who spent much time in the 1930s - 50s debating and promoting the idea of a united Europe. Key figures were the historian Christopher Dawson, George Catlin (Shirley Williams' dad) and Michael Fogarty. I wrote about these a long time ago in my PhD Thesis 'Roman Catholics, Christian Democracy and the British Labour Movement, 1910-1960' University of Manchester, 1992. I also covered some of the ground in a couple of conference papers published as book chapters 'Discrediting the 'Catholic State': British Catholics and the Fall of France' in Frank Tallett and Nicholas Atkin 'Catholicism in Britain and France Since 1789' (Hambledon Press, 1996) and, probably more pertinently 'The British experience: Christian Democrats without a party' in David Hanley 'Christian Democracy in Europe: A Comparative Perspective' (Pinter Publishers, 1994). It's a long time since I've looked at anything I wrote back then so I can't vouch for the quality! These days I am just the mother of three teens, the youngest of which attends the school in Stratford that your daughter works at.<br /><br />Best wishes,<br /><br />Joan KeatingE15 kidshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12938340565539464390noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6861480576960760833.post-9836390068785506942016-04-24T17:12:43.486+01:002016-04-24T17:12:43.486+01:00Michael, I know you are a positively inspirational...Michael, I know you are a positively inspirational speaker. This is stirring stuff. You're completely right about trying to be friends and cooperate across national boundaries. But you yourself mention the USA. No chance of being in one super state with them, and yet, at present at least, both sides want to be "best friends". And, I am afraid, there is no guarantee that being in treaty or trade or any other agreements with Europe, or for the matter of that, anyone else, will actually make us all play nicely. Especially a few years down the line, when everyone will have forgotten why they agreed to it, and a new government is in place is all the countries involved. You're right. But is the United States of Europe the only/best way to achieve it? Please persuade me. Athenahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08497065436976563532noreply@blogger.com