Book Review: The Worm in the Apple

The story of Britain’s relationship with the EU and its precursors over the last 75 years is to a large extent the story of the Conservative Party’s internal debate on the matter. The Tories have at various times been aloof, dismissive, enthusiastic, half‑hearted, complaining and finally overtly hostile to the plans and dreams of the UK’s neighbours. A new book by Conservative peer Lord Tugendhat explores this, and explains why the party that took the UK into Europe was also the party that 43 years later took the country out.

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The continuing evolution of the ECB

In our article last week we noted that the European Central Bank (ECB) appears to be undergoing a process of transition, and evolving into a rather different organisation from the ECB of 1999, the start of the single currency. We continue this analysis, concluding that having started life as a Bundesbank clone providing very Germanic central banking, the ECB is becoming more truly pan-European, and a central bank for the whole Euro Area.

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