My parents’ generation started to build something which, pretty much like the great Cathedrals throughout Europe, was born out of the faith that there could exist something bigger and better than the sum of their stone pillars and walls. They knew, just as Cathedral architects and builders did, that it would take generations to achieve something solid and beautiful, and that they would never personally see the finished building. Then, as all Cathedral City dwellers know, there would have to be maintenance, repairs, refurbishing.
I believe Europe is a unique construction that has only just risen from its foundations and that we should have the patience and foresight to carry on building. It is hard work, it doesn’t deliver instant gratification and some of the masons and sculptors are sometimes dodgy, but it is rising above the ground, and it doesn’t make any sense for the UK to drop the tools now and behave like a difficult teenage apprentice. We all admire you as a pragmatic creative force, Britain, stay and carry on building with us, and make the EU truly greater than the sum of its parts…