The Brexit brigade is still going on about bendy bananas and the return of imperial measures. But it is a strategy born of ignorance or – worse – panic.

With a disorderly Brexit on the horizon, a timely lesson in humility may be fast approaching.

One of the most frequently repeated lies about Europe is to say that, when we joined the EU, ‘we were told we were only joining a free-trade area’ and ‘no-one told us that it was more than that’. / Britain actually left a free-trade area, EFTA, to join the EEC.