Sir - Even by his own precipitous standards, Francis Lankester (Letters, 8.5.'14), when calling me a "Euro-fanatic", achieves new levels of biscuit-taking. The fanaticism is almost wholly on the anti-side, and the only interest that I have is in attempting to inject some calmness and moderation into the discourse, usually by quoting proper "facts" (which he says I ignore).

My position has always been clear: the EU is a large and complex organisation which is, perhaps inevitably, somewhat imperfect and rather flawed, but it is a social, political and commercial ideal worth pursuing and working to improve - from within. That cannot reasonably be described as fanatical, especially when compared to the all-or-nothing "out" - merchants.

What degree of arrogance leads this retired history-teacher to believe that he knows more about the benefits of the EU to our industry than "retired businessman Lawrence Brewer"? And what kind of sensible conclusions can be drawn from a comparison of how we traded in the 1960s and how we do so now? The conclusions which he cites appear to be a muddle. Is it that he and others like him simply cannot cope with the fact that the world has moved on?

His ideal seems to be pursuit of our interest "alone". As he might feel inclined to agree, "alone" is not a very friendly place.

David Barlow

Worcester