Iain Dale does talk arse at times

Dale has something up over at the Guardian today in which he talks a load of hokum.

Firstly he accuses UKIP of denying that other cn call themselves Eurosceptic,
"UKIP are trying a new argument which says that unless you want to withdraw from the EU you cannot call yourself a eurosceptic. I think they will find that I can. I may be eurosceptic but I am decidedly NOT anti-Europe."

Well apart from the fact that his link to this evidence doesn't exist I would be suprised if this is the case. Firstly most people in the UK Independence Party do not call themselves sceptic anymore accept as some form of shorthand. The phrase de jour is Euro Realist. Essentially to be sceptic is doubtful about Europe. Well I can assure Iain that we are in doubt whatsoever. Indeed that I think is the whole point. Then agan it would be stark staring mad to be anti-Europe. This is a paper tiger. We oppose the domination over the UK of the European Union. Europe is a continent and still contains countries that are not part of the EU. To descrbe oneself as anti Europe would be akin to saying you didn't believe in geography. I myself am very fond of Europe, I love living in Brussels and were it not for the institutions of the European Union I would be a hapy chap. My children speak better Flemish than English, my father lives in France and I have spent much of my life on the Constinent. So no more canrads of that sort please.

Next up he states,
"There are three entirely legitimate views to have about our future in Europe. You can take the UKIP view that we should withdraw. You can take the Conservative view that what we signed up to was a free trade organisation where independent nation states trade with each other and cooperate where necessary on other issues. Or you can take the view that it is in our national interest to envelop ourselves ever more closely with the European Union and its institutions".

And I supose I begin to see what he is getting at. There are indeed three positions on the UK's relationship with the EU. The UKIP one, the one held by the Government, the Lib Dems and a section of the Tory Party, that the EU is a good thing, and the one which he presents as his own.

The problem with the one that he sets out as his own, "the Conservative view that what we signed up to was a free trade organisation where independent nation states trade with each other and cooperate where necessary on other issues" is that thoughit is sincerely held, and is indeed a Eurosceptical position, it is of course impossible.

What he asking for is just not on the menu. It is like walking into Burger King and asking for Foie Gras a la truffe. By dint of our membership ofthe EU, his concept just cannot hapen.

So yes, eurosceptic, but logical, based in reality and the truth of the EU, not on your nelly.