All men have secrets and here is mine.

As the old Smiths song goes.

What's it called? Oh yes, What Difference Does It Make?

The Daily Express is getting a tip of the hat from this quarter today for publishing a 24 page supplement, calling, demanding even in some places, begging, for the UK to leave the EU. You can read it in PDF format here.

There's nothing I'd like more than to see us leave this hateful, spirit crushing, anti-democratic, Maoist, Stalinist, corrupt, venal, unaccountable, arrogant, misguided, incompetent, divisive, evil organisation.

So, as old Steve asks, what difference will this make?

It will make none.

At all.

Whatsoever.

The Express claim to have 150,000 signatures calling for a referendum.

So?

How many attended the anti-war marches in London that day? A million wouldn't be too far from the truth. What effect did they have? None. Two, three, four, five million? It matters not.

Our politicians will not listen. They have no intention of listening.

The Express claims they'll name and shame. So what? What do the politicians care? How many were named and shamed by the Telegraph over expenses? How many lost their seats as a result? We've just had one sent down. Only then was he kicked out by the Labour party. Only then.

We've just had another stripped of his seat and barred from standing for election. He was only then kicked out of the Labour party. Only then.

We've three other politicians awaiting trial on charges of stealing from us. Have they been expelled from their party, even in the face of public opinion?

They don't care what you think or what you want.

Why should they? They get their money. They pass on their work to Brussels and get handsomely recompensed for their inaction.

What do you do? Every five years you go out and vote for them.

You are trapped in an abusive relationship and all you do, time and again, is send the message that their behaviour is acceptable.

If you really really want to get out of this organisation, then voting Labour, Conservative, Lib Dem, SNP, Green, any side of the divide in Ulster or Plaid Cymru means you are placing a shotgun to your foot and pulling the trigger. As far as I know there are only 4 parties who want out; BNP, UKIP, English Democrats and the UK Libertarian Party. The BNP have obvious downsides and I'm not entirely convinced with UKIP.

So, the chances of a referendum being offered, let alone carried are somewhere between slim and none.

What are the alternatives? Bombs and violence? Making things go bang and hurting/killing people certainly isn't my bag. You can withdraw from the system as Old Holborn and Captain Ranty intend. It may be possible, it may be not, only time will tell. But even then, all you're doing is extricating yourself. It doesn't help anyone else. I don't criticise them for it, but there it is.

All we can do, barring a startling and most unlikely turnaround at the ballot box, all we have to do, is wait. We may have to wait a while. But the whole edifice will come crashing down, and when it does, watch out because it will be damn ugly. It will bankrupt us all. It will make the great depression look like a golden age. The benefits cheques will bounce, the public sector will be unpaid, the police and courts will not be able to cope with complete and violent anarchy. It will be Lord of the Flies on a continental scale.

You can blame the EU, you can blame the Commission, you can blame the domestic politicians. If the majority (as the Express claim) want out in this country, then the majority had better stop voting for the parties who publicly and clearly state their support for 'le Projet'. Because when it all comes down the only people we will have to blame will be ourselves. We've known for a while what's been going on, really, in our heart of hearts, we've known.

We've not had the guts to step into the booth and vote differently. We may have walked to polling station with the intention of doing something different, but not dared once we had the ballot paper in our hand. Lord knows, I've been guilty of that myself. We've been conditioned by the media and the politicians to believe that not to vote for the big 3 (and/or nationalists in Scotland and Wales) is very naughty, and we mustn't be naughty, or we'll be punished, the nasty man will come get us.

Guess what? They are the nasty man, and they have us in a vice-like grip.

We don't have to tell them, we have to tell ourselves: the politicians and civil servants work for us. If they are incapable or unwilling to do that, then they must be removed. The only person with that power is you. Do you have the cojones?