An excellent The Economist

The issue of The Economist published on October 17th has been one of the best I have read in the recent years. It includes very useful material about the "Brexit" hypothesis and the political situation in Britain. It has a remarkable article subtitled "The soft autocracy of nationalist Scotland" about the departures from a perfect democracy in Scotland under the rule of the nationalists (I would encourage the magazine to do a similar report for Catalonia; the Scottish limits to democracy are nothing in comparison). But the best part of the issue is the very informative special report about the hypothesis of the UK leaving the European Union and the risky gamble of David Cameron calling an in-out referendum. The best piece of this special report in my view is the article about the alternative possibilities for partnership with the single European market. It explains how even countries (such as Norway or Switzerland) that are not members of the Union but that have other forms of association to enjoy the benefits of the common market, have to contribute to the EU budget in substantial amounts of money, although they cannot participate in the rule-making process. Or how countries that are supposed to keep a high degree of sovereignty by staying away form the Union but keeping some association with it, like Switzerland, have difficulties in deciding things on their own. It seems for example that the results of the Swiss referendum that restricted immigration from the EU have been difficult to apply because they require the agreement of the Union. I am pro-European and anglophile. My life would have been much less interesting without a EU fellowship that allowed me to live in London for two and a half wonderful years. That is mainly why I don't want the UK to leave us. But after reading this special survey, I not only have a feeling, I also have some powerful arguments.