............what is the point of being paranoid about defending the country against terrorist attacks yet leave it wide open to wide- spread devastation by allowing foreigners to pass laws which strike at the heart of the nation's wellbeing?

In 1993 the IRA caused severe human and material damage when they blew up the City of London but the ability of the financial centre to function was relatively unimpaired. The EU bonus cap legislation had the potential to inflict incomparably more financial and economic harm on the U.K. than the whole of the IRA campaign, yet the IRA was classified as an enemy of the state but the EU as an essential ally and partner.

With friends like that who needs terrorists?

In stark contrast, Iceland is the exemplification of an island nation exercising "forthright and passionate defence" of its sovereignty. In June 2013 it withdrew its application to join the EU, but because of protocol that remains on the table for another four years pending a referendum - if they are bothered to have one.

Iceland, an island of almost 40,000 square miles, at the convergence of the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans was economically devastated in 2008 by the failure of its banks and with a population of only 320,000 is the most sparsely populated country in Europe.

Having been forced to take an IMF bailout, two years of painful economic contraction followed. One couldn't dream up a more suitable candidate to be added to the EU's spider's web and surely the Euro-billions that would be dangled in front of them would be irresistible?

The EU wanted to impose strict quotas over its fishing but the Icelanders considered they knew more about fishing than the Union. In fact they reckoned they could teach Brussels a thing or two about fish and not the other way around.

They refused to relinquish sovereignty of their industry and sent the incredulous EU officials packing with their tails between their legs.