You guys were not burning coal, in those days and I was long gone.There were gas cuts. I was home, visiting my folks when they had one. I was pleased that the unions were being fought. Someone had to do it, whether MT was popular, or not.
I do, sincerely, hope that you sort this out to most folks' satisfaction, regardless of the chitchat that goes back and forth on here.
I was in and out of European ports all through the late 40's and, until the EU started, with the six, they were just as badly off as the UK. Much worse because we, at least, had not been occupied. You can't imagine what Hamburg and Palermo looked like. The EU changed life for the better for them, just as it has changed it for Spain and UK.
You can call Brussels bureaucrats. Personally, I and most people, don't give a damn. Referendums? We had one on Oct.1. cv, if you lived here, you would have seen what an utter farce it was.
Even though, I admit, it was ruined by the central gpvernment, the Catalan government should have had the grace to say that the figures made it impossible to decide.
Instead, they claimed that 2 million had voted and that 90% had wanted independence. The population is 7.5 million, BTW. No way, can Rajoy allow Independence to happen, it would not be fair to the rest. That is what happens when an unscrupulous minority want power.
Elections, with party policies very clear, are what has to happen here. You need the same in the UK.
Rant over.