IN 1989 I was living in Strasbourg as part of my university studies in French and German.
When the Berlin Wall fell, it was great.
We could trade with and travel to countries previously enslaved by ideology.
But when I graduated I struggled to find work and I could not use my languages.
Twenty years later, with the help of Bournemouth University Media School, I organised a conference for European speechwriters at the Executive Business Centre. The conferences became my own business.
I started organising events in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. At last I could use my languages.
Doing business in foreign countries involves complex processes like registering for VAT. Thankfully, the EU works to make these things easier.
When my son was born in 2014, I could no longer work from home. But I was able to hire a desk at the Old School House in Boscombe – a project part-funded by EU money.
My son attends a playgroup in Boscombe which is 80 per cent Polish. Is that a problem? No. It tells you that the Englishness of my youth has vanished and has been replaced by a more European culture.
I work with speechwriters based in Brussels and they are extremely talented people. We share the same values and the same iPhones. If we vote to leave the EU, our partners will see it as a self-destructive step.
BRIAN JENNER
Windham Road, Bournemouth
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