OVER the past two years I have watched many debates in the EU parliament and I have been very impressed indeed.

The building itself is attractive. It has a high ceiling, airy, well laid out and well lit, modern semi-circular assembly room. Every one of the 751 MEPs with their own chair, fronted by desks with monitor screens, along with head-sets with multi-lingual translating.

All very modern and impressive. How any parliament should function. It makes me very proud to be part of this. To be European.

But then in contrast turn and look at our decrepit ancient parliament.

Firstly you can't even get all the 650 MPs into the chamber. What a laughing stock. The only parliament in the world where elected members can't fit in and have to stand.

Then all bunched together on pew seating. And above all the chamber set up to be adversarial. As we see every PM questions, MPs shouting at one another. And that's supposed to be constructive debating.

And don't forget folks, the House of Lordships. 790 Lords elected by absolutely no-one. A few dozen of them ending up ministers. Not a breath of democracy. More unelected Lords in UK than elected MEPs for 500 million population of EU.

And that all to me sums up the whole decaying state of our archaic backward looking country. The unbridgeable mind-sets between mass decline UK, and progressive EU.

And now the final self-destruct throw of the dice. Brexit no-deal (or pseudo deal) economic melt-down. I only wonder now how millions will dump UK as a lost cause and move to the EU before the steel gates close, for decades to come.

RON GOODMAN

Newfoundland Drive, Poole