Euro myths are widespread but the truth is that Armageddon is a long way off.

But do we have to take the EU quite so seriously? Just recently three situations have arisen which do not challenge my belief that in the main the EU is good for us but they do suggest that we should treat EU directives a little less literally.

I was really encouraged just recently when the European Football Association ruled that club teams should have at least six nationals out of 11 in their side at kick off. Quite right too; how else are our national teams to develop if our home grown talent is not given the opportunity for top flight competition. Arsenal is hardly Arsenal without a Londoner in sight. The European Commissioners of course say that they will challenge the legality of such rulings but I think it is for us to say well done to the football authorities and kick the EU bureaucrats into touch when such obviously sensible propositions are made. Someone needs to tell the EU that they are wrong.

Likewise the bureaucrats told the British government that fish caught by our small fishermen off Hastings should be subject to stricter control not just an estimate of what they caught but every fish measured and so the "buyers and sellers regulation" was introduced. What a nonsense. These small fishing boats take so little that the ecology of the sea is hardly threatened so why create a plethora of regulation which profits no one but puts at risk the very industry. Again we should have said to the EU thanks for your advice but we are having none of it.

And finally the Post Office has also been caught up in EU directions. We know that the post office is a much loved national treasure and we want to keep it as a public service so when the bureaucrats in Brussels tell us that everything must be subject to competition I say why? A little "community nepotism" does no harm and rumour has it that other European nations are slower to jump than maybe are we.

Of course on the big issue if we are to have a common market we need common rules but the three examples I have given are areas where the European Union would be wise to back off and let those that know best make the judgements.