After decades of guff about straight bananas, UK media still trotting out Euromyths

LARGE swathes of the British media – or more correctly the English media – have excelled themselves for 40 years in making the European Union the most vilified entity ever in this part of the world.

It has long ago ceased to be in any way funny.

Euromyths, more usually called lies, have dragged on for years. In 1994, there was a hullabaloo about “EU rules on curved bananas” which claimed “bonkers Brussels bureaucrats” had their rulers out deciding things.

Great story. Shame it was so far from the truth.

There was an in-trade demand for guidelines which could help traders buying bananas estimate how many “number 4 bananas” were in a particular box. In fact, the UK had similar rules long before they joined the then-EEC in 1973.

Euromyths, such as smokers can’t apply for jobs, seaside donkeys must wear nappies on beaches, and cows have to get mattresses to sleep on, sold papers. The EU Commission fought a valiant and often losing battle putting out the spoilsport bit, otherwise called the truth.

Rupert Murdoch’s ‘The Sun’ just belted it out and its much posher sister paper, ‘The Times’, did much the same thing more subtly and in a much slicker way. ‘The Telegraph’, in many other ways an engaging newspaper, joined in, giving it loads of ‘Britain good – Brussels bad’.

At its heart was Britain’s failure to come to terms with all that happened in the second half of the 20th Century. When the dust settled on World War II, Britain’s victory appeared hollow and ruinously expensive, and it coincided with the inevitable loss of empire.

Eight decades later, we are still dealing with a lingering case of post-colonial trauma. Nineteenth century fantasies of British power and sovereignty do not fit well in a 21st century high-tech and globalised economy.

Britain’s failure to join the early developments in the

1950s European project combined with Charles de Gaulle’s score-settling which kept them out of things until

1973. In Brussels, they have been viewed as good companions, but never entirely committed to being in Europe.

Now we come to the painful parting of ways which enmeshes Ireland’s fortunes, North and South.

And once more enter the English Europhobic media elements. This time they are attacking Ireland as part of the ongoing anti-EU campaign. ‘The Sun’ has done its thing, advising that “Ireland’s naive and young prime minister should shut his gob on Brexit and grow up”. They have added that Ireland’s EU battle on ensuring no return to a hard Border has been driven by fears that Sinn Féin will outflank the other parties.

In ‘The Telegraph’, one writer noted that the “bullying hand of the EU” caused Dublin to unveil a surprise Brexit ultimatum on the Border. The writer must live a very sheltered life – the Dublin view of Brexit has been clear for the past 18 months.

The saddest part is that we have far more in common with Britain than any other EU member state.