Mr Goodall's letter (July 12) praises the train services, national health provision and care for the elderly in the EU generally compared to the UK.

He also says that poverty, deprivation and inequality are also lower. He may well be right.

However, in this year's United Nations Human Development Report, the UK ranks 13, behind North America but comfortably ahead of France, Germany and Spain ranked at 17, 18 and 19.

Also, the seventh annual Freedom of the World Report, drawn up by free enterprise groups, ranks 123 economies by the degree to which consumers, producers, markets and the law can operate freely.

Britain comes in fourth, well ahead of Germany at 20, Italy at 35 and France at 44.

Perhaps the picture is not quite so black and white as painted by Mr Goodall.

Growth in the UK comfortably exceeds that in the rest of the EU and our unemployment is the lowest.

The litany of disasters forecast by the euro enthusiasts have not come to pass and the UK is doing very well with its own currency.

The much heralded flight of business from the City to Frankfurt has proved to be illusionary.

The longer we remain out of the euro, the less likely it becomes that people will see it as essential to join.

I doubt we will join the euro, certainly not within the next ten years.

-Peter Mills, Brighton