The EU has not done too badly in its 50th anniversary year

The common expectation is that things go naturally from bad to worse. Perhaps this reflects our own inherent pessimism in northern Europe; but it is the usual way we like to expect events - steady progress downhill, despite whatever good evidence there may be to the contrary. So much so that when the path is reversed we sit up and take notice. The English novelist, Alan Sillitoe, once based an entire novel on the premise that ‘never had a day begun so badly and ended so well.'

As for th...