I AM increasingly struck by the absence of factual argument in these columns from europhiles.

Europhiles share that malady of the politician - "we know what is best for you. We've got it wrong so far but trust us".

And they always arrogantly claim to be able to see the big picture that lesser mortals are too thick to grasp. They always work from the utterly non-provable premise that the EU is basically benevolent and good for us.

Finally, they tend to be "visionaries". They can always see the "distant utopia" which is just over the brow of the next hill.

L G ARNOTT, Sheffield.