I REFER to your article on page 8 in the Journal dated January 3. Now that the euro is in common use throughout the 12 countries, there will be increasing pressure for this country to give up our currency as the euro will become familiar to most of us and it will save us having to change currency when we go abroad.

How ridiculous. I have recently had a few days in Germany and it was no bother to me (and never has been) to drive about with French, Belgian and German money. I do not see the argument that it would be easier to have one currency. If anything it is part of the enjoyment of being abroad not only to attempt to speak a different language but to use different money.

The argument that we would be disadvantaged by not joining the euro is missing something somewhere. Is it a disadvantage to Switzerland which is not even in the EU in spite of being totally surrounded? Is it a disadvantage to, say, Canada or Australia or Japan? That they are many miles away and we are only a few is irrelevant as distance, these days, is of little consequence.

By burying our currency within the Euro we would be giving up almost all of our ability to manage the economic affairs of this country which is one of the major parts of our sovereignty. If that were to happen then ultimately our parliament would have little more status or power than a glorified county council and our Queen would become the equivalent of the lady Mayor. Already British law is, in many cases, overridden by EU law. Do we really want to lose our country? It certainly wasn't what I voted for in the referendum to join the then Common Market. Are we to lose our country because a few companies have trouble with exchange rates? They will continue to have the same problem with all the rest of the world, particularly as our business with the US alone is greater than that with France and Germany combined, and will still be happy to trade.

In respect of the EU as a whole, one point which seems to have escaped most people is that history shows that groupings of countries into one just doesn't work. The various parts of Yugoslavia wanted to be their own separate countries and there were wars to achieve the break up. The constituent parts of the Soviet Union went their separate ways. Australia wants to remove the Queen as head of state and as for the French-Canadians, enough said. In this country the Southern Irish left the Union in the 20s, the Scots want separation, the Welsh and even some of the Cornish have similar ambitions. What trouble is the EU storing up for itself.

In my view we can have trading relations and treaties of friendship but must stay out of this new hybrid conglomeration of a country which some politicians seem to want - probably for their own ends.

R E CROZIER, Richmond, Anchor Lane, Fladbury.