Letter: In brief

Sir: What a nation of blinkered wimps we British have become. To be a member of a great union of nations and yet stay on the sidelines while the single currency is launched to see whether it is a success (and lots of us no doubt for nationalistic reasons hoping it will not be a success) before we take up our option to join in.

Instead we should be in there with all the other nations to make sure it is a success. We did not stay on the sidelines in 1939 to see whether the rest of Europe was conquered by Hitler before we joined the war.

JOHN BATE

Oxford