Letter: Lack of Euro-vision

Sir: Diane Coyle's article on the single currency ("The euro is coming and there's no place to hide", 9 October) is very welcome. The Devil - in the form of the Eurosceptic - has had all the best tunes for too long. Standing up for the euro is long overdue.

It is sad that leadership on this matter is coming from big business and journalists rather than from politicians. Diane Coyle is quite right that the problem is a lack of Euro-vision.

The Conservatives have painted themselves into a corner in which they apparently know that there will be no opportune time for joining in any circumstances within the next two Parliaments - without knowing the length of those two Parliaments.

The Labour Party prevaricates instead of giving positive leadership. They are repeating the mistakes of 1956 when we did not join the Common Market for similar reasons and later paid a price.

The common error is to address the question of whether a single currency is a good thing. That was the question for 1978 or 1988. The cogent question for 1998 is, given that the single currency decision has been taken, whether joining is advantageous. Given that most of our European trading partners have joined, there is only one answer.

JOHN OLIVER

London EC2