If I hear another smug British Eurofanatic - such as Nick Clegg, the newly elected LibDem MP and now their Europe spokesman - tell us thickie Eurosceptics in a tone of exasperation at our stupidity that we shouldn't take heart from the French result since - duh - the French voted no because they thought the treaty was too Anglo-Saxon, and we think it's not Anglo-Saxon enough, I will SCREAM.

Can I explain it simply enough so that even you can understand it, Mr Clegg? If the French want to preserve their youth unemployment, their sclerotic economy, their bizarre labour laws and their bankrupt welfare state, that is their right. And if we don't want to have even more decisions taken by Qualified Majority Voting in Brussels, that is our right. Neither position is in any way contradictory. It's what's called democracy, and it's the fundamental point which both the French and the British no campaigners have in common.