How dare Pearline Hingston (Letters, June 26) imply that those of us who oppose UKIP, and support the UK’s continued membership of the EU are not loyal citizens, as evidenced by her sarcastic reply to Richard Grant’s recent “In My View” column?

On the contrary, we ultimately have our nation’s best interests at heart, for at least we’re living in the present, not stuck in a time-warp in the past dreaming of a now-vanished era when we once ruled an empire.

We believe that it is far better, in today’s world, to be part of a larger group such as the EU with its associated clout, than to isolate ourselves from the world stage and risk becoming, in time, just an insignificant offshore island off the coast of Europe, who will not be taken seriously, and have limited influence.

The idea of “going it alone” in a world where the balance of power is currently held by big players such as the US, Russia and China, is patently absurd, and would effectively mean cutting off our nose to spite our face”.

The kind of world in which we once went it alone and forged an empire has gone forever; two world wars and the changes brought in their wake have seen to that. We need to learn to accept it, however painful, and move on, as the rest of the planet has.

Of course there are concerns about loss of sovereignty, but some ceding of sovereignty is inevitable if one is part of a larger club of nations. One simply can’t have it both ways, and other member states are in exactly the same position. We should be proud to play our part in helping to create a United Europe. Our culture is, after all, European, and we are near neighbours.

LINDA NADOLNY, Member, of the European Movement, Rownhams.