OUR intrepid multi-occupational MEP hopeful, Tim Bearder (Letters, December 10), would do well to try the Lisbon Treaty as a bedtime read: its endless prolixity and complexity is guaranteed to send him into a deep slumber.

Small wonder we see MEPs, when they do spend time in the Chamber, sleeping or sprawled, wearily disarrayed, on chairs and desktops.

As he starts to investigate the invisible collection at Brussels, which might lead a humbler man to think twice, he’ll find the whole EU enterprise a byzantine nightmare, virtually beyond democratic control. But then, of course, money, hours and lifestyle are good.

Hopefully, he might consider how an indigenous European birth rate, hovering below replacement level, will match constant inflows of non-European peoples without democratic backgrounds but astronomical birth rates.

His references to Goldman-Sachs and the CBI are simple naivety. Organisations like these are at the root of many of our troubles.

Their concern is EU financial domination, while short-sightedness is not unusual in British companies.

He considers the EU is the logical choice. Though from his present position this seems a rather strange arrogance, given the welter of arguments for and against it.

Meanwhile party politicians play fast and loose with a possible referendum.

But Tim Bearder’s candidacy is most seriously flawed by churlish surmising about Glyn Limmer.

Though unacquainted, I’ve noted Mr Limmer’s opinions over the years; they give the impression of an honest, decent, hardworking man — not a frivolous one flitting from job to job and place to place.

STEPHEN WARD Tudor Close Oxford