Allister Heath, one of the better journalists in the pack, is pondering on why it is that entrepreneurs and executives who excel at understanding what consumers want to buy become utterly baffled at their behaviour once they step into the polling booth.

This is in the context of the "thorny issue" of the UK's relationship with "Europe" (he means the European Union), where business support for continued membership of the EU "perfectly symbolises how out of touch so many City grandees have become".

Here, I think he is being rather kind about the degree of understanding of consumer needs. Most corporates sell a limited range of commodities or services, the marketing of which require little consumer understanding.

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There is some truth here, but there is also a whole facet of social behaviour which is not considered. Unsurprisingly, for it is missed out of nearly every critique of political structures which suggest improvements based on reason. This could be called, for want of a better word, 'inherent human self-interest'.

A business is often presented as 'wanting to make profit'. This is essential for long-term viability, of course, and when a business starts you will usually find single entrepreneurs running organisations where every aspect is dedicated to profitability.

Once a business has grown, however, it is run by a group of people with slightly different objectives. Profit is important, of course. But if, for instance, a company appoints an IT director to the board, it is now being partially run by a person to whom the continued growth of the IT division is important. If a course of action needs to be taken which is good for the company but bad for the IT division, you can expect the IT director to fight it....

Once a company has created an 'EU Regulation Compliance' division, or a 'Climate Change' division, do not expect that company to throw its hands up in glee at that prospect of being able to close these divisions down. Indeed, since the first people to become aware of this possibility are usually the divisions concerned, expect the initial corporate response to be distinctly negative....

It occurs to me that the EEA is pretty much what the UK was sold in 1972 but never got. Might that be why it doesn't merit much of a mention from Westminster and the media when the in or out thing is considered?

Mind you though, I do work in a rather large monopoly, and probably the most regulated industry there is. I tell you the regulations often do not go down well. Some are essential, others are just rather silly really.

Yeah, guess you would be right, mind I cant understand ours, he speaks with such a thick american accent, not many people do. we just sort of smile and nod a bit.

Indeed. I remember my Dad saying many years ago that Companies started to go wrong when Engineers on the Board were replaced with Accountants. - good with numbers and short term profits perhaps but with little vision of anything else.

The mandatory banking union always was going to apply to the eurozone only, with opt-ins for the non-euros. Britain will be under no pressure to join.

Without doubt, like two icebergs stricken with global warming, we are drifting apart. The "colleagues" are taking the project into the badlands of European integration and we cannot follow.