The problem I've always thought was that in the early 70s the War still glowed brightly in the minds of many and that set us apart from the Continent. We just didn't trust the French, especially when de Gaulle said he'd oppose our joining. After all the support and help we give him during the War. That went down very badly here.
We had booklets and leaflets galore extolling the virtues of joining such that when the vote came I voted In, my first ever vote. I was still in school. But we voted for an extended trading partnership, not a European federation with political rule from Brussels. The devil only slowly emerged from the depths.
Then came the CAP, something we didn't understand, and the fact tiny French farms were given a fortune to keep running when they were wholly uneconomic. France, being a major player, got its way and our money went directly to them. We didn't see, though it did exist, money come from the EEC, to our farmers.
And then came the ECJ. Oh, how much bother that has created here. Ten years to get rid of that lunatic muslim, the one with no hands, because they kept stopping us from deporting him for the stupidest of reasons. That cut deeply into our sense of self-rule.
And then came 2008 and Greece, which cost me personally thousands of pounds. The Greeks got loads of money they'll never pay back. Not that much from us, mostly from Germany but the principal was there. Spain too, and Italy, vibrant countries well capable of taking care of themselves but they don't because they have a rubbish tax system, so they are net takers.
The thing is we never saw what the EU gave us, we were only shown the negative side - down to the anti-EU media and the scabby Murdoch and his slimy son.
The rest of the world is laughing, and that hurts.