Boris Johnson, the former mayor of London and leading Euroskeptic, loves to talk about the European Union’s policy on bananas. In his mind, European rules on banana sales—which prohibit bananas with “abnormal curvature”—typify the problem with Brussels calling the shots in Birmingham. He’s not always right about the details, but it’s been an effective Brexit talking point.
In fact, the British press has made something of a cottage industry of exaggerating European rules—to the extent that the European Commission keeps a special website for collecting and debunking the hundreds of false claims that newspapers like the Daily Mail have made. No doubt these have played some role in reinforcing the perception that Brussels is a power-mad bureaucracy that aims to disenfranchise the people of the United Kingdom. Nevertheless, they are hilarious, and if the U.K. votes to leave, we will be sorry to lose this special genre of journalism.
- Balloons – EU bans children from blowing up balloons, October 2011
- Buses, double-decker – Double-decker buses to be banned, April 1998
- Cannons – 21-gun salutes to be muffled, March 2006
- Church bells – Village church bells silenced by EU, October 2002
- Coffee – EU wants to ban coffee machines, April 2014
- Copyright, tourist photography – EU banning tourist photos of the London Eye, June 2015
- Corpses – EU plans to liquify corpses and pour them down the drain, July 2010
- Dogs, breeding – Queen’s corgis to be outlawed, April 2002
- Eggs, sold by the dozen – EU plans to ban the sale of eggs by the dozen, June 2010
- Darts, to be banned in pubs – Commission plans to outlaws darts in pubs, June 1993
- English Channel – English Channel to be renamed ‘Anglo-French Pond’, April 2010
- Farms, toys – Farmers forced to issue pigs with toys, January 2003
- Fishermen, hairnets – Commission to force fishermen to wear hair-nets, October 1992
- Guns, museums – EU to force museums to destroy gun collections, December 2015
- Island, definition of – Bureaucrats declare Britain is “not an island”, January 2003
- Kent, county of – Kent now part of France, September 2006
- Mother Christmas outfits – Politically correct Eurocrats say Santa must be a woman, October 2001
- Mushy peas – Commission to outlaw mushy peas, August 1995
- Mussels – Shellfish must be given rest breaks whilst on journeys, January 1996
