Why Britain should copy Switzerland’s referendums

There are many issues the British public could have a say on. Matthew Lynn proposes five topics that should be put to a public vote.

It does not take much to get committed gold bugs dreamingof a return to the one true currency.But this month, they genuinely have somethingto get excited about. On 30 November the Swiss will be holdinga referendum on a partial return tothe gold standard.

If the campaignersare successful and the polls putthem in with a chance then the Swiss National Bank will have to start buying up the precious metal.

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Matthew Lynn

Matthew Lynn is a columnist for Bloomberg, and writes weekly commentary syndicated in papers such as the Daily Telegraph, Die Welt, the Sydney Morning Herald, the South China Morning Post and the Miami Herald. He is also an associate editor of Spectator Business, and a regular contributor to The Spectator. Before that, he worked for the business section of the Sunday Times for ten years. 

He has written books on finance and financial topics, including Bust: Greece, The Euro and The Sovereign Debt Crisis and The Long Depression: The Slump of 2008 to 2031. Matthew is also the author of the Death Force series of military thrillers and the founder of Lume Books, an independent publisher.