It was a vast monolithic body, an enforced union of diverse countries with an undemocratic central decision-making structure led by immovable apparatchiks. Its subjects felt removed from its machinations and powerless before its bureaucracy.  Eventually it collapsed through its own inherent contradictions. States seceded and then declared independence.

I refer - of course! -  to the European Union, probably circa 2015 to 2020. I simply don’t believe this federation is feasible. When nobody has heard of recent appointees (Herman van Rompuy and Catherine Ashton) you know the game’s up.

A lot of nonsense has been talked about the EU. What started out as a loose conglomeration of states in Western Europe (and nothing wrong with that) now resembles an elephant with arteriosclerosis.

The United States of Europe will never wash with the voters. Neither will absurd statements trotted out to defend its purpose. "The EU has already made wars between its members unthinkable". This is one of many favourite idiotic pronouncements. The federal nature of this giant and unwieldy structure is likely to foment nationalism, not submerge it.

The absence of war between its principal members to date has nothing to do with the EU - do we believe the UK and Germany would have been fighting without the EU apparatus to "restrain" them? - and wrangling over the Iraq war has poured cold water over talk of a joint foreign policy, let alone an army.

EU funds - and they always talk of "funds" as if it sprang magically from an EU tree in Brussels - is simply a socialistic transfer of money from wealthier taxpayers in a privileged corner of Europe to a poorer one. In boom times, taxpayers in richer countries may not rebel but in a crisis they will grow more recalcitrant. Above all, the EU’s worst feature is its lack of accountability. Did ordinary people elect Durao Barroso? And Van Rompuy? How do we get rid of them?

Europe is too diverse a beast ever to sing the same tune. What does Turkey have in common with Europe? How will Europeans react to an unprecedented wave of immigrants? There’s already enough dissatisfaction with immigration as it is. When  will the expansion end? Will North African countries join?

Small is beautiful. People want to govern their own affairs and they want to see a transparent process linked to their will. The EU is the polar opposite. Like the Soviet Union, I suspect it’s doomed to collapse. Watch this space.