Time to decide: are we with the Germans or the Irish?

As referendums return to centre stage, we should heed one of the wisest speakers on the subject: Margaret Thatcher

in less than a month Irish voters will decide the fate of the European Union's Lisbon treaty in a referendum

The vote could still go either way

Ireland's constitution requires this referendum

British awareness of it is bound to intensify

political pressure on Gordon Brown to concede a referendum on the treaty too

Irish vote is sure to give the long-running British debate about referendums yet another twist

only one nationwide referendum in our history - on Europe in 1975

the possibility of others was toothpaste that can never be put back in the tube

owed more to politics than doctrine

the referendums that have not been held have turned out to be at least as influential in British politics as the solitary referendum that was

referendums might reasonably be raised - not just Europe, devolution and city government

electoral system