The forum is up

At long last, our forum is up and running, with a link on the headline bar and individual links under each post. We will keep the exisiting comment system running for a week or so, and then drop it off the system. From now on, therefore, please use the forum. You will need to register to do this, although there is no need to use your real name.

You will find that we have set up two forums (forae?) under the EU Referendum discussion group, one on the blog posts, the other on defence. Helen's History channel will follow. Readers cannot open a new thread on the blog posts, as that is reserved for discussion on the specific posts.

For more general material, we have an "open forum" with three groups: news; action; and "engine room". The first is for readers to post EU and other news of interest, the second is to post information of Eurosceptic events and the third is for ideas and ruminations.

You can post directly on all these and, as before, we will maintain a "light touch" on moderation. Libellous and potentially libellous material will be zapped, as will any overtly offensive profanity.

However, Helen and I both reserve the right to delete or move abusive, verbose or polemical posts that interrupt the flow of discussion. This is not "censorship". Anyone has freedom of the internet, but website are private space and, as in newspapers, you have no right to be published.

Anyhow, most of the glithces (sic) seem to have been resolved, so we hope you enjoy the new developments.