I've heard that idea from other places, but doesn't that just take away the chance of our currency regaining its value? I wasn't aware that parity with the euro was expected to be a very long term thing.

You may be right. Although this graph does at least highlight the biggest advantage of joining the Euro - stability. As it is, if the UKs fortunes fall, we fall alone. With the Euro, we would have more of a safety net. Of course, that would mean that our peaks were lower, as well as our troughs shallower.

But mainly I was interested (and a little alarmed) and pointing this out. No real economic policy is being suggested!

But if we switch over, we can't switch back! It's not like changing your phone contract or ISP you kno. And then how would we know if we'd be better off with the pound in 50 years? Also, do we really want to be even more linked to the French and their dastardly plans to prop up their silly economy based on subsidised cabbage?
I think this is what i mean anyway. Not very good at knowing about this sort of thing as it is very BIG.