There were always plenty of newspapers in the house. The Times, Guardian, Daily Telegraph and Daily Mail were all regular fixtures on the coffee table. I used to enjoy reading The Times editorial pages and the Daily Mail sports pages.

But I do think that Brexit, an exit of Britain from the European Union, would trigger real pressure on the United Kingdom.

Thanks to social media such as Facebook and Twitter, a far wider range of people take part in gathering, filtering and distributing news.

The Financial Times is pro-British membership of the European Union. We have taken that position for decades. But we are not starry-eyed about the European Union. And we do not believe and have not believed for at least 10 years that Britain should be part of the euro.

As a cub reporter, I devoured books about journalism.

I walk into the office at Southwark Bridge every morning, and I have no idea whats going to happen.

We British play an important role in Europe, even if we have a traditional and historical ambivalence towards the continent.

My father was a journalist for 50 years in Leeds and Fleet Street. I thought about a career in business to show I could do something different, but the reaction among prospective employers was, shall we say, underwhelming.