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

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

As a cub reporter, I devoured books about journalism.

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.

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.

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.

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

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