For my entire adult life, the European debate has been buzzing continually in the background like a maddened bluebottle; yet until now I have only ever batted it away in irritation. Snobbery and boredom stopped up my ears. Europe was a subject for apoplectic Rotary Club men in blazers with gold buttons – not for fun, young Me.  "When the truth is so slippery, it is tempting instead to believe in personalities. What do the people I like think? "  "When the truth is so slippery, it is tempting instead to believe in personalities. What do the people I like think? "  Thus here I am, at 44, once again doing my last-minute revision on the eve of the exam.  But it turns out that it’s much easier to cram for finals than for Brexit. At least with, say, the reign of Charlemagne there are one or two facts that everyone can agree on. When it comes to the EU, there appears to be nothing – not a single statistic, assertion or prediction – that cannot be knocked straight back down by the other side.  One newspaper has a graph illustrating how money flows out of Britain into the EU; another newspaper has the same graph upside down, showing how we benefit from Europe’s largesse.  This person on the Today programme says we should be like Norway; that person on the Today programme says we don’t have the oil money, duh. This one says its all about sovereignty; that one says, what about Scotland then, eh, eh? It’s like being a bewildered dinner guest caught up in some else’s marital fight.  Would leaving the EU make us like the Norwegians? Photo: Getty  The one indisputable truth, surely, is that no one actually knows. They might be able to rustle up some numbers showing how well or badly we have fared within the EU, but they cannot say what might have happened if we’d never joined.  Likewise, they can paint glorious or ghastly visions of life after Brexit, but they will never be able to measure it against the alternative.  When the truth is so slippery, it is tempting instead to believe in personalities. What do the people I like think?  This is why Boris Johnson’s Outing is such big news; because, unlike George Galloway or Nigel Farage, he is comfortable company to keep. Look at him, rumpling his giant sexy hand through that internationally-famous mop. He’s clever and charismatic and badly-behaved: for the first time ever, the Eurosceptics have a rock star on their side.  Boris Johnson: sexy Photo: GETTY IMAGES  It may not be the most scientific way to make up your mind – but that’s because there isn’t one. There are only gut instincts, and anecdotes, and tribes.  We are all being asked to take a leap in the dark. The question is, whose hand do you want to be holding when you jump?
The truth is, the whole thing is a massive leap into the dark. All you can do   is pick your tribe