Readers with long memories will remember Dan Hannan's previous attempts to draw parallels between the European Union and various historical empire-builders. He hasn't resorted to the old trick of dragging in Hitler yet, but in a letter to the Spectator last week (subscription required), he did the next-best thing:

"I'd have thought Genghis was a clear-cut leftie. His tactic, on conquering a tribe, was to liquidate the aristocracy and elevate the lower orders. He was a proto-Europhile, mingling his subject clans so as to prevent the development of a sense of national identity."

Unity in diversity, anyone?