Public dissatisfaction with EU growing

As Scotland and Catalonia prepare for historic independence votes, there's more rumbling within the European Union:

The public mood of Euroscepticism is hardening, according to an exclusive Guardian/ICM poll that finds 51% of respondents would vote to take Britain out of the EU, against just 40% who say they would vote to stay in.

The news comes as the prime minister prepares to give a widely anticipated speech on Britain's relationship with the EU in the new year.

The last time ICM asked the same question, in autumn 2011, opinion was already leaning in the anti-European direction, by 49% against 40%, but a slight hardening of opinion since that time means that anti-EU feeling is now just in the majority.

The dreams of Napoleon, Hitler, and Stalin for a European superstate once seemed to have come true in the European Union. But once again, nationalism has triumphed over ideology.