A Chequer-Board of Nights and Days

And the EU constitution is up and running. Like clockwork, no less!

Children as young as eight are being taught that the controversial European Constitution is up and running - even though it has been rejected by voters.

More than 100,000 copies of a textbook claiming the constitution will help the EU run "like clockwork" have been distributed to primary school children on the continent.

The taxpayer-funded teaching material is due to be "rolled out" across the EU from next year, having already been distributed across Belgium. Countries which have already expressed an interest in providing it in schools include France, the Netherlands and Ireland. Children are taught that the constitution should be likened to the simple rules governing a sports club.

Earlier this year, however, voters in France and the Netherlands rejected the constitution in referendums. Since then, there have been attempts by the European Commission to bring its provisions, including the Charter of Fundamental Rights, into effect.

Last night the Tories denounced the new teaching material. Liam Fox, the shadow foreign secretary, said: "It is quite clear that the commission are determined to ram through the constitution, despite any democratic objections. And to do so they are using propaganda that would have been more at home in the brainwashing era of the Soviet-dominated Eastern Bloc.

To top it all they are using our taxes to pay for it. Our government should block any further funding to put an end to this appalling propaganda." The teaching material, entitled Europe, My Home, features two children, Lea and Thomas, who are guided through the complexities of the EU by a character called Good Father Houpette.

"You will be astonished by what I will tell you," Father Houpette tells them. "You will see that the EU is a necessity."

Children are introduced to themes including the history of the EU, its institutions, its embassies, the common market and enlargement.

When they arrive at the chapter on the constitution, the children are pictured reading the rules and regulations of an indoor sports hall.

"Not long ago the European Union was given regulations such as these," Father Houpette says. "With this new constitution everything will go like clockwork, just like in your club."

There is no mention of the fact that the constitution was rejected by French and Dutch voters.

Er . . . isn't this a slightly important omission? And since when have children in normally enlightened Europe been indoctrinated on a modern version of the "Oceania has always been at war with Eurasia" lie?