Whither Britain? #1

Hasn't it gone quiet?  I mean, you can almost hear the leaves hitting the ground from the Autumnal trees.  Well, not really, and anyway, what I mean is that politically it is all quiet on the global front, and the home front, too, come to that.  An optimist would be glad but pessimists, like me, worry about what is looming over the horizon.  Nothing we can do about it, of course, so we must just wait for the next clap of political thunder.  In the meantime, and during this eerie interlude, I have been pondering on the somewhat pompous question raised in my title - Whither Britain?

Various thoughts have made their sluggish way round and round what passes for my mind in recent days but it was a news item on the BBC that has provoked me to start hitting the keyboard.  Recently released war-time papers tell of an incident involving Capt. Peter Lake, MC and Croix de Guerre, who died in June at the age of 94.  He was one of those intrepid soldiers who parachuted into France prior to D-Day in order to train the French resistance.  The invasion took place and later in a small town in SW France he came across Gen. de Gaulle and the following conversation took place beginning with the General asking him his name:

General de Gaulle: "Jean-Pierre, that's a French name."

Mr Lake: "My nom de guerre, mon general."

Gen de Gaulle: "What are you doing here?"

Mr Lake: "I belong to the Inter-Allied Mission for Dordogne, and I am at the moment with Dordogne troops at Marennes, mon general."

Gen de Gaulle: "But what are you doing here?"

Mr Lake: "I am training certain troops for special operations."

Gen de Gaulle: "Our troops don't need training. You have no business here."

Mr Lake: "I obey the orders of my superiors."

Gen de Gaulle: "You have no business here, I say. You have no right to exercise a command."

Mr Lake: "Mon general, I exercise no command."

Gen de Gaulle: "We don't need you here. It only remains for you to leave. You too must go home. Return, return quickly. Au revoir."

I repeat this tale as an example of the deep-seated detestation the French hold, even nurture, for the British.  Of course, you will complain that a single exchange of words coming from a man noted for his Gallic haughtiness and visceral dislike of 'les Anglos' should not be taken as representing the views of the whole of France, nor do I, but what I do say is that it expresses the views of an exceedingly large proportion of the French populace and that the passage of time has not eroded it, in fact, since the end of the war I suspect it has increased.  That view is, quite properly if you are French, reflected in the common-place prejudices of today's French politicians.

If that was the limit to it, I would remain phlegmatic, but it is not.  In my opinion this anti-Anglo prejudice is deeply embedded in the political classes of virtually every European nation with the exception perhaps of Scandinavia and Holland.  I should make clear that I do not believe this anti-Britishness is expressed in foam-flecked hatred or anything like it, but simply in a moody antipathy that delights in scoring points of a nation they dislike for reasons which, like most prejudices, are lost in the history of our times.  Even the Germans are thought better of than the Brits, even if that is partly the result of Germany, huge and powerful (and for the moment peaceful) squatting in the centre ground of our continent and thus dominating much of the political discourse.

For my own part, I must confess that their antipathy to us is shared by mine for them, so please do not think that I complain of it, quite the contrary, I have never believed in international brotherly love.  Some countries you like more than others, but even such likes or dislikes are always subject to national interest and may be buried or flourished according to the circumstances.  However, it is precisely this national interest which seems to have been buried in our dealings with the European Union. Grand Whigs, like my e-pal, Oliver Kamm, drool at the mighty edifice that Europe is building, not so much, I suspect, because they admire it as such but more because they are of a mind that is excited by huge constructs, much in the same way that inter-war intellectuals gasped and gushed at the mighty Soviet Union.

That very wise, shrewd man, Marx, er, the funny one with the cigar and the moustache not the hilarious clown with the beard and the manifestos, once said that he would not wish to be a member of any club that had him as a member.  Paraphrasing that somewhat I would ask why we should, like a double-glazing salesman, try and shove our foot in the door of a club in which the vast majority of the members detest us and are only too pleased if they can do us down in some way?

Alas, as the "#1" in my title indicates, there is more to come from me on this subject because I do believe very strongly that we need to take a new direction - and I love playing a political traffic cop!

Comments

[dearieme]

The EU includes Greece but excludes Norway, so it cannot possibly be right for us.

[David Duff]

In a nutshell, 'DM'!

[Anglophile]

Well, you're certainly giving them reason to dislike your EXCEEDINGLY SMALL PROPORTION of anglo-saxon dumnuts!

[David Duff]

Sorry, 'Anglophile', it is probably the gin but you will have to expand that somewhat cryptic remark.

[North Northwester]

Just a thought - and a faint note of hope before the licenced victuals trade swallows me for the rest of the evening, but as an occasionally cheerful Tory I have to point out an equally and possibly decisive question for the conservative-minded:
WHENCE Britain?

[David Duff]

I trust that the process was not reversed and that you swallowed the licensed victuals trade!

Your question reminded me of a variation of it addressed to Conservatives - exactly what have you conserved from the past during your recent administrations?