What is so different about Britain?

In the week that Britain yet again insists on taking a different position on a key European Union proposal – this time a new Treaty to replace the failed proposal for a constitution – in this column, “Guardian” reporter Michael White puts his finger on why this country has not just an insular geographical position in relation to the rest of Europe but an insular psychological attitude in relation to all our EU partners:

‘A pub quiz question rarely asked is “How many of the EU’s 27 member states were occupied by foreign armies and/or terrorised by dictatorships, domestic and foreign, in the pre-EU 20th century?” The answer is a surprising 25, all but Britain and Sweden. It may help to explain the contrast between the formerly oppressed EU majority and the cussed scepticism, merging into downright hostility, so evident again in Britain as Gordon Brown sets out this morning for the Lisbon summit.’

We don’t realise how fortunate we are that for the last 1,000 years our history has been so different from that of almost everywhere else in Europe (and indeed most of the world).


3 Comments

  • mavis

    Some of us do ‘realise how fortunate we are’.
    Which is why I have consistently voted no – in regard to Europe.
    But I did think that as I was getting near my three score years and ten – next time I might not vote on it at all.

  • Nick

    It’s quite possible to be very positive about the countries of Europe, and about the idea of free trade within Europe, but negative about the EU. Such an attitude doesn’t necessarily entail “insularity”!

  • Roger Darlington

    1) Without the European Union, we would not have the ‘common market’ that we now enjoy in 27 countries on the continent.
    2) Of course, the EU is more than simply an economic concept – it is about democratic values and social integration. That’s why so many countries have wanted to join.