Quote Originally Posted by Brenus View Post
What a lot of err, mistakes…
The entire actual British new conservative mythological History in few sentences…
First, the seas (Baltic, North Sea, The Channel, Atlantic Ocean etc) around Europe were never fences but ways of trading and communication from the Greeks, Phoenicians, Viking, the Hanse and others traders and invaders.
You had more contact between Northern France and England (Holland, Denmark, Norway etc) during the Middle Ages than with Paris or Lyon thanks to the seas.
That is for the Geography.
The Sea may be a way of trading and communicating, but it is also a brarrier to the movement of people. The point is that the border between England and France is profoundly different from the border between France and Germany, and the key difference is the lack of "borderland".

As for history I suggest you to open books and to read them, especially the ones about Romans, Saxons, and Normans. Then you can carry on with the 100 Years war. The English were so far from Europe than their King felt he could claim the Throne of France (with some right if you believe the blood gave you right), claim abandoned only in 1802 (Treaty of Amiens)…
Well, the Romans left much less of a mark on Britain than anywhere else in the Western Empire, within a generation or two Latin culture had collapsed and the peasants still spoke the same language they had when the Romans first arrived. Compare this with their Gallic cousins, who all spoke vulgar Latin or a bastard form there of.The Saxons and the Normans are a different issue, but in the latter case English society became an aparteid, with an English Commons and a French ruling elite.

Why don't you try actually reading what I wrote, instead of insulting my education? I have not tried to claim that England or the UK is some for of cultural isolate, nor would I, but whatever this "European" thing is we do not wish to be included and you cannot force it upon us.

Then if England is sooooo far from Europe, why keeping Gibraltar?
Gibraltar is a Soverign State.

As Culture, just check how much French words are in the English vocabulary?
Check how many Latin words in French - oh wait, it's all Latin. See the difference?

And can you define “European Culture” for me please?
It would be useful what Culture in thrown upon you…
Actually I can't, which is another reason to object, ask Loius.