Portland Bill lighthouse, Dorset, UK - warning fog signal. Flickr/ Elliott Brown. Some rights reserved.It is said that in the 1930s an English newspaper once published the following headline: “Fog in Channel – Continent Cut Off”. Ever since, this has been taken as a snapshot of British national character, evidence of a longstanding British attitude vis-à-vis the continent. And no wonder, for the island has been coveted by a succession of Roman, Saxon, Viking, Norman, Frank and German invaders alike. So, it was only natural that the British would now want to keep the rest of the world at arm’s length, as evidenced by the recent ‘Brexit’majority vote to leave the European Union (one of the greatest setbacks faced by the organization since the rejection of a European Constitution by French and Dutch voters in 2005.)
So much for Britain on their own soil. What about the British presence in the rest of the world? For centuries the British Empire extended its power all over the globe, its pervasive influence being evident till today in legacies such as the universal lingua franca – English – and the most popular sport on the planet – football.
Supporters of Brexit argue that the United Kingdom needs to retrieve its sovereignty from the encroachments of the EU’s courts, tax regulations and, above all, migration mandatory quotas. Arguably, the ancient specter of invasion – though this time not by fierce warriors but by impoverished immigrants – prompted the majority of British citizens to opt-out from the EU.
