Britain and Europe: Off-shore or On-board?
Stuart Woolf outlines the ambiguous but deep and intense relationship between Britain and the Continent
It is a truism that the British have long felt ambivalent in their relationship towards what the mythical 'man in the street' continues to call 'Europe' (as if Britain did not form a part of it). Despite the exponential growth of tourism in recent decades, which has meant,' that millions of 'Brits' have personal experience of travelling on the Continent, and the symbolic importance of the Channel tunnel link, the platitude that 'we' are, and prefer to remain, different from 'them' is still widespread – or, at least, appears so, seen from the other side of the Channel. Issues touching on national identity contain an important historical dimension which has received somewhat cavalier treatment in the political debate and media. The historical relationship between Britain and Europe merits more serious attention.
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