Thoughts on EU

Everybody knows that Great Britain or The United Kingdom has voted to leave the EU .
Now I'm English one hundred per cent and I love England deeply and always will. It's a part of me. I wasn't allowed to vote in the referendum because I've lived outside the UK for more than fifteen years. Fair enough you may say. I moved abroad for love, surely one of the best reasons.
I grew up in an England that was proud and happy to be part of the United Kingdom, I thought we were all happy to be together, England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales.
I grew up in a land of free milk at school, polio jabs, free dentists, free opticians, horrible free national Health spectacles,child allowance paid directly to my mum, heating allowances, government grants to build a bathroom if you hadn't got one, waving at the Queen as she rode past in a limousine, going up to London for the day on the train, going to the cinema as a special treat to see James Bond, Mary Poppins, the Black and White minstrels, BBC comedy, Listen with Mother, children's hour, Tizer, Saturday morning at the pictures, and on and on.

Near our house there was a housing estate with small pre- fabricated houses for refugees from London and Easter Europe, they had exotic names ending in ski or ov. They were happy to be there, they felt safe, away from the horrors they had seen.
The shadow of the wars hung over us. My dad had spent his youth in the Middle East mending RAF planes. He hated war, he hated the people that had sent all those young men to war. They had stolen his youth, he saw no pride in war. My mother saw no glory in her brother presumed missing who never came back.
We went to France on holiday. My mother had a French friend that had stayed in England during the war because she had an English grandfather. We went to stay with them. They took us to see the battle fields of Northern France. We were saddened and sombre. We kissed and hugged each other. We were friends.

My dad took us camping in Europe. He loved Europe. We went on holiday touring Europe. He delighted in following sign posts to Paris, Brussels, Bern, Innsbruck. We went to campsites and  sat around with Germans drinking and saying prost. My dad thought it was wonderful We were all friends.
In 1966 we won the World Cup, I can still remember the excitement and the fun, the names of the players, Bobbie Moore, Bobbie Charlton, Geoff Hurst, Gordon banks. We went on holiday straight after, on the ferry across the channel we chatted to the dejected German fans, we felt a bit sorry for the, it had been a close victory, but it had been at Wembley on English soil and it meant a lot to us.

The years go by and I start to realize that the Scots and the Irish don't quite like us as much as I like them. For the Scots it seems to be about the Cheviots, the stag and the black, black oil. The Irish have good reason, History shows us that. The Irish situation is a black cloud hanging over Britain, something to be ashamed of. My time spent studying in London is marred by bomb scares, but no-one in power seems to know what to do.

We join the Common Market. My dad believed in Free Trade so he thought free movement of people was a good idea too. He worked hard, he was a self made man. He had great respect for women and their role in keeping a family together.  He hated war more and more, wanted to tear down all the generals stuck up on their plinths. He said peace was fragile, the United Kingdom was fragile. Joining the Common Market could keep us together. He thought it was wonderful that the French, the Dutch and the Belgians had joined forces with the Germans.
My Mum always said that united we stand, that my dad had fought so my brother would never have to go to war. We must stick together, as a family, as a country, as a continent, as the world.

Never once was peace made an issue of the decision to remain or leave.
We must respect the vote, it was a democratic vote, from a country that values freedom.
What we must hope for now is that the EU will become stronger, that the people in power will try and keep it together.

My Italian father- in- law admired Britain, it's democracy, it's values. He loved Europe, he knew what war in Europe was like and he didn't want it again.

Europe is a beautiful continent. In a short distance you can travel from mountains to lakes to beautiful coastlines. The young people of Europe are happy to live and work in each other's countries, broadening and opening their minds to other ways of doing things. They come home again enriched.

Italians have got to know the British better in recent years, they love their sense of humour, their reliability. Many highly qualified Italians work in important research in Britain, in highly skilled jobs. For a country of immigrants used to being sent down mines this is a magnificent achievement.

Italians are saddened by the Leave vote but they respect it, after all it's democracy. 

Let us hope now though that it is the start of a stronger and more united EU. That would be the best for all of us.

Let us hope that the United Kingdom does not disintegrate, that would leave England vulnerable and fragile. 

Good luck to all.