Member-only story
Featured
Pitfall History | Society
Why Do Brits Still Think They Have an Empire
Millions are still living in the past
If anyone has ever bothered to read my work over the past six years, you’ll know I spent 15 years in France before returning to England in May. I came back mainly for family reasons, but I also wanted to see what the old country was like these days.
I was disappointed.
It didn’t take long to get the feeling that the far-right were on the move. Flags that I’d read about in the news were everywhere, and there seemed to be an intolerance not just to foreigners, but to everyone who didn’t sing along to the right-wing’s tune.
I drove back in a French car (I’ve still got it), and as soon as I got on the motorway at Dover I could hear the honks behind me as people were desperate to overtake me or simply express their disapproval.
That never used to happen. I’ve been driving back for years, and for most people it was just another car. Now foreign cars were targeted as though they were small boats ferrying immigrants across the Channel.
Of course, these issues aren’t unique to Britain. France has its own far-right nationalists in the form of Marine Le Pen’s National Rally. But I never heard anyone banging on about the…
