AND FINALLY My heart will always be British

IT BEGAN with the dogs. First, we had the DNA of one rescue mutt tested and then (more recently) that of the new rescue puppy.

Since both had had unhappy beginnings I thought they deserved identity.

So Sophie is half Yorkie, half Chihuahua, while little Hattie is half Yorkie, half Pomeranian. So welcome to a Chorkie and a Porkie!

Not so long ago, curiosity whetted, I got my DNA, and that of my father, tested. Our branch of Mooneys has Irish blood, but English, Scottish and Welsh, too, but what about the 11 per cent of Dad’s genes and 17.9 per cent of mine being ‘broadly northwestern Europe’? Who knows what our ancestors got up to in cosmopolitan Liverpool!

The result didn’t make me feel any more ‘European’; I have no affection for that gold-starred blue flag, but a passionate love of the Union Jack.

For how can you believe you belong to Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden, as well as Britain; the country of your birth? That is just meaningless to me.

The EU referendum has been and gone and this is not a political column, but it is about feelings — and a sense of belonging is hugely important to the heart.

That is why being in a secure relationship and getting on with your family rank so high in happiness surveys. We may love to travel and enjoy looking at other cultures, but home is where the heart it.

In the end, what matters is where you feel you belong and to whom. I may be even more of a mongrel than our cross-breed dogs, and yet everything this country stands for — its history, landscape, tolerance, sense of humour, culture, national faith, monarchy and laws — is as true and dear to me as my family. And that’s the DNA that matters.

Bel answers readers’ questions on emotional and relationship problems each week. Write to Bel Mooney, Daily Mail, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TT, or e-mail bel. mooney@dailymail.co.uk. A pseudonym will be used if you wish. Bel reads all letters but regrets she cannot enter into personal correspondence.