LET’S BE UNITED NOT DIVIDED
ELEVEN years ago I retired from my role as Assistant Principal at Stockport College and emigrated to Normandy with my wife. I thoroughly enjoyed the 18 years I worked in Stockport and, although a Londoner by birth, the warmth of the welcome I felt in Greater Manchester made it my adopted home. When we moved to France I felt a similar warmth which completely neutralised any cultural differences.
My family has subsequently ensured that I keep a weather eye on the UK and it is impossible to watch the events that are currently enfolding without wanting to add a perspective from this side of the Channel.
My local mayor and his colleagues are quite vocal about what is going on. They fear that their old and trusted ally may be the first to fall to the resurgence of nationalism and populism in Europe. The patience of Barnier, Verhofstadt, Tusk and others is no coincidence. I wish Britain had leaders of their calibre. They are giving the UK more and more time to sort itself out in the hope that common sense will prevail and they will stay in Europe to fight, shoulder to shoulder, with their allies against this familiar enemy. I fear however that their patience is wearing thin and the forthcoming election will be Britain’s last chance to redeem itself. Last summer I was asked to help our local town, St Sever-Calvados, to trace the families of five crew members of a Wellington that crashed here in 1941. The town was funding a memorial to the airmen after nearly 80 years and wanted to invite current family members to the memorial service. The project went well, making headlines in the French press and ITN sent over a film crew to ensure publicity at home. We taught the local primary school choir to sing White Cliffs of Dover and even Dame Vera Lynn sent a dedication. There was scarcely a dry eye in the church. To the local British community the irony was inescapable: how could these lovely people in St Sever be making all this effort when the UK seemed determined to divorce itself from all things European?
Summing up in his speech at the end of the service the mayor commented: “We may think that the fight against fascism is ended but before us we see nationalism and the distortion of the truth. Recent incidents are too serious to ignore. Let us not allow a tragic repetition of history”.
Most Brits living here still have the right to vote in our former constituencies, which makes us a useful barometer to help our MPs understand how the actions of the British government are perceived in Europe. However the 17 polite and informative letters I have sent to our local MP in Cheadle, where we lived for 25 years, have never been replied to. I can only conclude that at all levels the government does not want to listen. In contrast, our local equivalent always welcomes a chat and frequently invites me over for help whenever he has to compose something in English but this inevitably ends up with him asking me to explain Brexit. At this point I become completely lost for words in both languages!
I hope my former friends and students from Stockport will still want to travel to Europe and not expect their continental neighbours to be as hostile as the British press is to EU nationals in the UK. Europe continues to be a welcoming place, always aware that the British and allied servicemen who sacrificed everything for its liberation wanted to see a united Europe. Alan Davidge via email