What is Britain’s true role in Europe?

THERE have been many occasions when England has stood alone against Europe. Off-hand I can think of the battles of Agincourt and Crecy, Henry VIII’s rejection of Rome, Elizabeth I’s stand against Philip II of Spain’s Armada, Marlborough’s defeat of the FrancoBavarians, Wellington’s defeat of Napoleon, the World War I defeat of Kaiser Wilhelm and Churchill’s defeat of Adolf Hitler, among others. In 1967 Sweden elected to switch to the right side of the road from driving on the left. The UK considered the merits of doing the same, but being an island and having the choice, decided against the move. Europeans are conjunctly joined by borders and don’t have such a privilege. RICHARD STANCOMB,

Malmesbury, Wilts. It’S time to scotch ‘the english myth’, the romantic notion of ‘our sword upon the last, steep path’ (as Dorothy L. Sayers put it), of england saving europe (and the world) from Philip of Spain, the Sun King, napoleon Bonaparte, Kaiser Wilhelm, Adolf hitler and the rest. Anyone with more than a smattering of historical knowledge knows that these victories were achieved by a combination of strategic alliances and united battlefield armies, without which the various conquering foreigners would have triumphed. historically, it has been Britain’s role to try to construct these alliances in such a way that no one power gained complete ascendancy. In this, the eU is the ultimate expression of British policy down the ages. Far too many of the ‘leave the eU’ faction think they’re still fighting the hun. their visceral attitude isn’t far removed from that of ‘engerland’ football hooligans who chant ‘One World Cup and two World Wars’. When it comes to voting in the eU referendum, we can run away to our little island and pull the ‘silver sea’ up around us, turning our backs on our history. Or we can maintain our true role in the world, not as a sole actor but as brokers of the balance of power.

G. WILLIAMSON, Manchester.