Britain vs. France, Again
I'm not entirely sure when it began or why it started, but hating the French is something we do really well here in Britain. And we've done it for a very long time. They hate us too so please don't worry that it's all one-way.
The reason I'm telling you about this flawed and frosty relationship now is that on Sunday we celebrated beating the French in a historically pivotal sea battle off the Spanish coast. The Battle Of Trafalgar saw the Britain's Royal Navy pitched against French and Spanish fleets on the 21st of October 1805. It was the last great sea action of the period and of course, we won.
Lord Nelson – whose statue stands today in pride of place in London's Trafalgar Square – was the man ultimately responsible for the victory and it cost him his life. We didn't go looking for a fight – it was that Frenchman Napoleon Bonaparte and his plans for European domination that forced us to protect our borders.
At the time of the battle, Europe had been at peace for 14 months – quite a long time in those volatile days, but Napoleon had secret plans to invade us and he knew we would blockade French Ports and deprive his countrymen of trade if he tried it. Hence the ferocity of the battle for control of The English Channel and Nelson's deathly determination to win.
Of course, we are now at peace with France and have been for some considerable time – we even liberated them from German control a couple of times – and yet an undercurrent of loathing still runs between us. These days of course there is a very different battleground – namely The European Parliament, where the French seem determined to infiltrate our borders with petty bureaucracy rather than soldiers. They dominate the European Union and every time they can, they seem to nip away at our Britishness and meddle with our laws. Now, I don't advocate any kind of war but there is something to be said about an honest fight in the open in order to bring hatred to the surface – rather than leave it festering behind the closed doors of politicians' offices. If Nelson were alive today he'd see to it personally!
by Petrie Hosken