MedEwok – thank you very much, appreciated.
Peter wrote:
Whereas the same experiment in the USA will produce about 990 saying “I am American”.
That does not tie in with my experience. Most I meet claim to be Irish. Some more claim to be Italian, a few German, a few Dutch, and an even smaller number English.
I tend to agree Fuji that a functioning “union” would be better.
Neil wrote:
Peter wrote: Whereas the same experiment in the USA will produce about 990 saying “I am American”.That does not tie in with my experience. Most I meet claim to be Irish. Some more claim to be Italian, a few German, a few Dutch, and an even smaller number English.
My experience agrees with both you and Peter.
American’s are very proud of the heritage – mostly because they have none of their own ;-)
I therefore find they will proudly tell you they, or their Father, or their Father’s Father was Irish, or whatever, and then they will tell you how proud they are to be an American.
I was recenlty at a “posh” country club golf course. One of the people I stayed with was an mulit Olympic medalist – he raised the Olympic flag last time around and was asked very quickly by the Committee if he would replace it with the stars and stripes he usually had on the pole. Whilst he didnt see the “harm”, he happily obliged. So we drove around the course, and had I counted, there would have been 40 or more stars and stripes. If I drive around my home City I reckon I would expect to see 1 if I was lucky, except of course during the World Cup, when there are plenty of George’s. Whether in reality that makes us or them more or less patriotic I am not hazarding, but for sure while they will proudly tell you they came from Irish stock, and are proud to be Texans, they are also proud to be American.
I think in their case being proud of your heritage and being proud of your adopted country are not mutually incompatible.
Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country, they have indeed taken to heart.
My German wife (US resident for 3 years, and a very proud Bavarian) is requesting that we get an American flag for the front of the house. I explained to her that protocol requires that the flag be lit at night, and demonstrated it by showing her other flags on our evening walk. She now wants to know when I’m planning on installing the light, sooner would be better… 
So what do the Brits here make of the election results? “Strong and stable” looks different to me.
Catastrophic and disasterous are the words I would use. BJ rumoured for Deputy PM. Oh dear.
I’ll ask a question. Must Brexit happen????
Fuji, that was a really measured and thoughtful post. (Your one on Brexit)
MedEwok wrote:
I think the latest election results rather support your point
- or they simply show a distrust or negativism towards the present government, whoever that may be. Other things than Brexit has happened in the UK lately.
Alexis wrote:
The problem for Norway (whose politicians explicitely warned the UK to leave the EU) is that Norway is very close to the EU, even a Schengen member, and supports most of its decisions, without much chance to influence these decisions, not beeong an official member. I remember reading an interview with a professor from Oslo who called that a “trap for Norway”.
In contrast to the UK, we actually want the “four freedoms”: Freedom of movement of people, capital, goods and services. What “we” don’t want is the EU bureaucracy showing regulations down our throats. With the EEA agreement we get the four freedoms and EU bureaucrats showing regulations down our throats – but we have minimal saying in those regulations. A truly idiotic agreement that would never happen in any other circumstance than what existed at the exact time it was made. In hindsight one can say it was a coup by over enthusiastic politicians when the country (rather surprisingly) voted “no” to EU membership, and the political establishment strongly wanted to become a member. That’s the black and white version , but not too inaccurate. On the other hand, there has been very little opposition to the agreement in the last 23 years, until maybe a couple of years ago, and it’s getting stronger and stronger.
The opposition against EU membership has also grown dramatically the last 20 years. At the election in 1994 it was about 52%. Last year, before Brexit, the polls showed it was more than 70%. Today, after Brexit, it is probably a good deal higher. The funny thing is, the the youngest people, under 30, are the ones that are most strongly against, more than 75 % would vote “no” if there were an election. (if there actually were an election, those numbers would probably even out a bit, but the opposition against EU membership is at an all time high). The reason? It’s stuff like EASA, doing nothing but create (even more) nuisances where there were none enough before. But mostly we want to create our own future, and protect the local democracy. All this makes the EEA agreement even more weird, it’s like it just “happened” 23 years ago, and no one has dared to mess to touch it ever since. The Swedes just shake their heads and laugh at us, and with good reason
Brexit has, and will even more when their agreements about the withdrawal becomes clearer, stir things around. People are starting to awaken and look at this EEA agreement. I think things will change a lot during the next couple of years, and I don’t think it will be in EUs favor. I mean the language alone. We all know English, few knows German or French, or Polish or Spanish or whatever.
So what do the Brits here make of the election results?
Well, it tells ya what everybody already knew: if you are gonna gamble then you need to be very good at it
According to the internet’s most accurate yardstick, it’s not gonna change anything that’s coming up
In contrast to the UK, we actually want the “four freedoms”
That’s because so few people live there that there is loads of room for more, plus it is so cold up there that not even the Siberians come in numbers. And it is so expensive that the only Russians who could afford to come are sitting on yachts in the Adriatic 
Kinda sums it all up for me……..
