I had an emotional and proud moment when I saw images of the Brandenburg Gate illuminated as a Union Jack, in a bold statement of solidarity with London after the Westminster terror attack. Having been born into the English segment of an Anglo-German family with a wartime childhood under flying bombs and rockets, whilst we rained firestorms down upon my cousins, the sight of the Brandenburg Gate decked out in the Union flag was an extraordinary and heart warming moment. It was not lit by the British as a symbol of conquest. It was lit by the Germans, free, united and peaceful as a spontaneous act of respect, solidarity and unity of one great European people to another. Because after centuries of fighting and for the first time since the fall of Rome, all the powers of Europe have come together in the EU as one. First we are all Europeans. Next comes our national identity.
But soon my pride turns to anger. For, through a fraudulent prospectus which promised the undeliverable, England, not Scotland or Northern Ireland, with Wales in the process of changing its mind, has voted to walk away from the greatest peace project in all of civilized history. Not only has this stupid display of vanity and bravado placed at risk the EU. It has put a very real strain upon the Union of the British Isles. So the Brandenburg picture may have historic significance. The days of the Union flag itself may be numbered.
I hold these, mainly English, Brexiteers responsible for a shocking act of political vandalism, which devalues the great sacrifices made in two terrible European wars and squanders the heritage bequeathed to us though the blood of millions. Instead of moving forward as a great power within the European family, their vision is to become some sort of international courtesan, sleeping, sorry trading, with everybody and partnered to no one. We all know how those stories end.