In response to Daryl Baldwin: I am a proud Briton, not a European 

Nockian wrote:

Try speaking European. We are broadly, culturally, western. We differ from Asia and the Middle East by some degree. We have the same values as other western nations and clearly of what we consider ‘European’ nations – although it’s remarkable how Russia is omitted from Europe despite being a part of the continent and partially sharing some Western values with some way to go.

I’m British, because I was born here and I speak that particular language and very little else. I think of myself as Western, not particularly European, indeed if I settled outside of Blighty it would most likely be America, Australia, New Zealand or Canada. To be European is to be a citizen of nowhere, with no specific language, or identity. I’m happy that a Frenchman is both a Westerner and a Frenchman and I can get some idea of the cultural differences – which aren’t vastly different to my own – from that identity. I know that a Frenchman will act and think in a similar way if I ask for help, want a room for the night, buy some bread or have him phone an ambulance.