DAVID Ross (Letters, April 19) makes an appealing case for leaving the European Union suggesting how the English, from 1066 onwards, threw off the yoke of Norman rule symbolised by Winchester Castle, and would that life was that simple.

The reality is that despite Shakespeare’s passionate defence of England in his play Richard II;’ this blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England’ or Churchill’s rhetoric in 1940 ‘we shall fight on the beaches, streets ,fields and on the hills and will never surrender’ the English Channel is no longer the moat that keeps us apart from continental Europe.

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Continuing membership of the European Union does need to be underpinned by hard economic facts – trade, investment, jobs etc but it also needs a belief or vision such as Shakespeare or Churchill invoked.

The Duke of Wellington was an Englishman but he famously described the men who fought for him at Waterloo as ‘the scum of the earth’; Field Marshal Haig was also an Englishman but look what happened at the Battle of the Somme which began 100 years ago this coming July, an unprecedented military disaster for which Haig bore the main responsibility.

Perhaps the greatest English virtue is the ability to laugh at ourselves, how otherwise can we explain the ongoing appeal of Dad’s Army?

Shakespeare, Churchill or even Dad’s Army said something about the English character and it is my firm conviction that we can contain and respect our unique heritage, but still be a power for good in a European family of nations as represented by our continuing membership of the European Union.

GORDON CANN

Craigmoor Avenue, Bournemouth

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