BEN Stokes’ magnificent performance in the Third Test at Headingley on Sunday - when he and his teammates snatched victory from the jaws of defeat was nothing less than a sporting Dunkirk!

Stokes displayed that spirit that typifies us as a nation - never more determined to succeed than when our backs are to the wall.

Doom-mongers here and in Brussels would do well to recognise that fact.

They should also heed the words of US President Roosevelt when he said “We have nothing to fear, but fear itself! Nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyses efforts to turn retreat into advance”.

Floreat Britannia sine nobis vincula!

ROBERT READMAN

Norwich Avenue West, Bournemouth