Quote Originally Posted by Peter View Post
But the rise of nation states led to repeated wars, empires forming and collapsing and, even worse, ordinary people becoming somewhat involved in how a country is run.

In short, it was a nightmare. Hence the EU, the UN, NATO and all the other apparatus of the new world order swept in to rescue us from our parochial, narrow minded view of our own corner of the world.

We all bleed, b. We all breathe the same air, we all cherish our children's futures and we all believe in a flat back four.

We people are one. You and your ilk want to go back to the chaos of nationalism.... shame on you!
No-one said it was a bed of roses. However, it's abundantly clear that, despite the best efforts of politicians for 70 years, the notion of the nation state and its attendant nationalisms are stubbornly persistent. This is because people like them. They like identifying with people who speak the same language, eat the same food, share the same cultural reference points. They prefer such people to the alternative. This is why the notion of a European identity equivalent to one's national identity is plainly laughable.