Jim ask, "What is your country, is it England, Britain, the British isles, or U.K." With a Mudcat name of "Bald Eagle" I would have guessed it was "None of the above", but one is never sure. Also the original post seems to have been sent as a query from an outsider.

I, however, am British. But firstly I am Welsh. I never consider myself European (Continental or otherwise), and I would not recognise "The British Isles" as a country by any definition.

Whilst the EU is an improvement over the situation 50 or 100 years ago; as you state, the thought of war with France or Germany is now unthinkable. But is that because of the EU, or because we are all growing up. With the US & USSR, mutual fear kept war at bay. I feel that mutual fear of a 'foreign' dictatorship from any quarter may be keeping Western Europe at peace, Not the presence of a multinational debating chamber.