This is the first in hopefully a series of short podcasts. The reason of these podcasts is, I suppose, very obvious. Britain is set to leave the EU at the end of 2020. But in these podcasts I will not touch on politics. I will instead try to depict different traits and quirks of British people, the way I see them, and what it means to be British.

As I am sure you guessed from my accent, I am Italian, I will always be and I am proud of it but I have lived in Britain for more than 20 yrs. Britain is my home. So I am also a proud British.
What I want to talk to you about today is what is often referred to as British stubbornness which has been talked about a lot specifically in relation to the decision of the UK to leave the EU. Why are British people so stubborn? Why do they always see themselves as different and separate from the rest? There is famous quote that goes: “When the sea in the Channel is rough, Europe is cut off”. That’s quite a quote isn’t it?

Well, I think the main reason is down to the most obvious characteristic of the British land. It is an island. Full stop. Britain has been politically connected and married to that land for centuries with almost no changes or interferences. While European countries have constantly and ferociously fought, drawn and redrawn their connected borders for centuries with bloody wars and treaties, Britain was spared.

Travelling from Britain to any other country has been made easier with planes but it is still an island. You still have to leave the British soil. You have to travel and get to another soil. Italians, French, Spaniards, Germans can just walk. One step and you are somewhere else.
Also, ask Italians what they think of their fellow countrymen who live in Sardinia or Sicily. Ask French how they see their fellow countrymen who live in Corsica or ask Spaniards to talk about the Spanish who live in the Balearic islands. Well, they will all tell you pretty much the same thing: well, they are islanders, right? They are different. Yes they are Italian, French, Spanish, and German…but they are different.

Well that applies to the British people too.

Thanks for listening. Next time I will talk about something that we all have in common: music.
In the meantime, keep the brits in your heart and mind.