...who only England know? The always interesting Coming Anarchy has kicked-off a discussion on how living overseas helps you discover more about your home country. (A side note, amid all the hoo-ha about immigration, we should never forget that it's a two-way process: countless British people make their living abroad).
Even me: I spent the bulk of my 20s overseas, first in South Korea, then Sicily, the Czech Republic, Japan and, finally, China. I learnt a lot about myself, and about Britain too, looking in from the outside. Especially, I often felt more in touch with my fellow Europeans than with many of my trans-atlantic, Anglo-Saxon cousins: in truth, we're divided by more than just a common language nowadays. On the other hand, it seems ridiculous to think of people in terms of national borders. To paraphrase James Connolly, there is much more that unites rather than divides us. Coming home, it's always struck me as risible to be lectured on Englishness by The Sun reading Benidorm brigade. We were all of us immigrants once upon a time.
Citizens of the world unite! We have nothing to lose but our passport stamps.
Or something like that.
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