It's a shame these things tend to devolve into "right fighting" but let me assure you Britain does not view itself as part of Europe, and never has, for centuries now. It is a very uneasy truce between the two.
From the earliest of times the British have viewed themselves as entirely different from those on the continent, and have gone happily to war to prove it. Trafalgar, for example. Whatever EU Britain has now chosen to join, it is extremely recent historically, even now on shaky ground, and has had no effect whatsoever of "Europeanising" the distinct British culture.
From the reign of Elizabeth I, English foreign policy concentrated on preventing invasion across the Channel by ensuring no major European power controlled the potential Dutch and Flemish invasion ports. Her climb to the pre-eminent sea power of the world began in 1588 as the attempted invasion of the Spanish Armada ...over the centuries the Royal Navy slowly grew to be the most powerful in the world...The building of the British Empire was possible only because the Royal Navy exercised unquestioned control over the seas around Europe, especially the Channel and the North Sea. During the Seven Years' War, France attempted to launch an invasion of Britain. To achieve this France needed to gain control of the Channel for several weeks, but was thwarted following the British naval victory at the Battle of Quiberon Bay in 1759.Another significant challenge to British domination of the seas came during the Napoleonic Wars. The Battle of Trafalgar took place off the coast of Spain against a combined French and Spanish fleet and was won by Admiral Horatio Nelson, ending Napoleon's plans for a cross-Channel invasion and securing British dominance of the seas for over a century.
English Channel - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
These days, Britain is part of the EU, but even that association is strictly for economic benefits only, and those tend to be for British gain.
Recently there have been calls for Britain to be tossed out of the EU yet again, as they did nothing to help Europe in their recent economic meltdown.
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David Cameron’s veto last December during the Eurozone crisis gave it an unhelpful and familiar ‘Britain versus the EU’ dimension as Europe faced its darkest economic moment since the Great Depression. While Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy tried to pump blood into the collapsing veins of the euro, Cameron’s demands for City of London safeguards appeared self-centred and anti-communautaire.
The French hit back. Sarkozy told Le Monde: ‘There are clearly now two Europes.’ No code there: there is the EU and there is Britain.
http://www.historytoday.com/james-ellison/britain-more-european-it-thinks
It's akin to saying that Americans are Mexican, just because they exist side by side geographically.
World wars have been started on these distinctions.
The British are British. They are technically European because technically the British Isles are part of the European Shelf. The real definition of "European" is something the British have moved against in every way, including culturally and linguistically. No English people speak the multitude of European languages, most Europeans learn at least some English.
The real reason the British are not European, is because they have historically chosen not to be. Same as you probably choose not to be defined as "Mexican".
Either way, no McCann was ever exposed to a lifestyle or culture where leaving babies unattended and alone was acceptable. It is not acceptable in Portugal, Australia, USA or Rothley UK.
:seeya: