For St George’s Day. (You’ll know of course that St George – if he ever existed – was a brown-skinned Turk – or Syrian – who is unlikely even to have seen a dragon, and never visited England in his life? He wouldn’t be let in to the country today.)

I’m of the generation that doesn’t really understand the internet. (To tell the truth, I haven’t caught up with electricity yet. Why doesn’t it spill all over the carpet when you unplug something?) Recently however I came to understand that the unsolicited stuff I’m getting via Facebook isn’t just random, and so doesn’t reflect opinion generally, but is selected by a clever robot in California (or somewhere) to be in line with my tastes and views. I think it works by something called an ‘algorithm’. (Is that right?) Which of course explains why most of the politics I read on Facebook is Leftish and anti-Brexit.

And is why I was surprised recently to be linked to a site called ‘Proud to be British’, which emphatically does not reflect my views. It’s what you might expect under that title: narrow and xenophobic. I should of course have ignored it. But, having been offered this new platform, I decided to make my own brief contribution. Here it is. (My FB friends will have seen it already.)

‘Proud to be British AND European. – Europe is an integral part of my British identity, which Brexit will deprive me of. Luckily, like some others, I have been able to secure another citizenship (through my partner) in order to restore the European freedom that you lot are taking away from me. There are many like me (the exodus should probably alarm you, unless you think that ‘proud Britain’ is well rid of us); but there is also a much larger number who will not have this opportunity. They will remain imprisoned in your Little Britain offshore tax-avoiding neoliberal US-dependent haven for the rich (who are the real ‘elite’: just look at your ‘leaders’!), and hell for everyone else. It’s so very sad, and demeaning for my country of birth. Goodbye Britain. You’re no longer the nation I used to love and admire.’

I imagine they’ll ignore it – if they haven’t deleted it already.