From the editor’s desk

This island now

The recent ratification of the Lisbon Treaty and first steps towards its implementation were a major step forward in the development of the European Union. And what is good for the EU should be good for Britain. But where were the celebrations, the rousing speeches from politicians, the multi-page supplements in the newspapers, the hour-long documentaries on television? Instead, Britain greeted this landmark event with a mixture of xenophobic cynicism and schoolboy trivialisation. Great fun was had at the expense of the Prime Minister of Belgium, Herman Van Rompuy, after he was chosen as the first President of the re-jigged European Council, because of his nationality - his native land being dismissed as a country of no consequence - and even his name. Cultural assumptions of effortless Anglo-Saxon ­superiority are clearly undiminished in modern Britain.

It might have been expected that the continuous media fascination with the two world wars would have persuaded the British by now that failure to engage with the rest of Europe and foster a common European identity was a sure route to conflict and misery. It is dangerous to ignore the fact that Britain's peace and prosperity depend on the peace and prosperity of the nations of the European continent, as does much of its influence in international diplomacy and its place in the global economy. The English Channel remains a decisive factor in our relations with the Continent. The British also seem closer culturally to their North American cousins 3,000 miles away than to their close neighbours. A common transatlantic language, and even memories of Britain's troubled religious history - nationalist British Protestantism versus internationalist European Catholicism - may also play a part.

It is disappointing, however, that British politicians do not see these as reasons to confront or correct small-minded Euro-scepticism, but seize every opportunity to woo the voters by aligning themselves with it. The Prime Minister rarely speaks favourably of the EU, and never with any hint of passion or idealism. The Conservative Party seems to have a visceral distaste for every aspect, even seeking the strangest of allies in the European Parliament in order to avoid sitting with the pro-European Christian Democrats. Despite their more favourable attitude, the Liberal Democrats regard pro-Europeanism as having little political mileage. For the national media itself, the incoherence of its response to Lisbon is shown by the contradiction between its carping about loss of sovereignty and its refusal to take the internal politics of the EU seriously.

Now that the Lisbon treaty is a fait accompli, however, the  fractious debate about European political structures will lose much of its point. It is time the British were told unambiguously that resentful and half-hearted membership of the EU is the worst of all possible options, and damages the interests of all concerned. Instead it should be encouraged to recognise that the European Union's very existence is a historic triumph for democracy, international cooperation and the rule of law in a continent often darkened by the lack of these essentials. That alone is worth a national holiday.