Kate wrote:"God Save our Country"
I would go further.
"God Save our Ungracious Country"
I was talking with the Chair of the Twinning committee and the Director of the Croix Rouge on Monday night. They still feel that France is a mainland country and has no choice but to belong to the EU for stability. However they are aligned on the need for immigration controls. It is destroying basic services, health, welfare, society. It is driving unrest and extreme voting.
Heard that before?
Their other contention was that the UK has an "out". We are not mainland Europe and can exist alone thanks. We don't need to be part of the EU and we have an escape valve which we can take if we want.
Their take is that suffering the EU is preferable to instability and war on the Continent.
It was a very interesting viewpoint. They actually can't understand why we would want to stay! The material benefits to the French are there, if few and costly, but the perceived benefits in lack of war and constraints on possible antagonists are worth, almost, any privation.