2020 Week 19 – VE Day

I suspect that VE Day has been at least partly hijacked by the Brexit campaign, with supporters pointing to how Great Britain stood alone against the threat of invasion before overcoming the enemy and achieving victory. But of course the country was anything but alone, even before the USA joined the Second World War. And then the EU was, at least in part, devised as an alliance which would make future wars in Europe much less likely. A successful coalition of trading partners would work together for the common good and (more recently) for the environment. It has been a great success, despite the problems of the Euro, undeclared deficits and the perceived hegemony of Germany and France.