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Our last away game at Southend suggests otherwise? Our away form under BG has been totally shocking, possibly the worse in the EFL?

OK, now you've fessed up I'll have a nibble...

I was originally responding to the 'firm handshake and stiff upper lip at the Civil Service Club' comment by referring to the 'spirit of Empire' as being one of oppression of other nations via repressed civil servants who were brought up in boarding schools as preparation for 'service' across the Empire.  The sort of culture that meant that a chap should keep his tunic on in the heat of the desert.  See the film White Mischief as a point of reference maybe.  Just one of the results being a lot of emotional retardation in the service of 'the country'

Since then we've 'progressed', in gazillions of ways.  This is why Dr Faustus gets all publicly gooey at the thought of hugging his family, I think

The upsides of the old world view seem to me to be a spirit of adventure, a prioritisation of 'public service' (which is not a phrase which is common amongst da yoof, I think), and (among the best people from those times) aligning personal with public responsibility

I see a lot of the latter still in daily life, especially at the moment, although funnily enough not so much of it on social media, and I don't think it's at all incompatible with modern life

But then, I think the Mash Report has some laugh-out-loud moments every episode.  And I identify primarily as British, rather than English.  And I wouldn't dream of identifying myself as something like 'eppinggas' - that would just highlight the caravan in which I was currently staying, rather than identifying something meaningful about myself (says he who uses 'a more piratey game', thus undermining that line entirely - arrgghhh!!!!)

1.villa
2 a field
3. Eastville when crowds were there
4. Highbury
5 Millwall original den

Never really did many away games. Maybe 30-40 at most

Hey, nothing lasts forever, don't feel too bad, but the bottom line is that the EU is a protectionist racket, and there's no such thing as an 'EU grant', that's money from you and me.

I'll never be able to think beyond the EU being a conglomeration of predominantly white western European countries that place sanctions on trade against the rest of the world, so where's the racism here exactly? 

And as was pointed out a couple of weeks ago, it was impossible not to notice in the EU Parliament that the area with most faces that were not white was where Farage was sitting.

Nasty institution with no respect for nation states and a loathing for democracy. We are well out of it.

Don't try to rewrite history, remember the likes of Thornbury going around the country trying to make people feel ashamed for wanting to show pride and patriotism. Let's see her talk in those terms about someone whose skin isn't white, you know what that would be, don't you. So it looks like 'Remain' had their share of racists on board as well.

When you write this stuff the conversation normally drifts off to talking about fishing rights etc, then it gets bogged down in EU procedure and whether we can (could) actually affect direction of travel of EU policy, then we end up quoting people who support our point of view. Then you get accused of cherry picking soundbites.

Oldie has on multiple occasions challenged all comers to name just 1 EU policy that has directly adversely affected them. I have one, it was a pointless piece of legislation, I took part in the consultation process, but the decision was already made, we were signing up to it.

I'll happily go over it by PM, because the explanation is too long winded for even me to post on here and explain why it was pointless for the UK to sign up to it and why it's benefited nobody but has hampered trade, guess what, from outside of the EU.

Did it leave me destitute, no, I'm fine, but it was mighty frustrating seeing a viable business that employed about 20 people in Bristol being rendered unviable for no good reason.

You seem to intimate that there is something wrong with the "spirit of the Empire"? I think it is very much alive and well.
There seems to be a problem with people being proud of the country of their birth, somehow it's become politically incorrect.
It is perfectly possible to be proud of your country and it's rich history, and to also embrace and welcome other cultures.
This is something that the "Remain" camp could never quite work out. Patriotic but NOT racist? Surely not?
On St George's Day I was putting up the bunting wearing a Union Berlin shirt. I don't see any conflict there. I respect Germans, lovely people (well obviously apart from the sun lounger behaviour).
I think this "spirit of the Empire" goes some way to explaining the Brexit referendum result.
And why people voted for something that almost certainly would have had a negative financial effect in the short term. 

Being able to hug my family and friends would mean more to me now than anything, but I'm a sentimental old sod.