Fergus Finlay: Culture wars are an insult to the intelligence of English people

'Very few of the majority who voted to leave the European Union want to admit they made a terrible mistake. But there are more than a few who wish it had never happened.'

I haven’t been back there for a while, years actually. But I’ve been reading about it constantly, listening to stuff about it, taking what I thought was a keen interest. Based on everything I know, everything I’m certain about, it has changed beyond all recognition.

Except it hasn’t. And that has come as a complete shock to me. The England I remember as a teenager, as a young adult, as a working man, is still there. It’s still a beautiful country. Its towns and villages are full of character and charm, its suburbs are neat, its countryside sprawling and gorgeous, its cities frightening in their vastness and complexity.