The English Are Riding

“The English are riding, no-one knows where.”

In light of the majority decision by the people of the United Kingdom to exit the European Union I came across the above quote in Bernard Cornwall’s book, “1356”.

The quote was apparently a warning issued in the fourteenth-century in France, during the 100 year war between French and English forces. It was quoted in “A Fool and His Money” by Ann Wroe, and repeated by Bernard in his book,

As the UK once again enters uncharted waters it resounded with me and leads me to reflect that the numerous times throughout English history – from the attacks by the Vikings, (and I am not referring to the recent Euro football match result!), the 100 year war, to the Napoleonic wars, to the Great War of 1914-18 and finally to that last European conflict WWII – of the economic turmoil the UK has endured. The UK has bounced back before and I am sure will do so again; once the country has come to terms with the decision. In fact, some might argue, it has come back stronger from such cathartic events in the past and will do so again?

As in all things we do need to get things in to perspective. The UK is still “great” on a number of measures. This is what Wikipedia says: ‘The United Kingdom has the fifth-largest national economy measured by nominal GDP and ninth-largest in the world measured by purchasing power parity [The IMF quotes 187 member countries]. The UK economy currently makes up 4% of world GDP. The UK has been the fastest growing economy in the G7 for 4 consecutive years up to 2016. In 2014 the UK was the 9th largest exporter and 5th largest importer.’ (Amended from Wikipedia entry on the Economy of the United Kingdom.)

So once the trauma of the last few days have died down, and wiser heads and voices start to prevail, I am convinced that the United Kingdom will continue to grow and prosper, together with its neighbours in Europe, its friends within the Commonwealth, and world markets more generally.

‘The English are riding’ – together with the Welsh, Scots, and Northern Irish, towards greater prosperity and harmony for all. Spread the warning…