Any lingering reputation the British had in Europe for being understated or reserved was destroyed last week at the first meeting of the new European Parliament. Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party has the greatest number of British Members of the European Parliament. When the EU anthem, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, was played to open the session, they theatrically turned their backs. The second-largest bloc are the Euro-fanatical Liberal Democrats. They arrived wearing yellow T-shirts emblazoned with “Bollocks to Brexit.”

To be honest, I have always thought my country’s reputation for politeness overblown. We British are an earthy and Hogarthian race, readier than our American cousins to drink, fight, and swear. Even by our standards, though, this was coarse and unpleasant.