[Flippan mode off] I wonder if the CoE instituions have played any role. I suppose, actually, only one of them: the European Court of Human Rights, in defining and giving voice to people like Mrs McGee (spelling?) or Mrs Airey that “It’s my right and because I am a European, it does mean something”.

And then, I thought, d’ye know, maybe for the average punter on the street (whoever she might be, but that’s another story), the most signficant thing that helped with the development of a European identity was the fact that they could spend French and Dutch and Austrian coins in the shops in Clonmel and that when they travelled abroad they had an “EU” passport and went through the Blue channel (and the really observant ones might have noticed that the bar code tag on their hold luggage is green).