Normans Vs Anglo-Saxons

“What if columnists wrote about the U.K. the way they do about the Middle East?” asks Karl Sharro in The Atlantic. It’s quite well done, he elicits opinions from two ‘representative’ members of the ‘locale’ in question and draws a picture based on something that happened thousands of years previously, happily mixing in the local sport for colour. Sample:

Unsurprisingly, Wenger is a vocal supporter of the Remain campaign and Britain’s continuing membership of the EU. In fact, many of the leaders of the Remain camp are of Norman origin, while most of the leaders of the Leave campaign are Anglo-Saxon. The notable exception is Nigel Farage, a politician of Norman extraction who argues that Normans and Anglo-Saxons should put their differences aside and focus on antagonizing foreigners instead.

Farage has been shunned by the Norman community for this public betrayal, but he has managed to build support among Anglo-Saxons, although not enough to get elected into parliament. Farage endeared himself to Anglo-Saxons by publicly drinking beer, a habit which is frowned upon by the Normans who prefer wine and coffee. This fundamental dividing line within British culture has been overlooked by commentators in the referendum debate, but it represents an important symbolic schism. I wanted to find out more, so I decided to go talk to Matteo, the millennial entrepreneur-type person.