Time for Britons to turn the other cheek, kiss and make up

While the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge gracefully bussed Queen Elizabeth II on both cheeks at the Chelsea Flower Show in London last week, there is enough evidence to show that the newly minted Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from South East England Nigel Farage is not the most adept practitioner of the essentially continental art of cheek kissing.

So, while others may ponder over the ramifications of his brand new Brexit Party (BP) galloping to victory in its very first European polls by decimating the conventional Tories and Labour, it is not surprising that fears are being articulated about the future of European customs — cultural mores not taxation ideas — in Britain. Once the stiff upper lip vanished, the double-cheek kiss was bound to take over.



It may be remembered that the political hug — now enthusiastically adopted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi — was the stuff of Latin American and Middle Eastern bonhomie before it awkwardly arrived Stateside.

The Communist bloc was also marked by fraternal hugs and kisses that sometimes spilt over into other arenas, such as the Fidel Castro-Indira Gandhi clinch in New Delhi in 1983. So, such salutations, arguably, have become international.

Instead of agonising over potential problems, Britons should just turn the other cheek. After all, Britain and Europe do need to kiss and make up.