Understanding Anglo-Saxons and the special relationship

For any future American politician who wants to put his foot in it regarding British (and European) history, a few points.

1. The Angles were a tribe originally from Germany - up close to the Danish border. Their existence is disputed (though the name "East Anglia" questions that dispute). However, they are mentioned by the Venerable Bede in early works of British history.

2. The Saxons are less disputed. There are three states in current Germany - Sachsen, Niedersachsen and Sachsen-Anhalt - all still with their name in the title. The "Sax" part of it got corrupted in England to "Sex" (no nowt to do with that!), as in certain counties or former counties or regions - so Essex, Sussex, Middlesex, Wessex.

3. Not all inhabitants of England are descended from the Saxons. Many of us are, particularly in the North of England, from Viking stock (before all the interbreeding took place usw). The Vikings were for years the sworn enemy of the Angles and Saxons (OK, it is over 1,000 years ago - but I still don't trust everyone from dahn Sarth!).

4. Most of the inhabitants of the rest of the United Kingdom were Celts, not Angles and Saxons, and they will still often be proud enough to tell you that. Yes, of course, see also interbreeding above.

5. Then there were the Normans, from the French region of Normandy (with more than a bit of Viking blood mixed in), who made up the nobility and were the people who ran the country for generations and treated the Angles, Saxons, Celts, Vikings usw with, shall we say, more than a degree of contempt.

6. Then there are the immigrants from the former colonies, and not a few from the European continent in recent years (see Poland in particular - whom I believe you will find are Slavic).

7. The "special relationship" sounds interesting in its way, but it dates back principally to Churchill and Roosevelt (a Democrat, for any GOP readers) and WW2. A lot of people in the UK, as a result of Blair's perceived subservience to Bush on the Iraq War, are dubious about how the phrase should be used these days. Often it sounds like a one-sided relationship of master and servant and not a partnership of equals.

8. And anyway what is so wrong with having seriously good relationships with France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Russia, the Czech Republic usw? The UK sometimes gets it wrong (the current government definitely has!). Try keeping all your options open. If you had listened to Joschka Fischer in 2003 for example ....