They'll Always be An Engla- uh, Manche Region

The EUcrats are drawing new administrative regions over the map of Europe, hoping to soften up the recalcitrant old national identities that have refused to die and make way for the European Constitution. Here's how the new plan will disperse England.

The new European plan splits England into three zones that are joined with areas in other countries. The "Manche" region covers part of southern England and northern France while the Atlantic region includes western parts of England, Portugal, Spain and Wales. The North Sea region includes eastern England, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands and parts of Germany. A copy of the map, which makes no reference to England or Britain, has even renamed the English Channel the "Channel Sea."

German ministers claimed that the plan was about "underlying the goal of a united Europe" to "permanently overcome old borders" at a time when the "Constitution for Europe needs to regain momentum".

The idea that German ministers are re-drawing the map of Europe - again - ought to be enough by itself to give people pause.

And for another thing, how would Shakespeare be effected? Would Henry the V [which is being performed now at the Blackfriars Theatre in Staunton, Virginia, by the way] have to say "Cry God for Harry, the Manche region, and St. George!" Please, no!

I hope the good people of England will remember the words of the Bard and once again gird themselves against the "less happy lands" of the continent and send this plan back to Brussels.

"This fortress built by Nature for herself,
Against infection and the hand of war;
This happy breed of men, this little world,
This precious stone set in the silver sea,
Which serves it in the office of a wall
Or as a moat defensive to a house,
Against the envy of less happy lands."

Just ask yourself: "What Would Winston Churchill Do?"