For some years now, I have been waging a private campaign with all those I come into contact with. I urge everyone speaking about anything on the other side of the English Channel to use the correct terms: “the Continent”, “mainland Europe” or “the rest of Europe” rather than simply “Europe”.

I was born in Britain and hold a British passport but have never considered myself to be anything other than European. I once lived in North America for three years and, looking across the Atlantic, I saw the UK as being very much a part of Europe rather than apart from it.

Recently, I recalled a hypothesis which I came across many years ago when doing my degree in psychology and this now seems extraordinarily pertinent to the situation in which the UK finds itself. The theory, developed by Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf (known as the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis), states that the structure of a language determines or greatly influences the modes of thought and behaviour characteristic of the culture in which it is spoken.

I cannot but ask myself: how different might be the UK’s attitude to Brexit and all things connected with the UK’s place in the world had the language of the UK media (newspapers, TV and radio) respected the UK’s geographical location in Europe?

Those who report and comment on the news should acknowledge and recognise that we, the British, are, in fact, European. Our historical roots, language and customs have all evolved over many centuries of interaction with the peoples of this great continent.

That which lies across the Channel should always be referred to in such a way as to indicate that we in Britain are ourselves Europeans.