England's potent sweep of history

Journalist Simon Jenkins argues that England has produced far greater numbers of heros than villains. It is still, he moots, the greatest country in the world:

I write of England because (as a half-Welshman) I regard it as a real and distinctive country. The rest of the United Kingdom has a separate history, as does the British Empire and that other union of which England is now part, Europe. Ireland has gone and Scotland and Wales are increasingly separate countries, even if joined in a federal nation state. England remains a coherent whole, badly in need of redefinition. I have come to regard England as the most remarkable country in European history. While its relations with its neighbours, especially Celtic ones, have often been appalling, its ability to assimilate newcomers, reform its politics, care for its citizens and be a liberal beacon to the world, is astonishing. Its “game-changing” individuals – Elizabeth, Cromwell, Walpole, Gladstone, Lloyd George, Churchill, Thatcher – far outnumber its villains.