The latest row between the UK and France is more of a sprat than a spat. As any trawlerman confined to a Normandy fishing port could tell you, the sprat is also known as “bristling”, which is what Emmanuel Macron and Boris Johnson are doing. It’s also a member of the herring family and the fishing row is a red herring. Its basis is not about the technicalities of granting several dozen licenses to French vessels, nor is it about next year’s French election. Underpinning the dispute is a difference of world views which stretches back to the post Second World War settlement.