I visited Spain under Franco, and everyone was terrified of the police. I got into a conversation with a Spaniard, during which I expressed my left-wing sympathies. It frightened the life out of him. He looked all around to make sure no-one had heard, and told me not to say it again, although he had similar sympathies.
"They" i.e. Spanish MEPs and bureaucrats should certainly shut up in relation to telling the British what to do about Brexit, and claiming we have made some terrible mistake. My basic point is that we have NOTHING in common with these people other than, in Spain's case, a shared love of football and donkeys.
The British people, certainly the English. Have you ever tried to fit 28 bodies of different shapes & sizes into the same corset ?
There are plenty of British, and English, people who don't have much in common with each other, as is evident from another thread about Towns That Are not Very Nice.
The dispute between Spain & Catalonia is a matter for them Ken. My wider point was the reaction of the anti-democratic EU towards the Catalonian unrest - from Juncker, the Commission and MEPs. They saw the Catalonia referendum solely as something that risked derailing the EU gravy train. Thankfully we had a real democrat on hand - the magnificent Nigel Farage - to speak out.