"Lost an empire and not yet found a role"

LOST AN EMPIRE AND FOUND WE COULD CARRY ON REGARDLESS - ROLE OR NO ROLE, EMPIRE OR NO EMPIRE!

Our military and non-violent involvements in the world, particularly our wars during and after empire all point to us behaving in an imperialistic way regardless of our ownership of other countries.

Other European countries in giving up their colonies and, therefore, diminishing in the eyes of the world, have not acquired WMD or continued fighting distant wars like the UK has.  They have accepted their non-colonial, new role and behaved like the other countries, numbering very nearly 190, who have not got WMD or expenditure on armaments at such a high proportion of their income as we have.

Why does the UK have so much trouble in accepting that it is far better to live without an empire and, without warfare and, without threatening other countries with WMD?

Losing an empire, after fighting the one world war in two parts, has made very little difference, it seems to me.  Nor has our membership of the EU made any difference.  We just carried on regardless, anyway!