Good post Mr el Gnomo. It has always intrigued me that those who want to proclaim their Englishness loudest fail to acknowledge that they are descended from a long line of invaders. Angles, |Jutes, Huns, Saxons, Normans and more latterly (and, for the most part, peacably although I discount Kilburn High Road on a Friday night in the sixties) Irish, Asian, West Indian have all contributed to the cultural diversity. And those who say get over it are spot on.

I watched John Prescott in dialogue with Brian Sewell on 't tele last night. Two fine Englishmen with nary a square foot of common ground between them; they could well have been from different planets.