When I first started following Mudcat, I was really and unpleasantly surprised by the sort of racist comments about 'Gypsies, Travellers and Roma' some people clearly felt comfortable posting here (and elsewhere, I daresay). Some of these same posters would no doubt have been indignant if the same comments had been made about a different racial minority in, say, a country on the other side of the Atlantic. Fortunately, most of the offenders have (been?) moved on. Still, for a Canadian, it was an eye-opener .....