Hi Bill,

I have been fortunate to travel around a bit in the US and I do (as much as an outsider can?) appreciate what you are driving at.

I guess my point is that some things are important enough to have laws at a national level taking precedence over State Law (IMO). I just think that anything that devalues your fellow human beings (racism, child labour laws, domestic violence etc.) should have no hiding place in the US because of a locally applied law, and was voicing my surprise that it did. I was aware of local law covering things like alcohol, helmet laws and concealed weapons etc. but didn't realise until I read your post that it extended to issues like equality and race.

"You in the UK are not immune to the basic issues of racism"

No argument there (I live with it on a daily basis), hence my comment about the UK (IMO) being some distance away from an elected black leader.