DB, the class system and the secondry modern does ring a bell with me.

I was both A stream comprehensive and later Gramman when we moved to Kent. Mark my only brother who was secondary modern was the only one to take the "Kent test" as it was then and do I believe if was any less inteligent than the rest of us, NO. Do I believe that belonging to the right "cliques" might have mattered, YES.

Do I believe such things might be specificaly English (rather than any other group with some sort of power), NO. Do I belive on the other hand that we have conquered nations and maybe not always been entirely moral, YES.

Do I believe that an Englishman is by defintiion any worse or better than anyone else, I'd give a NO. Perhaps and just maybe it is people desiring power that do the damage and a "basic Englishman" may be no different to a German living in Nazi times (its really hard to imagine they all enjoyed it or that some may not have suffered for just things like being a jew) or a Frenchman living with Napoleon.