The Moors were incredibly tolerant. So too were most Islamic countries of the time. At the time of the Crusades, when the Christians were busy trying to eradicate Islam from the "Holy Land" and massacring civilians (how little changes, eh?), Saladin was renowned even by the Crusaders for his conduct and the conduct of his army. In fact, if you want to do the history thing, there's precious little in the way of nastiness that *hasn't* come from whites.

And FWIW Gurney, all of Europe *has* been at war with its neighbours at one time or another. Hell, the west of England and the east of England went to war with each other, and you know how big those areas aren't! Defeats in battle in Europe are ten a penny.

For myself, I'll readily admit to being less comfortable around black Americans or Asians than I am around white Brits. But I'm equally uncomfortable in France, Spain or Greece - I'm around people with a different culture from mine, and I don't want to be unintentionally offensive. (I'm not too worried about being around white Americans, bcos Britain's been McDonaldised enough that this isn't a big problem.) It's not a skin thing, it's just recognising that I don't know enough to participate in that culture. The more time I spend with people from those backgrounds and the more I learn, the less uncomfortable I feel, bcos the less chance there is of making a prat of myself.

Graham.