e dancing is just a little too staid for my liking" - either you've not come across the wilder end of Morris, or you must be a very wild dancer indeed yourself, ella.

The Australians used to talk about "the Colonial Cringe" - maybe they still do. That meant running themselves down in comparison with England/Britain. What's up with the English is something you could call "the Ex-imperial Cringe", I suppose - it's just as creepy.

And the thing with inferiority complexes, as I understand the concept, is that people suffering from them are liable to act brash and arrogant and push themselves forward - and that sounds horribly familiar if you look at English hooligans, the English tabloid press, and a lot of English politicians in "populist" mode. The English traditions I'm talking about, ranging from Morris to Music Hall, are/were predominently self-mocking and mellow affairs, a million miles removed from that kind of thing.

But, as I said above, it's not just the English, this is something you get in a lot other countries as well, some with very different histories.