CRANKY YANKEE you just proved the accuracy of your ID. You disagree with what I didn't say, and are pretty wide of the mark in many of your comments. Immediate post-war reaction almost entirely failed to distinguish between Germany and Austria (good historic reasons for this) and held the Italians in utter contempt (whereas it at least respected Germany's military competence). Also to say the RAF made mincemeat of the Lufwaffe is to trivialise the sacrifice of the the RAF (what was the life-expectancy of a Flying Officer at the height of the Battle of Britain?) . . the two sides were fairly evenly matched, and we survived by the narrowest of margins.

And I note your studied refusal to acknowledge the contribution the Russians made to the outcome of the world war . . interesting prejudice!

Oh, and anti-semitism was never an issue DURING the war; indeed the British Government decide not to publicise Hitler's opression of the Jews for fear it would increase public sympathy for him over here.

As for the Oxford Union debate . . it reflects the intellectual mood of its time. What is more significant is how quickly that mood changed. Largely the result of propaganda effort rather than nobility of British Character, I suspect. And today it would be all too easy to whip up anti-European sentiment in this island . .

George