Somehow, when travelling in the UK, I've never been in the least concerned about a bunch of half-drunk aristocrats pulling over at night in their Bentlys and beating the crap out of me.

I've been to bellingham and it ain't no paradise.

No, but there are plenty of others who would.

Your standards for intolerance seem specific to violence. FYI-You rarely hear of such hate crimes commited against anyone here, let alone tourists. If it does happen, it's big news.

On the other hand, you yourself, along with the other ex-patriot, expressed the sentiment that there is a widespread seperation of classes and the subsequent lack of tolerance between those classes.

So, of the two stories of which you relate tales of intolerance, one being while passing through the south as a hippie in the 70s, and the other actually living in your home country, which carries more weight- the anecdotal observations or the real life?

I get the feeling my point is being missed here- I don't really think folks from the U.K. or elsewhere are more or less intolerant than folks anywhere in the U.S. It does make for good fun to indicate it is, but the reality is, if you push someone anywhere, they will likely push back. You must see that.

Are you sure you are not my ex-wife? She was just as persistent.

Anyway, I'm German actually - but lived in London for a couple of years. Being non-British (a Hun no less) I was of course able to operate entirely outside of the constraints of the British class system. That said, I am certainly no apologist for the British class system. It is an anachronism - and an increasingly irrelevant anachronism at that.

There is of course the jobbo/hooligan phenomenon in parts of the UK - which I suppose is roughly comparable with the so-called white-trash/red-neck phenomenon in the southern US. I haven't though much about this to be honest. Poverty, social marginalization and ignorance seem to be hallmarks of both. Maybe someone else can comment on this.

But the boys in the picture above are sort of what I had in mind with my earlier remarks.

Actually when I was comparing the south to Europe earlier on - I was not even thinking of the UK. (No one from the continent thinks of the UK as being part of Europe.)

Dottore,I have been thinking of the anecdote that you related of having been shot at four times during a trip through the south. Can you provide some details, that must have been fantastically scary.

I don't doubt the shooting thing. Not very old-timers where i live tell stories of being the shooter or shootee in situations where disputes over waterfowling blind sites turned ugly.