Vulgar debate
Sir: I have to disagree with Theodore Dalrymple on his always jaundiced view of England and the English (‘Common people’, 6 November). I work in a tourist area of Sydney and find the English/British the least offensive of any of the overseas visitors. They are also the most attractive, especially the young backpackers all tanned up from days on Bondi beach. And always very polite.
I travel to England twice a year and use the trains and tubes, and the ferry over to France, and am always impressed by the orderliness I encounter.
Sure, I see some fat, tattooed, pierced, appallingly toothed people, but surely they are the descendants of Sir Francis Drake and the armies of Nelson and Wellington?
Lily Murray
Glebe, NSW, Australia
Sir: I commute regularly from France and Theodore Dalrymple’s observation of the vulgar Britons uncannily reflects my own impressions.
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