The Americans now see us, apparently, as 'introverted, arrogant bores who whip children and live in perpetual rain' All generalisations are dangerous, even this one. But the worst kind, it's often seemed, are those about nationalities. The French as dogbreathy bed-hoppers; the Italians as pretty cowards; the Aussies as irritatingly upbeat simpletons whose definition of 'cultured' is someone who gets out the bath to have a pee; the Bulgarians as torn-faced miserly cut-throat scum who would sooner slice open their neighbour's first-born than pick up a bar of soap; the Swedes as a kindlier, sexier yet strangely more suicidal version...
