I can empathize with this ex-pat. Appalled at the high crime levels, and rampant PC, in the UK, I moved to the US 6 years ago.

Despite the Hollywood version of the US, portraying it as a land of high crime, populated by mindless thugs, I found that the reality is just the opposite of this. I now live in Indiana, find the people warm, friendly, and realistic; and overall much prefer life here to life in England. Crime here is virtually non-existent, the police are well trained, diligent, and helpful (unlike British cops).

I can leave my doors and windows open, park my car without locking it, and be confident that all will be well when I return. I have yet to meet anyone whose car has been stolen, or whose house has been burgled (such news from friends and acquaintances was an almost daily occurrence in England).

You have the right to defend yourself, and your property, here. This right is bolstered by the availability of firearms, which many people carry daily for personal protection. The firearms prove to be a good deterrent, and those with a criminal disposition realize that any serious unsocial behavior will be met with force--even by the weak and elderly (the traditional prey of violent criminals). Paradoxically, the abundance of firearms in society here results in a very low crime rate--the exact opposite of what the uniformed British media and politicians would have you believe.

Of course, in any society, there are always threats on the horizon, and the USA is no different in that respect--Hilary Clinton, Ted Kennedy, and their ilk are always lurking somewhere out there! Perhaps we could persuade them to move to the UK which, after all, already has everything they want to implement here in the US.

I don't expect to move back to England anytime soon.

I absolutely and completely agree with Theodore Dalrymple. But what is missing is his recipe, or even a suggestion, of what might be done to rectify this sorry "state" of affairs known as Britain.

Also, his is but one voice in the wilderness. Where are mainstream newspapers across Europe writing in their leader columns about the country which was once "swinging" and is now teetering on the edge of totalitarianism with one Act or Bill after another to further encroach upon civil liberties? Perhaps one has to live abroad for a while to obtain that necessary distance for the rose-tinted spectacles to stop working. In my case I left Britain in 1969 to gain employment as a guest worker in West Germany, only returning to Britain in 1982. As a correpondent remarked in a recent article in the Guardian, "Knowledge of countries acquired through tourism often consists of little more than the whereabouts of the beach," and it is this insular attitude of most Britons that insulates them from the reality of what is happening to their country. They can't see the wood for the trees.

Trouble is, eventually they *will* realise it and the consequences will be bloody, as it will be long past any debate at that stage, given the lethargy with which the British approach political issues. Perhaps this has to happen, like the stubble burning which once prepared fields for the plough and a new spring.

A friend of mine, an educated middle-class woman from London, was in the US last winter and spent several days visiting me in Detroit. One day we decided to visit our city's art museum. There was a coat rack behind the entrance counter. I hung up our coats and we walked around for a while, had lunch in the nice garden court, then walked around again for a while.

When we'd finished I helped her on with her coat, put on mine, and we went out to my car. As we were getting in she confessed that she'd been surprised when I hung up our coats rather than carrying them with us, since the coat rack wasn't attended. "I wouldn't have dreamed of doing that back home," she said. "I wouldn't have expected the coats to be there when we returned. It's very law-abiding here, isn't it?"

I managed to grunt something. All I could think was, ye gods, a woman from England feels compelled to comment on how well people behave in...Detroit.

Sadly, humor is now truth:

Walking through a rough part of the city one night, two social workers heard moans and groans and muted cries for help coming from an alley. Walking toward the sound, they found a semi-conscious man.

"Help me!" he said weakly. "I've been mugged and viciously beaten!"

The two social workers stared at him for a moment then walked back out of the alley.

One turned to the other and said, "You know, the person who did that really could use some help!"