You're really taking the negative view on this Billy when it's actually a good thing. Like most island populations, the British Isles have substantially benefited from the many, however unwelcome at the time, contributions to the somewhat stagnant gene pool over the centuries. Or did you think the red hair and Roman noses were home grown as well? In my experience, some of the more remote areas could have benefited from a bit more of the same, but then what backwater doesn't have a bit of inbreeding? Just to review, in human genetics it's generally considered a distinct negative when the family tree only has a couple branches low down on the trunk.

Remember, the origin of the current UK immigrants is mostly a bit of colonial hangover. When a country occupies distant lands, it becomes inextricably linked with the people of that land, or at least the ones it neglects to kill in the transaction. It's just the way it is, it happens in the US as well. Good grief, who would have thought all those troublesome slaves would just hang around once they were free to swim back to their non-specific and completely undocumented origins in Africa from whence their ancestors were kidnapped...?

It came as a real surprise to me that the same big tough peckerwoods in the US that were gung ho for a big 'ol war in Vietnam whined like sniveling little girls when a couple million Vietnamese decided it would be nice to come over and live next door to them. They seemed bummed that their new neighbors worked harder and took jobs from the lazy and slow of wit.

Look on the bright side Sunshine, our current joint US/Brit adventures will assure us an inexhaustible supply of Afghani and Iraqi neighbors for generations to come. After all, it's simply the price one pays for global domination, and really quite a bargain. Just think of all the folks we got to kill and exploit for fun and profit, and I think you'll agree it's a small price to pay.

oc