Perhaps I should begin by saying that I am not, in terms of ethnic origin, English. My parents emigrated to England from the Irish Republic, and we have all lived in Britain for so long that no one can see the join - or can they? Some years ago, my mother was admitted to hospital for a routine operation. Award nurse saw her obviously foreign name on the admissions list, and concluded she must be Asian. Accordingly, she arranged for my mother to have a bed in the same bay as other Asian women, and ordered her a curry for lunch. Part of me was angry at the stereotypical thinking rhat every- one...