Otter wrote:

> >>>> We only allow in people of quality.

I quipped:

> >>> So times have changed since your great-great grandfather's day, eh?

Jim replied:

> >> So wrong. The "we" then didn't get any say; the Poms just forced
> >> their way in at gunpoint and began unloading their jails.

I came back with:

> >I think that makes me so *right*, actually.

He said:

> Not at all. The locals never liked the transportation. If you
> looked at the records of that period, you'd see agitation against
> it from the beginning.

I didn't say anyone *liked* it. I merely drew attention to the fact that the
idea that Australia was a country that only allows in "people of quality"
does not have that long a pedigree. Indeed, you go on to suggest that the
old, unreconstructed ideas still persist:

> a UK Home Office spokesman said they were exploring resettling the
> killers in the Bolger murder case in Australia or New Zealand.

Interesting; I didn't know that.

> so you were just trolling. I gave you the benefit of the doubt and
> assumed your comment was based on ignorance.

Well, trolling's too hard a word. Being mischievous, yes, certainly. All
this "Euro-loser", "We only allow in people of quality" tosh doesn't merit a
*serious* response.

John
http://rarebooksinjapan.com