Yet you know all about Northern England and it's very rough inhabitants per your comments? Your 20 year upbringing in the UK must have been a very informed and intense period to form all the opinions of northern people that you have.

A large proportion of the current City Of Newcastle is North of the wall not all. The wall ran along what is now the West Road and there was a Roman Fort at Benwell just south of the West Road. So they protected the nice areas like Scotswood etc from the nasty Scots! or were they protecting the Scots from them ?? lol I will not enter into the Mackem argument lads

... and your maths aren't too hot either.

My only point was that they were not British - but it was British (specifically English) who got the blame.

You actually reinforce my point - it is difficult to tell who is from what country if they are speaking English. That is one reason that the English get the blame for so much - johnny foreigner speaking our language.

I think the point is, that regardless of where they come from, most of them have gone to a great deal of trouble to learn English in order to be able to communicate in what they consider to be the international language, with local people providing services in tourist zones.

It is therefore very frustrating for them to find that some of the very people who benefit most from their custom can't even be bothered to do likewise.

Tin hat on, over to you Cman.

I have lived in Spain for the past 8 years. I also spent a year in Spain after a finished uni - and spent 3 summers in Spain while I was at uni. Total = 10 years

I lived in the North of England until I was 22. Born and brought up there

I also lived for 5 years in London

Happy?

Am I qualified to have an opinion now?

I'm not sure that a minimum wage worker in a supermarket with a basic education can be said to be benefitting from tourism

Tourism makes up 10% of London's GDP. Do they make sure that supermarket cashires are multi-lingual?

No comparison.
As I said English is looked upon as the international language by people from many countries and they would visit London with the expectation to get by with English.

Likewise when they are visiting Spanish tourist areas.

Under the circumstances it would not be unreasonable to expect that Spanish working in tourist areas to use even a little bit of English that maybe they picked up from their schooldays.

You are highly critical of English who do not speak Spanish even though many don't need to, yet from my own experience until recent years out of sheer necessity the Spanish have been by far the most lazy of all with regard to improving their language skills even where it's to their own benefit.

This comment sums up everything that is wrong with British expats

You should be ashamed

.

Por que

CM let us have please a list of all that is wrong with British expats and we are thus able to identify what you think of us.

Incidentally you say you work in Spain. So you must now be home for lunch.

Then if you work in the Spanish system you expose yourself to the way that the Spanish people celebrate breakfast?

Let us have this out we need to know what is wrong with us. I also have some problems with your career background especially you re now in your early 30's

Biochemist then Sociologist and here a debate whether you have spent eight or ten years in Spain.

Was biochemistry in the UK as well as the fluffy subject of Sociology?

I am counting back so if must mean that from leaving school you certainly condensed a lot in a short period of time? Quite obviously no degree?

Or was your training in Spain

However folks we are now giving this 'guy' the oxygen upon which he exists. Squeeze the pipe and for the avoidance of doubt not literally

It is fairly logical to expect your children to be Spanish.?

Jeez what a hullabaloo

Bottom line is ALL nations have assholes who would be best avoided on holiday.

However the fact is the English because of lager louts, football yobs and other assorted flotsom- have got more of a name for this behavior than most other nations- that's just a fact.

No one sensible is suggesting this in any way means any more than a micro fraction of English people behave like this but unfortunately those who have acted this way in the past have given England a bad name in many countries.