[BITList] Off Topic ?

[HUGH]

Ah, the old "cultural identity" that we are always in danger of losing 
through the actions of others.  It's always the excuse for oppression of 
minorities. So Charles Dickens would feel at home in present day London?  I 
don't think.  All that's changed the "cultural identity" he knew and loved 
is time, technology and fashion.  "Before my time" is the feeble excuse 
routinely trotted out by dimwits on TV quiz shows. The other day a bunch of 
30 to 40-year olds were given Tommy Dorsey, Artie Shaw and Fletcher 
Henderson and required to say which of them Frank Sinatra first sang with. 
"Never heard of any of them," they chorused, then guessed Artie Shaw because 
he was in the middle.

Hugh.