Ha.
If you really believe that someone is pompous for wanting the standards of our society that are clearly in decline to be maintained then hands up, I'm guilty.
IMHO the reason that the balance of power is shifting in Europe politically and commercially is due mostly to the erosion of these standards and the acceptance of mediocrity which starts in our schools and is portrayed by people who feel that dressing down Microsoft style is the way forward.
If we remove all outward signs of professionalism on the pretence that only the substance matters what do the next generation strive for when everyone looks the same, sounds the same, eats the same and has the same entertainment. At a guess mediocrity.
This is why our brightest and best dissapear off to countries where they are rewarded better for excellence rather than just be mediocre in comfortable shoes here.
So when we can't get any high quality British Engineered products, fly abroad for medical treatment and import just about everything just because we did not want to seem stuffy or 'pompous' by having standards and competition in society our economy dives from the point where it was at the turn of the last century to a point where we have little or no influence on the world stage and become puppets to the United States of Europe but at least they won't think were 'pompus'.
Oversimplified.. Maybe
Mountain out of a molehill...Maybe
But it takes many drops of rain to make a river...
