one thing to remember though, most EU citizens speak and write English to a good standard (it could be argued, better than many posting on here)and yet few "English" people have more than a "conversational" second language.

Christ.

Have the cast of "Cocoon" woken up?

Anyone got a spare Werthers?

I worked in Madrid for nearly a year and picked up the language for use outside of the office quite quickly.
Granted, the project's official language was English but my Spanish colleagues knew that I was keen to use Spanish wherever possible. Nonetheless I'm certain my grasp of the language would have accelerated if I'd had to use Spanish more in the office.
Ditto with working in Germany.

So, your point is accurate, I couldn't have started on a Spanish-speaking job without better Spanish language skills and I actually failed a German interview for another job there where the project language was German as it was too hard work (quite understandably) for the interviewer to simplify his German for me.
If I'd been better prepared, I reckon I'd have stood a really good chance of that job as I was very experienced in all the other skills required, indeed the guy was in a bit of a dilemma whether to give me the job despite the language shortfall but, to be honest, I'd have struggled with the scoping and planning meetings early in the project.

It's not actually difficult to learn another language but if you don't know (as I did but many don't) what a verb is or a noun, even in English, you're going to have to learn that at the same time, which makes progress that much slower.

On the other hand, a large part of the rest of the world tends to use English as a sort of Esperanto second language, which does make us a little lazy.

Yes, we're back ... and this time sit up and listen.

Was racism ever about skin colour? I mean, in the colonial days of the United States - which came first: the need for lebensraum or hatred of the native population? the need for vast reserves of cheap labour to harvest cotton or the Klan?

Far too often people get wrapped up with skin colour and forget that there is almost always a rational basis to racism which is linked to wealth and power.

It's interesting to look at the racial targeting of drug laws in the United States to understand how racism is economically motivated. Take opium and the Chinese for instance. The use of opium in medicine and recreation pre-dates Columbus' arrival. Aside from church activists there really wasn't a great deal of opposition to it. Similarly, no-one cared all that much when Chinese immigrants first arrived to help construct America's vast railroad network. It was extremely hazardous work in tough conditions for minimal reward. American workers thought the Chinese were out of their minds and even the media wondered whether it was a hopeless pipe-dream. But despite the corruption, attacks by native Indians and a shocking death toll the railroads were completed and suddenly there was a glut of cheap Chinese labour competing for jobs Americans most definitely didn't want to lose. It was at this point - not before - when being Asian became a problem. Facing a storm of protest which threatened to get out of control (particularly in California and Colorado) state prosecutors found a way to legislate against a specific race by targeting the one activity which impacted most severely upon the Chinese - opium usage.

Take any of the major recreational drugs and look at how legislation against such was very often defined within a sectarian context.