One of the benefits of being in a foreign country while British politics is going to hell in a handbasket is that you get a bit of perspective on the hideous mess.

Having been chatting with Aliette on Twitter over the weekend, I wasn’t in the least surprised to find that the Finns seem to think we are stark raving bonkers. I was also expecting hilarity at Boris’s view that the UK can somehow magically negotiate a better trade deal with Europe now that we have voted to leave the EU. I can assure you folks that Britain has no standing in Europe right now. The only negotiating stance we have is on our knees.

What I wasn’t expecting, but probably should have been, was newspaper stories about Finnish nationals in the UK being abused and attacked in the street. Finns are pretty quiet, unassuming folk, most of the time. It is hard to see how they’d upset people. But to a racist a foreigner is a foreigner. More importantly, Finns tend to be tall and fair-haired, and apparently that means that your average racist can’t tell the difference between a Finn and a Pole. I’m sure you can guess how that goes.

I expect to be spending the rest of my time here apologizing for the appalling behavior of my fellow Brits. I’m wondering if a fake Scottish accent would pass muster. Or American. I can do California.