The history of these islands is one of wave after wave of invasion and conflict between all sorts of people: the Celts, Goths and Visigoths, Romans, Vikings, Saxons, Normans and so on. Gradually from this a nation evolved, though it took many centuries – and much tolerance.
The above photograph shows a Chinese arch in Liverpool. I can remember when the only non-European restaurant in the town where I was living was Chinese. Now there are Indian, Mexican, Indonesian, Japanese, African, etc., in the major cities. For this to happen requires not only a love of food and a sense of adventure, but also a tolerance of other peoples and cultures. Holidays abroad have helped in this as well.
Today, we have slightly different sorts of ‘invasions’, but these can still test our ideas of acceptance and tolerance. Tolerance is a quality that has to be nurtured, and is tested throughout our lives in all sorts of areas.