[selchie]

I agree about the level of civility and friendliness in NZ.

Regarding an anti-English (or whomever) attitude, I suspect that may be due to attitudes & behaviors brought over with said immigrant, or just plain sterotyping. For example, Californians have a reputation in the rest of the US for being rather demanding, and for unfavorably comparing an area they're visiting with home (I know, the entire US has a bad rep abroad). When I went to grad school in Montana, many people were surprised that I was so pleasant and enthusiastic about their state. I was so relieved to be around genuine and nice people, and to be in such a beautiful, sparsely populated place. Who cared if many of the roads were unpaved? They were well graded, and didn't have giant potholes from a lousy paving job (as in CA). Anyway, the point (finally) is that one can sabotage that anti-immigrant attitude by appreciating one's new home and being nice right back at them. Maybe we should ask NZIS to screen people for niceness - no snotty grumps allowed!