27 JUNE 1998, Page 24

Yobs, and proud of it

Sir: I would like to join with Alan Clark's recent remarks defending the English we' cer fans in France. We are a nation of yobs- Without that characteristic how did we colonise the world? And our fame as fight: era is second to none. Now that we don t have a war, what's wrong with a good `punch-up'?

The Dowager Marchioness of Reading

Glebe Farm House, Cornwell, Chipping Norton, Oxon