I feel for Hugh Laurie. In a recent interview, Laurie said: "There's a peculiar British attitude that I took an oath I wouldn't be successful, and reneged on it," as he talked about how work back home has dried up since he became a big star stateside in House. He is quite right you know.

To be British has its hang ups and one of them is success. Yes, Brits hate to see others being successful - it's a sell out you know. What I guess this means is that deep down, Brits like to be failures, second rate and depressed.

I speak from experience too. When I went off to college rather than into a job at age 18, it was as if I had betrayed my working class roots. All of a sudden, friends didn't speak to me, ignored me or told me to my face I was betraying my 'class' by going to college rather than getting a 'proper job'. When I went on and gained my degree it just got worse.

But the issue for Brits who succeed is that you end up not belonging to where you came from and yet not fully a part of where you are. It's a sort of successful no man's land. For me, I was no longer 'working class' and old mates suddenly had nothing in common with me but for many of my fellow students from middle class backgrounds I didn't quite cut it. After all, no amount of university education could ever disguise my working class Yorkshire accent. So there you are, lost between social tiers forever.

But thats why I gravitated to the US too. There success is lauded. Successful people are pointed out as examples of how it could be for everyone. My working class accent suddenly became just an English accent that folks loved to hear. The US has many faults too but dealing with success isn't one of them.

So, I do feel for Hugh Laurie. I understand where he is coming from and although he jokes about it you know that this is British understatement and that in reality he is rather hurt by this attitude. And so he should be. Hugh Laurie is a great British export and he is making Britain look good doing what he is doing.

Most Brits however I suspect would rather Hugh Laurie was still doing a bit role in Blackadder