Whether based on nation, race, gender or occupation, stereotyping is a practice which we lapse into more than we might care to admit. Be it the restrained Englishman or the full-blooded Spaniard, at some time most of us will use this type of broad brush to tar a group of people. Perhaps its dubious value can best be gauged by our willingness to typecast others, but not ourselves. On British roads most drivers will be wary of white vans, which are regarded as synonymous with cavalier driving. Yet the same drivers, if and when they find themselves behind the wheel of a white van, are unlikely suddenly to see themselves as irresponsible. This is not to say that stereotypes are wholly erroneous. Like clichés, they are unlikely to gain currency without some basis in reality. Yet how widely we can use that currency is another matter. Stereotypes are not universally applicable, even in our own time and country. And if typecasting is an unreliable way to pass judgment on those we experience at first hand, what possible value can it have in judging people outside our own orbit?