I met Tom Paulin socially at college and realised later my host had set me up because he knew I'm half Jewish, at least by antecedents, and of course am Amercian, and Paulin at that time had a reputation for loathing both of those categories of person. He was outstandingly, breathtakingly rude. It's his stock in trade, and the fact that Oxford encourages him to peddle it is one of the aspects of Oxford which I like the least.