In NY, even the drug dealers are polite

For despite the English tradition of good manners, Londoners are sulky, po-faced and rude. New York drivers don't routinely swear out of their windows; the shop staff and waiters don't act as if they're doing you a favour when assisting you. Basic etiquette enables good community relations here, while Londoners increasingly retreat into surly ghettos defined by race and class.

Visiting Jackson Heights, a blue-collar neighbourhood in Queens, I was blown away by how Indians, Pakistanis, East Asians, Latinos, blacks and whites are all crushed into a few blocks - yet everyone gets along fine. I walked out of the Eagle, a Bollywood fleapit, and straight into a bar crammed with Colombians watching a soccer match, stamping their feet and singing. The area is packed with ethnic restaurants, the smell of fajitas, dim sum and samosas fusing into a funky, rather nauseating miasma of multiculturalism.

The locals aren't particularly interested in each other - the absence of mixed groups or couples is quite stark. But they're cordial and habitually smile and say "please" and "thank you". Even the drug dealers are nice. Gangs of podgy Hispanic men loiter on the pavement, quietly offering crack and wishing you a nice day as you wave them away.

The least polite New Yorkers are the high-maintenance harpies of Manhattan. Their social niceties can't hide the cold judgment of their reptilian gaze that quickly assesses your income and social status, even when you're simply asking them the way to a subway. They flash broad, ultrawhite smiles in order to display their expensive dental work rather than make you feel welcome.

Still, New York's courtesy can be bad for your health. Smothered by the friendly folk inside a Harlem restaurant, and not wanting to offend them, I ate a huge plate of deep-fried, arteryhardening soul food. It was a decision I regretted for the rest of the day. Grinning cheesily, I suddenly longed for London's rudeness. Politeness is nice, and important, but sometimes it's better if you just give people the cold shoulder.