The basis of the traditional antipathy of churches to gambling is that it can encourage greed, become addictive and is looking for a reward that has not been earned either by virtue or by effort.

In the early years of the cold war, the United States abandoned its traditional antipathy to formal military alliances and committed itself to defend Western Europe, Japan and South Korea.

The comparative neglect of Britain's industrial heritage is, perhaps, not surprising given the nation's traditional antipathy to commerce.

The Turkish authorities have kept the seminary closed partly out of traditional antipathy for the Greeks.

And they fear that the traditional antipathy in the South to unions can only play into the hands of LTV's management.

"Dependence on organized power and a traditional antipathy to coloured peoples weakens political sensitivity, and lack of experience with problems of continuity and empire threatens the Western world with uncertainty and war."

Ranging over all these questions is a traditional antipathy between the two nations that has helped keep them the least reconciled of all the antagonists of World War II.

Roosevelt acknowledged that Americans had a traditional antipathy towards the British Empire, saying:

Still, the $64,000 question - as they used to say on the old television show that might one day rerun on cable - is whether the two archrivals can overcome their traditional antipathy and cohabit peacefully.

Despite his party's traditional antipathy towards the Conservatives, and to audible gasps from the 100-strong crowd, he appeared to hand power to Mr Cameron.