British psychiatry is appreciated all over the world for its empirical approach, its basis as a publicly funded service which is available to all citizens, and for its tradition (shared with the rest of British medicine) of educational connections with many other countries – members of the Royal College of Psychiatrists can be found in 70 countries worldwide. These connections are educational for all of those concerned. For visitors, the experience of seeing what can be done in a different context with different resources – both human and material – compels them, on their return home, to see their usual territory and practice in a new and revealing light.