> Putting a , before the and in a list is anyway a 
> transatlantic peversion, so in English as (usually) practiced 
> in England 

Shame on you! It's not called the "Oxford comma" for nothing...

I like the quote from Lynne Truss (quoted in Wikipedia): There are people
who embrace the Oxford comma, and people who don't, and I'll just say this,
never get between these people when drink has been taken.

Michael Kay
http://www.saxonica.com/