One of Britain's most famous exports, footballer turned actor Vinnie Jones, was in the news again recently after becoming involved in a brawl in a bar in Dakota. Although he was cleared of assault the latest fracas caps a succession of violent incidents:biting the nose of a journalist, threatening fellow passengers during an air rage incident and assaulting a neighbour. Jones has built a career on violence, first as a footballer and then as an actor. Perhaps we shouldn't be surprised. It's all a natural progression from grabbing Paul Gascoigne's testicles...

Britain's worship of the hardman culture has always been one its most unattractive features. When I lived in Portugal a trip along Albufeira beach was marred by the unsightly spectacle of tattooed British yobs indulging in their favourite holiday reading. And, of course, it had to be "The Guv'nor" by Lenny McLean, former nightclub bouncer and underground boxer. Bragging that he was "the hardest man in Britain", McLean 'wrote' (in other words his ramblings were set down by a ghost writer) his autobiography shortly before his death.

McLean's book is a depressing litany of violent incidents unfettered by any expression of conscience or restraint. "Breaks my heart but sometimes we have to go soft," he recounts of one incident when he couldn't use his fists. Needless to say, his book was a bestseller. And, of course, his chief opponent in the ring, Roy 'Pretty Boy' Shaw, also 'penned' a popular memoir. Then there's Dave Courtney who first came to fame on the back of a programme called From Wimps to Warriors in which this unsavoury character (coincidentally (?) the model for the character played by Jones in the movie Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels) is shown –  among other things –   coming out of his bath and paying menacing house calls to collect debts.

The stories of McLean, Courtney, Shaw and his ilk are sensationalist but also, when you scratch the surface and unmask the macho bravado, rather sad. It's as though a certain type of working class English guy has this, and this alone, to prove himself. The McLean book, in particular, had a revealing incident when the 'tough-guy' visited Lord Longford (the English peer famous for his misguided championing of Moors murderess Myra Hindley) in the House of Lords. McLean said he was tempted to tell Longford what he thought of him but then adds "Even I know you shouldn't be rude to a lord", not realising that this throwaway comment betrayed the deep subservience behind the iron mask –  the subconscious belief embedded in the working class psyche that someone from a 'higher class' is his superior.

Of course, you may say, all cultures celebrate their hardmen, not just in the UK. The most popular movie stars in all countries, for example, have often had violent sides. Perhaps physical prowess is part of their charisma. Sean Connery once admitted on television that he thought there was nothing wrong with slapping a woman (you can see the infamous clip on You Tube). Apart from a few enraged feminists this has not affected his popularity one iota but, if you think about it, is this really remotely acceptable? Diana Dors' husband, the late Alan Lake, had so many bust ups that his friend Leapy Lee Graham used to say "if he wasn't in a fight, he was boasting about one that he'd had". His reputation won him countless villainous roles on TV.

The late Oliver Reed was, by all accounts, an aggressive thug when he was drunk (in other words, every other day) but it did nothing to undermine his appeal. On the contrary, his drinking and violence might just have saved his career at a time when it was going down the plughole. And, of course, the legendary Frank Sinatra was involved in so many alleged violent incidents that they can't all be apocryphal. Except perhaps, in his case, others did his bidding and the victims were too scared to testify. Let's face it  – even if half the allegations in Kitty Kelly's controversial biography were true then he was lucky not to be jailed. In France, Alain Delon's alleged connections to the underworld have enhanced his tough-guy appeal.

Then there was Richard Harris who broke his nose nine times in fights, earning a bona fide tough-guy reputation and enduring popularity on chat shows where he regaled audiences with his exploits. He even once told of the joy he felt at punching people, particularly policemen!

In Bulgaria, of course, the mutri are well known and feared. No doubt some Bulgarian boys may grow up wishing to emulate these types but it's not comparable to Britain.

I keep citing Britain because in no other culture is the hardman quite so glamorised. Witness the celebrity support for the Kray twins and the way that the Brits have taken vicious gangster Frankie Fraser to their hearts. Fraser has made countless tv appearance, written the oligatory books and even taken tourists around some of his old East End haunts! Then there's Kate Kray, Reg Kray's widow, author of a book called Hard Bastards in which she interviews and profiles various assorted 'toughs', some of whom (it must be said) seemed embarrassed by the whole charade.

At the core of British working class culture is the idea that men should prove themselves with violence, that intellectualism and education are for sissies. Many people didn't understand that the Ali G character was designed to poke fun at British youth's obsession with gangsters, violence and drugs.

But it's not just the working class culture. Our press helps to maintain the reverence. They parade the cliche that beneath every 'tough guy' there lurks a tender-hearted man. We simply cannot stomach or accept the idea that some of these people are thugs pure and simple. I suspect that this idolisation of the macho man in Britain accounts for some of the unprecedented levels of youth violence  –  the aggressive culture that mars so many Friday and Saturday nights.

Of course many young men, particularly from more deprived background, go through periods of delinquency and then grow up to be decent working men with families. But this strange veneration of violence in the UK does not help aspirant thugs learn the folly of their ways. Unless it stops, Britain's death toll from violent incidents will continue to rise. And any of us unlucky enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time could pay with our lives. You see, unlike in the movies, a punch can kill you.