According to the new "Rough Guide to England" travel book, England is a nation of "animal-loving, tea-drinking charity donor who love nothing better than forming an orderly queue."
That, and "an irritating and insular country full of overweight, binge-drinking, reality TV addicts," the guide warns tourists:
Gone, it seems, is the image of a genteel country awash with Englishmen politely tipping their bowler hats, groping through the London fog and being kinder to pets than kids.
The writers confess to bafflement over the quirky English, concluding that of the 200 countries the guide reviews there is none "so fascinating, beautiful and culturally diverse yet as insular, self-important and irritating as England."
They said the English are proud of their multi-culturalism and are united by one thing -- their sense of humor.
But there are constant contradictions. In a country priding itself on patriotism, they have a Scottish Prime Minister, an Italian football coach and a Greek married to the Queen.
Even with all that, my trip to London some years ago was the best vacation I've ever had! Link
Personally, I like to judge people as individuals and I don't believe in 'national character', so the travel guide stuff doesn't mean much to me.
Imagine living in a country that is 10 years behind the times in technology and innovation, yet believes itself to be one of the leading countries of the world in these areas... that is England.
And I'm not even English.
Because America is not?
I don't actually like England that much, but don't think it is a bad place. There are pro's and con's to ANY place really.
Remember kids: hating America is cool!
Can't wait for the next election - if only there was someone who might actually make a difference.
But then again, so was the last PM.
Yes Blair was Scottish too.
Patriotic? Hardly. Noone believes in the governments ability here, aside from Conservative people who forever believe that they'll do well if the Tory's are in power. They're right, THEY will do well.... however the average citizen who doesn't have a 6 bedroom house like them won't.
We are as a whole definitely self important though. Anyone who is remotely intelligent wreaks of self importance, myself included.
We embrace multiculturalism not because it 'just works' (it doesn't, it needs effort) but because it is correct & human to accept other cultures. It is fair, and it broadens the mind. It does become ghettoised in parts, but it's better than trying to ram some sort of cookie cutter culture into people who have enough difficulty with social differences between cultural groups here, never mind anything else.
I completely agree with this article. And just because there are bad points doesn't mean you should be put off from visiting here. I think our country is a great place to visit, even if you live here. To be honest, if you believed everything you read about a country, then I'm sure most people would never even leave their homes. You have to experience things for yourself.
"The world has shifted from Anti-Americanism to Post-Americanism"
England may have its bad points but they don't negatively affect the rest of the world on any scale similar to that of America.
I would rather live in a country that is proud of it's multi-culturalism than in one that is ashamed of it.
No, he's more greek than German. Originally a Greek-Danish prince and a member of the Danish-German House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, which includes the royal houses of Denmark and Norway and the deposed royal house of Greece. Not that it makes much difference nowadays. Most of the royal houses of western Europe have somewhat "entwined" familial ties anyway (read red-necks with money).
I am British and I love it here, especially when the weather is as beautiful as it is right now.
I've only been to england once, the people were nice.