From the outside looking in

I’ve always wondered what I’d make of good old Blighty if I were a tourist from elsewhere. Well, with the new publication of the Rough Guide to England, now we know. …Or do we?

In a ploy no doubt engineered to boost sales, the guidebook’s publishers have revealed to the media how its latest edition rates our country.

It’s provocative stuff. Apparently we’re a nation of “overweight, alcopop-swilling, sex- and celebrity-obsessed TV addicts” best described as “insular, self-important and irritating”.

Thankfully, people don’t seem to be taking it too seriously. It has at least provided another excuse for internet debates about what it means to be English/British, like this Yahoo discussion.

In response to the Rough Guide’s most insulting comments, self-professed Unionist blogger O’Neill jokes, “That’s just England of course- the rest of the United Kingdom is full of lithe, carrot-juice supping, muesli-chomping, culturally high-brow, unpaid charity-workers.”

But he goes on to make a more pointed jibe, adding: “Rough Guide says it all a bit of fun as opposed to downright racist stereo-typing; I’ve got their India edition at home, I think I’ll do a bit of cross-checking and see how they satirise the Indian national character.”

Perhaps it is somehow more acceptable for Westerners (‘first world’ countries, developed countries, whatever) to joke about the character flaws of the British – or the yanks and Aussies – and perhaps this does raise probing questions about the relationship between ‘developed’ and ‘developing’ countries, as raised in responses to my previous blogs.

But then this Rough Guide to England wasn’t written by tourists, or even entirely for tourists. It was penned by four Brits and, as all the hype demonstrates, was aimed in large part at Brits.

But in spite of the seemingly offensive remarks hitting the headlines, the guide is in fact pretty balanced. In spite of our bad habits and bewildering accents, the country is “fascinating, beautiful and culturally diverse”. 

With praise even for “cosmopolitan” Birmingham, I’d say its a typically British exercise in self-glorification disguised by the tongue-in-cheek humour that we can’t resist.

If green taxes on air travel ever do get off the ground, it might just be a best-seller.