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LONDON- Any overseas visitors still languishing under the nostalgic misapprehension that Britain remains a nation of stiff-upper-lipped, queue-forming tea drinkers is set for a rude awakening if they read the latest edition of the Lonely Planet.
The guidebook says modern Britain is a nation obsessed with celebrity, hooked on internet porn and awash with junk food and binge drinkers. As well as eating more ready-made meals than the rest of Europe put together, Britain is also the fastest growing place for cyber sex.
It is "a telling indictment that more people [in Britain] vote in TV talent shows than for their country's leaders", said the guide, adding it was "a symptom of Britain's ever-growing obsession with fame and celebrity".
Those so-called celebrities based their fame on "little more than the ability to sing a jolly tune, look good in tight trousers or kick a ball in the right direction", the guide said.
Worse still even though crime rates are dropping, "vandalism and nuisance behaviour caused by binge drinking remain serious problems".
Meanwhile, the aftermath of the July 2005 London bombings had also left "a general air of disillusion" with Britons seemingly "tired of politicians whatever their hue".
And while people could find great food in Britain, "it's just that not all the Brits seem to like eating it."
However the guide's co-ordinating author, David Else, says it is not all bad news.
"Brits are just as likely to tuck into a chicken madras as a Sunday roast or to check out the Notting Hill Carnival rather than Trooping the Colour," he said.
"Everyone can find something which suits them."
Visitors could be assured of a warm welcome and could enjoy cities transformed by a generation of urban renewal.
London had a "buzz unlike any other European city" while Manchester was big and cosmopolitan enough to step into the role of capital if needed.
Cardiff had become the "epitome of cool", Edinburgh was "one of the most sophisticated cities in the world" and Glasgow offered the best shopping outside London. Even former ugly ducklings such as Bristol and Leeds were considered worthy of international attention.
- INDEPENDENT
