Surveys are being done to establish British national characteristics. Britons are a ‘funny but drunken’ breed, claims this BBC report. We dress better than the Americans but worse than the Italians. We are reserved and polite until we drink, or watch sport, and then we become disorderly.
Hang on: isn’t this the case practically everywhere? Look at the French and the Germans – the same can be said of them. They can be ridiculously formal (“vous” and “tu” “sie” and “du” are embedded in the languages) and our supposedly more civilised neighbours are notoriously riotous – French farmers riot in Brussels as soon as the agricultural subsidy is even looked at. Germans suffer from social unrest as ever – pro- or anti-Nazi, pro- or anti-Capitalist – and I cannot believe that all this activity is teetotal.
Surely there are comedians in all crowds ? It’s just that nobody is writing the Euro jokes down, as they are too busy dodging the bottles and the tear gas, reading political texts, dressing worse than the Italians, and laughing at Mr Bean.
