England is a nation of Overweight Binge-drinking and Reality TV Addicts

So says the latest edition of top travel guide, the ‘Rough Guide to England’. In its concise travel review of the entire country, it also accuses the English of being quarrelsome, contradictory and "obsessed with toffs and C-list celebrities".
But it also says England is "also a country of animal-loving, tea-drinking, charity donors, where queuing remains a national pastime and bastions of civilisation, like Radio 4, are jealously protected".
The birth country of William Shakespeare, Isaac Newton and Charles Dickens is described as deeply conservative yet having "a richly multi-ethnic culture" and where "warmth is in the humour, a sort of national solidarity that is bred in the bone".
It’s also a changing country - fish and chips has long given way to chicken tikka masala as the favourite national dish. Brand loyalty is now more important to the English than their religious/spiritual belief, says the guide.
The English obsession with the weather is also highlighted, "A two-day cold snap is discussed as if it were the onset of a new Ice Age and a week above 25 degrees starts rumours of a drought."
It also highlights contradictions, pointing out: "It's a nation that prides itself on its patriotism - yet has a Scottish prime minister, an Italian football coach and a Greek royal consort."
The warts-and-all assessment by the £15.99 guide (US$30), which is published around the world, was assumed to be tongue-in-cheek by the British tourism body, “Visit Britain”.
"Our sense of humour is one of the many reasons, along with heritage and culture, that people come here," a spokesman told the Daily Mail.
The English are "the most contradictory people imaginable", the book says, adding, "However long you spend in the country you'll never figure them out".
The travel guide ends its review with, "Of the 200-plus destinations across the world that Rough Guides covers, there is none so fascinating, beautiful and culturally diverse, yet as insular, self-important and irritating, as England."