Lonely Planet **** us off

cleanbluesky · 23 May 2007 at 11:11

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/afp/20070523/tuk-lifestyle-britain-a7ad41d.html

I don't mind Lonely Planet books, but that is scathing and inappropriate. We are as much a nation of binge drinkers as we are of wine sippers, as much football hooligans as middle-class "jolly hockey sticks" rugby players

"We need to revel in this diversity as this is the future of Britain," he said.

Perhaps this quote is most telling of the agenda of the author.

Christo · 23 May 2007 at 11:14

Pretty fair commentary by the LP if you ask me.

semi-pro waster · 23 May 2007 at 11:17

I've never particularly cared for the Lonely Planet books, a brief guide such as this is never going to be overly worthwhile except in the most general terms. They seem designed to be a bit sharp in their criticisms to add humour, whether that works or not is a matter of opinion.

From the even briefer excerpts given in that article I don't see that the reviewer has said anything untrue, in fact I've seen everything complained about on these very forums. I'm not sure about the more junk food than the rest of Europe put together but it could be true.

Christo · 23 May 2007 at 11:19

Pretty sure thats untrue - however maybe they included microwave meals as junk food - in this case its probably true. McDonalds in France is the most sucessful franchise outside the US!

kkthxbye · 23 May 2007 at 11:26

harsh, every country has bad points, could read something like that about almost all G8 countrys not just ours.

Hellsmk2 · 23 May 2007 at 11:29

cleanbluesky said:
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/afp/20070523/tuk-lifestyle-britain-a7ad41d.html

I don't mind Lonely Planet books, but that is scathing and inappropriate. We are as much a nation of binge drinkers as we are of wine sippers, as much football hooligans as middle-class "jolly hockey sticks" rugby players

Perhaps this quote is most telling of the agenda of the author.

It's not slagging us off when it is is true.

Mr Nice · 23 May 2007 at 11:29

Written by a bunch of tree hugging sandal wearing back pack waddling hippies.

JimmyEatWorms · 23 May 2007 at 11:41

Mr Nice said:
Written by a bunch of tree hugging sandal wearing back pack waddling hippies.

Does that make it any less true?

Mr Nice · 23 May 2007 at 11:46

JimmyEatWorms said:
Does that make it any less true?

Are you obesessed with stuffing your face with a Big Mac whilst reading heat magazine?

JimmyEatWorms · 23 May 2007 at 11:47

Mr Nice said:
Are you obesessed with stuffing your face with a Big Mac whilst reading heat magazine?

Yes. Isn't everybody?

Seriosuly though, you must admit that the UK has a bit of a celebrity worship thing going on (hence the existance of magazines like Heat in the first place) and we don't exactly have the nost healthy diets in the world.

Dave M · 23 May 2007 at 11:49

cleanbluesky said:
Perhaps this quote is most telling ...but their agenda is no less valid than yours.

Arcade Fire · 23 May 2007 at 11:49

The Lonely Planet books have always been sharp in their descriptions - all of their books have wry commentary on the culture of the country in question. Go and read the books on USA, Turkey or Eastern Europe and you'll find exactly the same kind of thing.

The article has deliberately concentrated on the bad points that the book gives about Britain (most of which aren't exactly unjustified!) and not reported on the good things, of which I'm sure there are many.

Arcade Fire · 23 May 2007 at 11:51

cleanbluesky said:
We are as much a nation of binge drinkers as we are of wine sippers, as much football hooligans as middle-class "jolly hockey sticks" rugby players.

Really? Do you happen to have any statistics concerning the relative numbers of lager drinkers and wine drinkers? Or comparing the numbers of football fans as opposed to rugby fans?

It seems obvious to me that there are many, many more people to be found blasting their brains out in town centre drinking holes than there are to be found quietly sipping wine in jazz clubs. I'd be interested to know why it is that you think to the contrary.

---

Edit: 5000 posts! (You can feel free to delete some of them... NOW)

cleanbluesky · 23 May 2007 at 11:56

JimmyEatWorms said:
Yes. Isn't everybody?

Care to answer the question, serious this time?

If you are not obsessed with BigMacs and Heat - how can LPs words hold true?

If we are a nation of beer drinking louts, what of the people who are not. If the guy who wrote this only sees louts, it is because he is amongst his peers and he needs to bring order to his own house before pointing the finger.

cleanbluesky · 23 May 2007 at 12:01

Arcade Fire said:
Really? Do you happen to have any statistics concerning the relative numbers of lager drinkers and wine drinkers? Or comparing the numbers of football fans as opposed to rugby fans?

It seems obvious to me that there are many, many more people to be found blasting their brains out in town centre drinking holes than there are to be found quietly sipping wine in jazz clubs. I'd be interested to know why it is that you think to the contrary.

I don't have any statistics and obviously neither do you. If that is what is required to progress this argument then everything becomes ambiguous.

I don't know the specific levels of each group (or how to find them, or even how to measure them) but I can say that if we were to choose a single one and suggest that it is exclusively representative is a charicture without valid reasoning. You have to ask what agenda someone would have in order to examine Britain as nothing more than a negative charicature.

Edit: 5000 posts! (You can feel free to delete some of them... NOW)

pah! n00b

cleanbluesky · 23 May 2007 at 12:02

Telescopi said:
LP types stike me as lefty student types - but their agenda is no less valid than yours.

I did not suggest that their agenda was invalid, nor did I suggest that the concept of agenda should be measured against validity - my comment was that the portrayal was not a balanced appraisal. I do not believe this is driven by an agenda.

semi-pro waster · 23 May 2007 at 12:05

cleanbluesky said:
Care to answer the question, serious this time?

If you are not obsessed with BigMacs and Heat - how can LPs words hold true?

It is a generalisation, the author hasn't said that everyone is obsessed with junk food or celebrity culture - merely that it is on the rise or that binge drinking remains a serious issue. The closest to a definitive statement is 'Britons are fascinated with famous people "even though their 'celebrity' status is ...' and the opening part of the sentence was written by the AFP reviewer so it might not even be a definitive statement, simply the reviewers interpretation.

JimmyEatWorms · 23 May 2007 at 12:08

cleanbluesky said:
Care to answer the question, serious this time?

I did but you decided to snip that bit out.

If you are not obsessed with BigMacs and Heat - how can LPs words hold true?

It is called a generalisation. When I go and visit a new country and come back and comment that the people are really friendly, I don't mean every single person.

If we are a nation of beer drinking louts, what of the people who are not. If the guy who wrote this only sees louts, it is because he is amongst his peers and he needs to bring order to his own house before pointing the finger.

Are you actually denying that britain is a nation of beer drinkers and idiot lager louts (in just about every town and city on a weekend)?

Dave M · 23 May 2007 at 12:08

It's only an excerpt but from what is quoted it seems reasonable enough.

Go down to a town centre on a Saturday afternoon and look around you - those people are britains and for better or worse they will be what a tourist see, they are our ambassadors!

Overall I think we get a better write up than we deserve, I'd hope the full book gave some detail about our stunning countryside and industrial heritage sites but then again LP is more about students backpacking round hostels in major cities - in my experience.

Van_Dammesque · 23 May 2007 at 12:16

Mr Nice said:
Written by a bunch of tree hugging sandal wearing back pack lentil eating waddling hippies.

Fixed!