There was an interesting survey by Chatham House a few weeks back; asked which countries they had good feelings about, the British put the following as their top ten favourite.
1 Australia: 47% favourable
2 Canada: 44%
3 = USA and the Netherlands: 33%
5 Sweden: 28%
6 Norway: 26%
7 Ireland: 24%
8 Germany: 21%
9 Italy and Spain: 20%
Their least liked were Russia, North Korea, Israel, Iran, Pakistan and Ukraine, which is not surprising as all are involved in conflict in some way and people are probably sick of hearing about them. Strangely, 1% of Britons feel ‘especially unfavourable’ towards Norway. Are they still bitter about Harald Hardrada’s invasion? Or possibly that commentator from the 1981 game still grates?
All such surveys show Australia to be most liked, because Aussies are basically close family members who just happen to live 10,000 miles away, which is where most English people like their families to be.
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