England is an irritating and insular country full of fat, boozing TV addicts obsessed with sex and minor celebs, a tourist guide claims.

The new Rough Guide to England said inhabitants are voracious consumers of celebrity chit-chat and "as a glance at the tabloid newspapers will confirm, England is a nation of overweight, binge-drinking reality TV addicts."

The guide also pointed out the country's contradictions that despite priding itself on patriotism, England has a Scottish Prime Minister, an Italian football coach and a Greek married to the Queen.

However, the guide also hailed a nation of animal-loving, tea-drinking charity donors who love nothing better than forming an orderly queue and are united by one thing - their sense of humour.

And the writers admitted that of the 200 countries the guide reviews there is none "so fascinating, beautiful and culturally diverse yet as insular, self-important and irritating as England.

England "isn't just one place, but a perpetual collision of culture, class and race," it remarks. The guide praises the country as "a genuine haven for refugees" with immigrants from more than 100 ethnic backgrounds but comments that despite its rich multi-ethnic culture, England is "a deeply conservative place".

It describes an "unparalleled range of historic buildings, monuments and landscapes" but public transport comes in for criticism as do town centres which the guide says are all beginning to look the same.

"It's a nation where commuters suffer overpriced, under-funded public transport services, and where the hearts of many towns - and increasingly their outskirts - consist of identikit retail zones," it says.

"Yet it's also a country where individuality and creativity flourish, fuelling a thriving pop culture and producing one of the most dynamic fashion, music and arts scenes to be found anywhere."

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