just something not quite related to EASA, but to our other main thing in common , europe and its conceptions about it :

THE Irish are among the funniest and most liked people in Europe, but when it comes to being sexy we rank near the bottom of the list.

A new poll has put Ireland second only to Italy for being liked. Germans were seen as the least likeable people in Europe and ranked the rudest, followed by the French and English who, according to a Dutch respondent, "do not seem to know how to behave on holiday".

"All they (the English) do is drink and yell," she said.

But what the British lack in manners and decorum, they make up for in humour, noted by one respondent for "appearing deadly serious and being hilarious at the same time".

In the Reader's Digest poll which asked 4,000 people to comment on their EU neighbours, the British were overwhelmingly voted to have the best sense of humour, while close to half of British respondents thought the Irish were just as funny, if not funnier.

Ireland took the fifth spot overall in the humour stakes while the staid Swiss were voted the most humourless.

But when it comes to sex appeal, the Irish are hardly in danger of being regarded as too sexy for the EU.

We ranked 15th on the list, followed by Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Switzerland and Belgium which received an astonishing nul points from its EU neighbours for sexual attractiveness.

The Italians were rated the sexiest in Europe. According to a British respondent: "They know they're sexy, which is annoying, but it makes them even more attractive."

Ireland, however, did get one British respondent's vote for the country that has contributed most to the world.

"They gave the world Guinness," he argued.

The poll, to be published in the July issue of the magazine, was conducted in May to coincide with the accession of the ten new EU member states.