I often enjoy the bustle of Cambridge's summer streets, sharing my home town with tourists and multi-cultured language students. On hot days being stuck behind hoards of Italian teenagers can test my very British patience, but more often than not I feel fairly proud that they've come all this way to admire a place I've had the pleasure of living in for most of my life. On the flipside, thanks to the advent of budget airlines, the rest of Europe has been lucky enough to experience what now has been summed up as 'Brits Abroad'; outrageous consumption of alcohol, debauchery with local women and meaningless petty vandalism. Essentially, piracy. Somehow in some pockets of the world we retain a reputation of grace and etiquette, and in this recent survey we are even commended on our style. Things have obviously gone full circle, as I'd not noticed garish polyester clothing and beige trousers had become fashionable again. Needless to say I think there's a real case for blocking Ryanair's move to introduce budget flights to the US, which has been on the cards for a year or so as part of their expansion strategy. This would be hugely unfair on our American friends, who can take some relief in the fact that their stringent immigration laws and complex landing cards could well repel and outfox the very worst of what Britain can throw at them. Unfortunately those that slip through would probably live up to Banksy's depiction above, ruining any fragile reputation we may still have.

Every year I tend to come across drunk American girls, laughing and flirting by the bars in clubs, and occasionally at the urinals. While laughing along with their virginal experience of perfectly legal drinking, I can only think of what our lot would be doing in their home town.