Anyhow, what's with Essex. I have never understood why it has become such a byword for yobbery & brainless females. Some of its urban bits are less than exquisite, but that applies to many inner-city landscapes. And there are some beautiful bits of countryside & lovely little country towns - like Thetford, venue of so much Morris Ring activity. Get off Essex's back, that's what I say — the joke is wearing very thin.

PS I don't live there, I live over the border in Cambridgeshire, so I have no axe to grind here.