There is surely no better way to assess a nations obsessions than by marking what the most popular word search on Google might be.
All is revealed in this mornings (English) Independent.

Can you answer these questions.
In which country is
(a) Colonic Irrigation number 2 ?
(b) Bananas number 1 ?
(c) Winnie the Pooh number 5 ?
(d) Sid Vicious number 4 ?

(Answers (a) Ireland,(b) Australia (c)Philippines (d) Argentina)

Which sad nation has at number three position Chicken Tika Masala and Crisps at number 4 ?
You have guessed it. The UK.

The ladies score highly with Kate Moss getting a number 4 here, Pamela Anderson comes in at number 1 in Peru, and Princess Di scores a nostalgic number 2 in South Africa, (not as depressing though as the UK’s number 1, the pneumatic but vacuous Chantelle)

For men it seems the choices are for leaders, with Hitler scoring in Norway’s top five, and Osama bin Laden , not surprisingly, getting into the USA number 4 position (but after Cheeseburgers, Sex toys and SUVs)

To match our own obsession for the nether regions Australia votes Haemorrhoids at number 4, Pakistan give Penis Enlargement a resounding 5 (don’t they open their Spam there?)but best of all is the New Zealander’s prurience revealed with their choice of Underpants at number 5 (closely at the heels of Sausages, their number 4)

Some of the choices are more obvious, no cigars for guessing who had Tinnies on their list or who Pele(Australia and Brazil), or that Pakistan had Cricket as their number 1.

On reflection perhaps the most surprising results of the survey, and one that confounds those who see us all inevitably moving towards a bland international uniformity, is that of the five choices made by the 15 nations surveyed there is not one duplication.