Not a countdown but I'd like to share it anyway as a reminder of the difference between the British and European way of seeing the world. (Before that reminder, another reminder: I live in the UK but was born and raised elsewhere and I observe the difference daily and it frustrates me to no end.)

I was doing a European driving trip with three kids and was cut off from the news for a week which was quite refreshing, but as I left the kids with my family and set off on my long solo drive back home, I switched on the radio to keep me awake. It was some local station: no big talks; only music, commercials and a short news bulletin once an hour.

It was on one of those news bulletins when I heard about an overflowing dam at Whaley Bridge near Manchester, UK. The whole bulletin took altogether maybe 2 minutes and yet they managed to find a few seconds to squeeze some local news from some obscure country at the back of beyond. Not even a major news like some terrorist attack, a big natural disaster or an important political event. Just some local news.

Our European readers will probably wonder, "so what?". They are used to European media mentioning curiosities from other countries. It's part of normal, day-to-day life. But as someone living in the UK for 20+ years, who got used to how self-obsessed the country is and how non-existent news coverage from other parts of the world is there, this was a major "wow!" moment.

No wonder that a country so isolated from the outside world can acquire a rather twisted image of itself.