Almost one in ten Brits thinks that a country called Luvania will be joining the EU this weekend, according to a survey (http://uk.news.yahoo.com/040429/323/esclg.html) carried out by telecoms outfit One.Tel.

The company invited punters to correctly identify the 10 new member states, and added the fictional nation as a bit of a jape. Eight per cent of the 2,500 who took part picked the sun-kissed republic of Luvania.

One.Tel spokeswoman Carol Barnes said: "People aren't generally aware. They're more involved in their day-to-day lives rather than the bigger picture of what is going on in the EU."

Which can be taken to read either: "They don't give a tinker's cuss about the EU", or "They're thick". Or both.

Still, at least we have not yet read a Daily Mail leader about a flood of one-legged, dole-scrounging Luvanian gypsies amassing at the border ready to descend on Britain in an orgy of benefit stripping. Yet. ®

Related sites

A list (http://www.europa.admin.ch/eu/expl/staaten/e/#new_eu_states) of the real countries joining our happy band on 1 May.