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We at El Reg were shocked to learn this morning that Brits have been pipped to the post in an international poll to determine which nation does the most complaining - by none other then the obstreperous Swedes.

The NOP world probe of 30,000 whiners showed that a stunning 41 per cent of Swedes complained about a company or organisation in the last 12 months. The UK managed just over a third of pollees admitting to giving forth, narrowly beating the whingeing Aussies into third spot with 30 per cent.

NOP World spokesperson Tim Wragg said the results "proved the British had lost their qualms about making their feelings known". He added: "This research goes against the popular belief that as a nation we are just happy to put up with poor service and not say anything."

Which is news to us, because the only surprise here is that the Swedes outgunned Britain in the complaints department. The days when Brits would put up with crap service are long gone, and our new-found enthusiasm for piling in at the slightest opportunity now extends to complaining vociferously about absolutely everything - from immigrant Polish plumbers and piss-poor weather (which, as we all know, is entirely the fault of the EU), to gobbing off at the drop of a hat against banks, telcos, estate agents, the Post Office, the government, etc, etc.

Furthermore, the NOP poll showed that "the wealthiest and better educated respondents tended to be the most likely to speak out if they were unhappy with an organisation or company". This is a damning indictment on Russia (six per cent whine quotient), Poland (five per cent), China (four per cent) Saudi Arabia (three per cent) and poor old Taiwan (one per cent), although we suppose that the average irate Chinese person's willingness to complain is mitigated by the knowledge that they will probably end up being executed as a result.

In conclusion, we would like to protest in the strongest possible terms at the complete lack of an IT angle in this silly season poll and will be writing to our MP in due course. That's assuming, of course, that the lazy bastard isn't sunning himself in Barbados at the taxpayers' expense while we here back in rain-lashed Blighty are paying 40 quid for a litre (and God alone knows what's wrong with gallons) of petrol and fighting to stop our jobs being outsourced to Bangalore... ®

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