Tom Dunne: More sex please, we’re British? Get in the sea!

It was quite the surprise last week to hear that our friends in the UK had overtaken the traditionally “mad for it” Europeans in the nookie department. The view from behind this squinting window certainly suggested they were up to something over there, but this?

The World Values Survey was paraphrased in some outlets to conclude that, despite a lasting reputation for being far less broadminded than the continentals, Britons are becoming more liberal than even the Scandinavians — yes, the Scandinavians, the traditional benchmark of bedroom madness.

There were stats to back it up: the UK is now over 60 per cent more accepting of casual sex than the French, and nearly three times more positively inclined towards prostitution than Sweden and Norway. Sacre