Kraft Foods is pushing the all-American cookie on Great Britain this month, hoping to convince the finicky biscuit eaters that two crisp chocolate wafers sandwiched with “creme” trumps a digestive any old day. The Oreo is already the top-selling cookie in China, though it’s been modified to suit Chinese tastes (less sugar, wafers instead of cookies and oblong instead of round). The Chinese are also dunking their Oreos in milk, the ever-perfect combo for this resilient cookie.

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It’s not just the study-abroad crowd. From an AFP story: “The drink-fuelled antics of young Britons causing havoc on holiday are well-known—but Britain’s over-55s are now joining them in getting into trouble while abroad.”

Athens is tied with Rome as the third dirtiest city in Europe, according to a survey by TripAdvisor. If the survey had been done this week, however, Greece’s capital might have made first place. Garbage collectors have been on strike for days, as part of a nationwide union protest against government pension reforms. 

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Last year, the British Museum received almost 5.5 million visitors. The Tower of London saw 2 million “punters” pass through, while Westminster Abbey logged just over 1 million. In all, according to the newest statistics from Britain’s Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (ALVA), 20 major sites received at least 1 million visitors in 2007. That adds up to some serious queues for tickets. Near the end of the ALVA’s table, though, are the sites whose annual visitors number in the tens of thousands, and The Guardian’s Dixie Wills has picked her 10 favorite unsung attractions from the list.

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Five members of a group called Plane Stupid managed to breach security and climb onto the roof of the British parliament this week, to protest the planned expansion of London’s Heathrow Airport. 

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Britain’s Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) has announced the results of its annual hunt for the best pub in Britain, and the winner, the Times of London notes dryly, came out on top “despite having no juke box, pool table, fruit machine or ‘theme.’”

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Miles Kington “satirised the earnest but doomed efforts of native English speakers to handle French,” as the BBC put it. (Example: Bill Wyman’s remark, “Je suis un rock star.") Kington coined the term “Franglais,” and his books on the topic included Let’s Parler Franglais! He died Wednesday, prompting the fitting BBC headline: “Au revoir Mister Franglais.”

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* New Addition to the Travel Lexicon: ‘Geotourism’

For the first time in the history of Brand That Nation! we focus on a country that is actively seeking to re-brand itself. Reuters has reported that British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is seeking a national motto, five or six words long, to appear on passports, public buildings, and birth certificates—and heck, why not tourism brochures, too? The New York Times chimed in this weekend, too. The venerable Times of London has been collecting suggestions, and as Kate Kelland writes, “cynicism and subversion are emerging as the most prominent national characteristics.”

Official name: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Population: 60,776,238

Capital: London

Motto: To be determined

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Matt Rudd has a blunt message for potential U.S.-bound readers in the Times of London: Take your travel dollars elsewhere. There are plenty of places in the world that are just as interesting, he argues, and they come without a “preflight e-interrogation, epic queues at immigration, thin-lipped questioning from aggressive border guards, and an outside chance of a rubber-gloved rectal rummage.”

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Poor guys. Two former employees of the Meldrum Arms Hotel in Scotland have barricaded themselves in a room for the past three weeks, holding out for £500 each in outstanding wages. The hotel, which closed for business in early December, says it has paid Mark Craig and Steven Black, but the duo won’t leave the hotel until they’re sure the money has made it to their accounts, the BBC reports. In the meantime, Craig’s mom keeps delivering food via bucket. “Mum brings over all our food and drinks, it’s a bit like room service,” Craig said. “We even had to eat our Christmas dinners from our room in case they came to get us out.”

How bad it is? Imagine life without cheese. The Los Angeles Times chronicles the plight of expats and foreign exchange students struggling with the weak dollar. Case in point: “Amanda Owen, a 19-year-old international relations student from Seattle, said she holds herself to a draconian budget: She has dinner out only every other month; she bought her iPod online in the U.S. and had her parents mail it to her; she weaned herself off lattes, organic food and, though she is a vegetarian, cheese.”

Related on World Hum:
* Dollar Sinks to Record Low in Europe
* Three Travel Tips: Ways to Save Money in Europe

Photo of British cheese by BeMa via Flickr, (Creative Commons).

France’s high-speed rail network, which has been coping with a labor strike, was hit by fires and other acts of sabotage overnight, according to reports. But in unrelated news, there’s at least one glimmer of good news coming from some rail service in the region. Historical enemies France and England are getting soft-eyed over the new high-speed rail link between Paris and London, according to the New York Times. A recent full-page ad in the French newspaper Le Figaro declared “Oubliez Waterloo”—forget Waterloo. And the English were talking not about Napoleon’s last stand but the former Waterloo rail terminus station.

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