Revealed: Ramblings of the diplomatic minds

LONDON: It's not exactly diplomatic. Details of what British ambassadors really think about their foreign hosts were disclosed on Sunday following the release of a series of frank, and sometimes outright rude, letters to London from embassies around the world.

Nigerians are maddening, Nicaraguans often dishonest, Canadians deeply unimpressive and Thai's commonly lewd, British diplomats claim in notes sent to Britain's Foreign Office over the last five decades.

The letters, disclosed to the BBC under Freedom of Information laws, also reveal how diplomats were bored by endless rounds of cocktail parties, and exasperated by the British government's failure to shake off its stuffy image overseas.