Now Europe bans myths!

Have you heard the one about banning DIY electricians? Or making tightrope walkers wear hard hats and mountain climbers use scaffolding instead of ropes?

Exasperated 'Eurocrats' have hit back at critics with a list of the most ridiculous 'euromyths'.

The European Commission, so often lambasted for its petty interference in British life, claims too much media coverage is 'based on twisted facts or even lies'.

'Many people believe them,' said a spokesman. 'And they come away with a picture of the EU as a bunch of mad Eurocrats.' Unpopular rules are often the responsibility of other bodies, the commission says. Or they are merely voluntary - take the alleged ban on bendy bananas and curvy cucumbers, for example.

But there is some truth in reports of harmonised flying times and restrictions on artificially 'smoked' food such as smoky bacon crisps, according to its Get Your Facts Straight website, with the snappy address of: http://europa.eu.int/comm/dgs/ press_communication/facts/index_en.htm