Considering this blog is written by a couple of reactionary old fogeys, we are pretty good at trend spotting.

Last year, for example, we commended the marketing genius behind Latvia’s “Blonde Weekend”. A parade of blondes got the Baltic republic more international attention than anything that has happened there since it left the Soviet Union.

The greatest proof of its success is that others are now trying to break into the blonde promotions market. Latvia now faces stiff competition from its next door neighbour: a Lithuanian company, going one better, proposes to establish a holiday island in the Maldives staffed entirely by blondes.

This has prompted predictable complaints from the so-called “politically correct”, who seem to object to the fact that most people appreciate that pretty girls are pretty girls.

Provoking criticism is, of course, itself a central part of the marketing strategy. It gives the story extra legs (no pun intended) and generates more free publicity.

It also gives Lithuania a positive image as a fun-loving place where humourless neo-puritans are rightly ignored. This makes it more attractive to tourists and to businesses – a place that seems less likely to tolerate nonsense like Britain’s silly Equality Act (see previous post).

The odds are that nothing will come of the island proposal – it may fall foul of European law, if nothing else – but just making the suggestion has done Lithuania a lot of good.

So here is some free advice for Estonia: the blondes market is getting a bit saturated now – so have you get any redheads or brunettes?