I am apparently "hot"! No, it’s not hoards of admirers desperate to learn more about comitology who have proclaimed this but the Open Europe blog.

Out of the 78 British MEPs I apparently rank a heady fourth in terms of media exposure, behind Tory rebel Roger Helmer, Green party national spokesperson Caroline Lucas and Lib Dem leader Graham Watson.

It was no surprise to see Helmer top of the chart, as he features daily in the letters page of each of his local papers, with the furore over his losing the Tory whip ensuring the right-wing broadsheets gave him plenty of coverage throughout the year.

Likewise, you would expect to see Lucas riding high when she is the national spokesperson for the Greens at a time when the environment is one of the key issues in British, European and world politics.

And Graham Watson has the whole press office of the pan-European group Alliance of Lberals & Democrats in Europe behind him as their leader.

But me? As the Open Europe blog itself admits, its methodology is not exactly fullproof but it is certainly better than coming last! The part of their calculation based on google hits (nearly a quarter of a million) even puts me first out of all UK MEPs - possibly helped by my website, or my newly revovated, expanding and informative website, as I should say.