IT'S a pretty scary world this one we live in. It is one where Balaclava-clad barbarians cut off innocent people's heads.

A car is loaded with explosives and rammed into a hotel.

Savages shoot down traumatised children fleeing for their lives after holding them hostage for days at their school.

And monsters fly planes packed with terrified passengers into buildings full of unsuspecting men and women starting what should have been just a normal day at work.

But despite the climate of fear that has hung over the world since September 11, 2001, a survey this week revealed we are more scared of spiders than terrorist attacks.

Creepy crawlies like our eight-legged shower companions, cockroaches and the ever-disturbing daddy-longlegs have been voted the nation's number one fear.

Terrorist attacks came second in the poll of 1,000 adults asked what makes them most frightened.

But should the two fears even be compared?

No, says Richard Smale of Bournemouth University.

One is an all-too-real, rational fear.

The other is irrational, a phobia.

"There are many indigenous species of spider here in the UK," he said.

"Although some are venomous they don't do serious harm to human beings, their venom is not strong enough."

We may not like the way they move, eight legs scuttling off rapidly in any direction.

Our parents may have displayed or told us about a fear of spiders.

But there is little logic to our alarm.

"It's almost socially acceptable though.

"We admit to phobias that are socially acceptable. Not many people admit to being homophobic these days, although I'm sure a lot of people are."

He added that there are, however, plenty of things we should be afraid of.

"Terrorists decapitate you. Spiders just kill flies.

"People who intentionally kill others, who terrorise human beings - we should be afraid of them. These are people who have lost any sight of human compassion, individuals we have almost no chance of connecting with and that's a totally rational terror. They scare the hell out of me."

But clearly more people have a spider in their house than a terrorist.

"There is a distancing between ourselves and the terrorist for the overwhelming majority of people. There are relatively few terrorists in this country, whereas there are lots and lots of spiders.

"When was the last time a terrorist made you jump? Probably, for most of us, never. But spiders make people jump all the time."

Commenting on the findings, psychologist Donna Dawson said it was not surprising creepy crawlies were considered more frightening than terrorist attacks.

"This is because fear of small creatures that scuttle about on four or more legs is a much more ancient, primordial fear, going straight back to caveman days and what might be lurking in the black darkness of our cave homes which could hurt us."

Some of the more off-the-wall responses to the qualm question included DIY and turning into our parents.

Even Prime Minister Tony Blair found himself cited as a fear.

Still, finding him in the shower would give you the fright of your life...