Beags dear chap...
Can't believe I'm going to do this, but...
Beagle - I wouldn't believe all you're told.
Granted, the baseline aircraft was an utter pig; very poor long stab, poor harmonisation between roll and pitch forces, poor stalling characteristics and ridiculously large roll rates at high Mach numbers and more. However all these had been addressed for the production aircraft.
The aircraft, once the SAS and stick pusher, single aileron cable, gurney flaps, 20/10 ailerons were installed was actually a pleasure to fly. Considerably easier and less fatiguing than the venerable MR2.