Seem to be a lot of nannying re licensing in Westminster.

Very forrin sounding name as well. On a boat with him quick.

Doh! I wish I was as clever as you. You're great.

Griffin's reasonably plausible when you compare him to some of the older far right sorts.

On the left here is John Tyndall.

You should have heard my father on the subject of Tyndall and British Nazis. Not keen on the Mosleys, either.

Sorry your father isn't around to spread the message further.

Like so many men of his generation he carried the marks of war, both physical and mental. He gave a lot for freedom and was infuriated by anyone who tried to throw that gift away.
He despised intolerance and inequality, hated Tories and other parasites, loved Britain but never praised the flag or claimed his medals.

Agreed, I know I've mentioned it before but it's a comparison worth making - when Eddie Izzard did his arguably much more impressive marathon challenge you'd be forgiven for having no idea it had happened as so little attention was given to it.

Walliams dons a pair of trunks to swim a distance done by many people before him and suddenly he's a national hero, so he does it again and gets even more attention which he cannot pretend he isn't loving.

I don't know why Walliams efforts are given so much more publicity and airtime than Izzard's were, or what it is about David that they love so much more than the much more altruisticaly minded Eddie, but there is something very unpleasant and almost crowing about the attention Walliams is getting.

I actualy feel very uncomfortable watching anything to do with his charity swims now, as it almost feels as if the BBC is been willingly compliant in providing him with a platform on which he can boast of his good deeds.

And his oh-I'm-straight-but-so-camp!-am-I-gay? schtick got old long ago, and I still don't understand what its purpose was.

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"Now get those trousers off before someone dies!"

I'm sure he has been listed here before but who cares? Not me.


Heston Blumenthal must live in fear of being mistaken for Toby Young. He has a very punchable face.





"I was hit by a... by a car. Yeah, that's it. A car."

Reminds me of old man Patrick Collins, as described in his irate "how dare football's chancers hijack the poppy" article.

I agree that Izzard should have received more publicity, but that doesn't meant that therefore no-one should receive publicity. Only around seven or eight people have swum the Thames the way Walliams did, i.e. all in one go with overnight stops, and in fact most of them have stopped at Teddington Lock, i.e. where it gets tidal - so it's not really accurate to say it's something many people have done before. He's getting a lot of publicity at the moment purely because it's Sport Relief time. I repeat, he raised over £2.5 million, which equates to saving hundreds of thousands of lives, many of them children's. If publicity achieves that, I'm all for it.

Never mind the charity angle, Walliams seems to be a judge on Britain's Got Talent. He's going to need to swim the fucking Pacific to scrub that stain away.

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"Common Sense is the collection of prejudices aquired by age eighteen" - Albert Einstein

Toby's damaged face reminds me of this picture of Mike Gatting.



Gatt at this stage was an admirably brave batsman, and half decent captain. He became more punchable later when he asserted that he didn't know much about Apartheid, but did know his tour was breaking down barriers.

Again, I didn't say I had a problem with the charity angle -who would?- or the publicity for charity angle, just the unfair coverage angle which seems to stem from some media obsession with Walliams and his camp straight man act.

Since his first attempt, several famous people have attempted impressive feats to raise money, yet not one of them has recieved any where near as much attention or adoration - either from the public or from presenters and interviewers who talk to him.

There is a marked difference in the level of attention and industry adulation he has recieved compared to the others - this was my problem with the Walliams thing, not the charity or the attention the challenges brought to the worthy causes that benefit from it.

Just the other day I was saying how I have to keep clarifying my posts every time...even when I'm been very clear.

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"Now get those trousers off before someone dies!"