I suppose the bottom line with SPOTY is that, despite some past winners, it's a personality contest and Lewis has a high profile in this sense: all over the media, if it's not Lewis and his dog, it's Scherzinger's cat
When she's wearing pants, Scherzinger's can be both a penis and a... On second thoughts, let's not open that particular box.
I'm not sure, no, but scientists have speculated that this explains why Lewis and Nicole are both together and not together.
I find it amusing and disturbing at the same time, that people can get so worked up about this. What is perhaps less surprising is that some jerk of a footballer goes off on a bitter, extended rant about an award he has less chance of being nominated for than achieving an IQ score of 85. And then reinforces his own stupidity. And then again. Perhaps he thinks if he tries hard enough, he'll dip below a score of 70? The response from Hamilton – which I believe was his own retort, rather than that of P.R. management – might be difficult for him to comprehend though, since it refers to 19 different countries. Jerk Rantgob, on the other hand, seems to struggle with just one: how many Britains does he think coexist on planet Earth? Whilst footballers are at risk of embarrassment by association with Jerk, I think most other sportsmen (yeah, OK, modern football is only 'sport' for those who laugh at its numbskull thespians) are less at risk from their peers. Even golfers. What I did find surprising though, was the look on the face of golf's top man this year. Regardless of his outstanding achievements – or whether the voice of the establishment utilises a flawed voting system – when his name was read announcing him as Runner Up, he looked absolutely gutted!
I will be honest, I do have a... shall we say distaste for sportsmen, especially F1 drivers, who refuse to pay tax in this country while claiming to represent them. That extends doubly to those who do not pay tax at all. That said, it is entirely their decision to do so, and I do not think Joey "I'm going to go to QPR because they will help me fulfil my ambition to have a third bank account" Barton is in any position to talk.
Let's face it, if we were going to earn 10 million quid and the government were going to take about half of it, or we could move and keep the lot, how many of us wouldn't move? Surely the tax system would be fairer if it was a flat rate across the board for individuals and corporations and somehow remove the ability to simply dodge it.
Bhaji: you are as revolutionary as you are Utopian. Good for you. Let us hope humanity eventually follows/allows/facilitates/realises such idealism.
Flat rate tax assumes that everyone has equal amounts to spare, which isn't the case (20% of £10m is different from 20% of £10k), hence the pyramid system - but we're quite a long way off topic at this point.