surely every right-thinking person hates Paul Ross?
As for Andy C - I like him, always have.

I dont have a problem with the boy though the second volume of his autobiography -in which he kissed a lady - tried my patience somewhat.

I'm just trying to comprehend the violent and womanly passions, stirred to loathing, which Collins inspires.

Is it the underbite?

Never have I become quite so enraged as when my other half made me a cd with some of her stuff on it. It caused a huge argument. Huge. I'm sure she's a lovely person but I'd gladly club the woman to death if she darkened my door.

Also, Jimmy Carr. Talentless cretin.

I like Andrew Collins, even if he does have some funny ideas about science.

When he appears on those "I Love slagging off Big Brother contestants.." programmes he comes across as unsufferably smug. Maybe it's just his unfortunate manner, but it does set your teeth on edge.

..of Paul Ross has ruined the evening. Thanks.

to hate someone like Andrew Collins, who I think always comes across as rather amiable.

presided over the NME's only ever entertaining bit, the Thrills section. He's okay by me.

it was rational?

Our pet hates are rarely rational though.

I would like to push James Cordens face through barbed wire and dissolve him in an acid bath. Whilst his mother watches.

Loads of people love the talentless prick though.

It takes all sorts.

Don'k know about you but i'm having a hatefest on bbc1 right now with nearly everyone who has been on it. Comic relief with the biggest bunch of wankers ever to appear on tv in quick succession. My daughter is into it so im on the computer and listening to JOHN shuttleworth. Andrew Collins is alright but he does come across as a bit of a smug middle class im a bit better than you type. Oh fuck my music has stopped and James Corden is dying a death in front of the England team.

goatboyuk69 great minds think alike we could do it together

I was literally biting my fist there.

Corden, "JT", Beckham and that Ferdinand cunt.

Being "funny".

It was like some sort of scottish baiting surrealist nightmare. Everyone involved in that sketch should be hunted down and killed. For the first time in my life I want money back from a charity.

(yes really) who just can't stand Stuart Maconie. Something about his voice and manner. Personally I'm all for these types with similar tastes and interests to mine infiltrating the media, rather than those who wish to fill the airwaves and screens with material I would rather not see. Personally I can't stand Miranda Sawyer. She seems to not merit her position as opinion maker since I largely find she has not a clue. Sort of person who would hold up the likes of Lily Allen as great commentator on our times. I suppose that's not irrational though.

Leave Miranda be! Thats my fantasy girlfriend your slagging off!

this is all tongue in cheek, but "I would like to push James Cordens face through barbed wire and dissolve him in an acid bath. Whilst his mother watches." Is it only me that finds that and other comments out of place?

.. I'm with you on that one. I come here for a bit of civilised debate and not a few laughs. I guess it's just that it's Friday night and drink has been taken, (as it has round here).

that was a bit Morrisey wasnt it?

Chill out chasandmorph do you seriously think he meant that. I though it was funny myself, in fact a lot funnier than Corden's sketch was. maybe if you seen it you would feel the same way. ah shit Allen Carr is on now where's that barbed wire and acid

prick. often apt to artistic exaggeration eg. I dont like him much = I hope he dies in a motorway accident.

I would suggest.

Particularly the Crouchy bit. I presume the people who didn't like it know a little bit about football - because if you didn;t it wouldn t be funny at all. But I guess some of you must - however, in my opinion, that's just right. It's true enough to be the sort of thing we yell at the team every time they play, but startling enough to be funny.

Alan Carr was worse.

I was frightened to see they seemed to have been reunited for the Comic Relief show. Their C4 Late Lunch show was really awful. Yet strangely, my problem with them is only when they are together. Sue, in fact, is a fantastic Radio 4/BBC 4 guest panellist. And Mel was on something or other and was fine on her own.

Getting back to Andrew Collins. Would he attract the same negative attention if he had a different accent? It is just his Northamptonshire tones that give the impression of smugness?

Leave the man alone - he can't help it. I did think his recent Word podcast suffered because maybe Hepworth and Ellen know him too well. (They are better when they have fresh guests and they switch into more enquiring interview mode.)

She goes apopletic at the mere sound of Jim Davidson's voice. Let his face appear on the screen and....
I can't stand Clive Anderson. He's very clever I'm sure. Just don't tell me he is any sort of hunourist.

take it away and a lot of the people you find irksome are a lot easier to live with. If AC had the voice of John Sergeant everyone would love him. I know this because I have a hugely irritating voice, so don't expect a podcast anytime soon..

Smug or not, at least he didn't kow-tow to Hepworth on the recent podcast the way everyone else does.

didn't someone else come up with that solution?
I'd get in a car and drive away as fast as was legally acceptable!

maybe she gave him VD in volume II, I can't comment on him returning the favour vol III as I haven't got round to it yet - too busy listening to The Cure and The Sisters Of Mercy

chill oot.

Extreme exageration can be very funny.

The above list of "offensive" comments had me laughing like a loon. Whatever a loon is.

They're exaggerated views. They're not real. I don't want to dissolve James Corden any more than I want to electrocute Huw Edwards. I'm having fun. You should try it.

Can I suggest that we save our 'hate' for people that really deserve it? Mugabe for instance? Collins, Maconie even Corden don't really deserve this. There is too much of this 'I hate so and so and wish him/her dead' stuff going on at the moment.

In a world of negativity why can't there be a bit more positivity? Instead of listing all the things you 'hate' and insulting the people involved, which is the easiest thing in the world, why not post about the things you enjoy? Much harder isn't it?

The Word Massive is better than some of the bile spouted above.

Ian

But it doesn't quite explain the irrational hatred Mrs Fridge has for Liza Minelli, does it? Or my desire to smash Nick Robinson's glasses? ('Language' is surely not necessary, though. T'Massive usually manage to express themselves without lowering the tone too far...)

I think Andrew Collins suffers from a kind of gaucheness that some find annoying. His `diary` obsession and demeanour of always having been middle aged (the obsession with gyms and oat milk is equally wearing)and, this is crucial I think, his love of 1990`s Vauxhall Conference bands (Cud, Carter USM etc)do rub people up the wrong way.
The podcast with Richard Herring is occasionally like listening to two thirteen year old boys laughing about sex. This is mainly Herring`s doing (an obsession with anal tomfoolery reminds one of Baddiel..and that is not good is it?), but I keep having to re-EQ my iPod to counter Collins` sharp tones and if you don`t like choice language, then this is not the podcast for you.
So why do I listen? Well, Collins did illuminate the NME in the baggy/shoegaze years, he always refers to his sad one way relationship with Maconie (now that Stu is doing well, he no longer replies to Andrew`s e-mails appara)and occasionally he pulls out a quality anecdote.
You wouldn`t think it, but I like Collins. It`s Andrew Harrison who annoys me! When will he change that byline picture? The smug look that reminds me of someone who can faintly smell shit and the `Man With Two Brains` haircut. He truly looks like he has no top on his head. Good writer though.

.. does anyone find Mark Radcliffe easier listen to when he's on his own? When Stuart Maconie's on, (who I love listening to), I think Radcliffe feels upstaged and spends most of his time playing a game of one upmanship which I find really grating. Or is it just me?

I think Andrew is a bit like Ryan Adams - frequently very good and sometimes brilliant, but with an inability to self edit and limit his output so quality sometimes slips. In general I like his columns and got through most of his first book, but the Herring podcast is depressing, and I've tried it a few times. I thought his last Word 'cast was really good though, maybe because he was playing it straight.

Joanna Newsome is adorable in every way. Fact.

As for Paul Ross and James Corden I have no idea who they are.

And I agree the tone of this thread was a bit nasty.

I think the tone for the thread is often set by the original post. If someone was -say- asking for recommended music for kids, or uplifting music for the new season, then yes, it would be a shame if the thread was flooded by the over egged bile (?) seen above and on the Comic Relief thread.
In this case though the original post was lewd, crude and rude, was about who we love to hate so I have no problem with the fruity language or cartoon violence.
My own personal fantasy involves Davina FcAll, a potato peeler and a large bag of salt. It is just a fantasy though. Have you seen the price of salt these days?

Most of you have been here long enough you know that we ask you specifically to keep things clean, friendly and polite. Indeed, it's the very first point in the posting guidelines. It's not about not having fun, it's about maintaining a tone we think works for us and for the majority, and we'd be really grateful if you could adhere to this request.

Thanks.

Whatever our thoughts regarding an individual, this thread feels like the aggressive drunk on the last bus trying to make eye contact so as to start a fight. Surely we are better than this?

I quoted AC's line in Best Of Now to my wife where he wrote "Set in a place where it never rains but emotionally pours...". We both thought that was an excellent description.
Are we and AC the only fans of this show?

certainly isn't lovely in every way. Fact. She can't sing, her lyrics are complete gibberish and her Harp playing while technically accomplished is cold and without charm. Can I say on here that I would like to poke her eyes out with a pointed stick or will I upset the sensibilities of the gentler folk frequenting the site?

excellent stuff, my wife is especially a big fan. Carl maybe we can hope for some Wire like coverage in the Word

but I think it's aload of camp old nonsense. Falcon Crest without the wine.

yes its not a gritty police drama, yes it's violence free. But I find it a bit of a refeshing change.

Evening chaps

Just wanted to apologise for any offence anyone may have take. I wasn't being remotely serious but I appreciate not everyone shares my rather extreme sense of humour. I wish Mister Corden no harm despite my difficulty in viewing his visage in anything other than a negative light.

My language, however, wasn't a matter of opinion. It was over the top and I'm sorry about that.

Some people on here suggesting that my original post was like " a drunk on a bus" are completely out of order, totally insulting and just as offensive as the spuriously claimed wounded feelings they appear to have.

I'm not a drunken idiot, my posts dont make me appear as one and I have every right be comment on anything I want without taking the concerns of the terminally humourless on board.

I would rather be on a bus with an entertaining drunk than a censorious, tight arsed twat anyday.

I'm not terribly fond of Sting.

And I quote from the top:

"Mr Collins, is, after all, a man who has produced three volumes of autobiography without apparently doing much at all. Jordan has only managed two and at least got her tits out"

Can I be the first to publicly thank Mr Collins for keeping his breasts under wraps?

..down the gym. I guess he doesn't have a manboob issue. But I take your point.

has been immortalised on canvas:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/PAUL-ROSS-Canvas-Print-MirrorPrintStore/dp/B001N...

Customer reviews very droll.

may well be be a fine band name but certainly not an appropriate description of your good self. Didnt mean to single you out.

I think I was reacting to becoming some sort of Daily Mail style representative of "Broken Britain" with my nasty words and unkind comments about very rich people.

Interestingly, when I made my original comments, I was flitting between here and a football website I occcasionally write for. Hence, I was writing in a style very appropriate for one but not the other. Tame for Scottishfitba.net. Scandalous for the landed gentry of Word.

What that tells you about the profile of Word readers versus Scottish football fans may be very interesting.

I like mouthy, opinionated gits (Clarkson for example) but Ramsay is just so bad at it. He's a classic bully in that he's just so unconvincing when he's trying to tear people a new one. You get the feeling that if he dared try it on with someone with the wit to answer back, he'd look like the inarticulate twit he really is. His appearance on Have I Got New For You was a perfect example. He just didn't know what to do.

Piers Morgan's another such pathetic bully. There is a huge difference between people with the wit to be mouthy (Paul Merton's a good example) and people who are just winging it.

For the record - and I am already feeling slightly strange having my say on a thread that begins with an irrational hatred of me - I never applied for the job of "cultural commentator" (neither did my erstwhile radio colleague Stuart Maconie, who, sensibly, never responds to criticism of himself or his work on internet forums, so I only have myself to blame if this develops into a long and drawn-out war of words).

When the "clips show" or "list programme" boomed around the end of the 20th century, at a time when nostalgia became the easiest premise around which to commission whole swathes of inexpensive but popular TV, many journalists and broadcasters got the call-up. Some of us still get called up, and still say yes. It's a useful source of income and, believe it or not, not unflattering to be asked.

As for "smug", I actually have a pretty realistic opinion of myself. I read a lot of books and a lot of magazines and a lot of newspapers and this convinces me that I am not a great writer. I am not a great journalist. I am not a great interviewer. I am not a great broadcaster (or I would be on radio and TV a hell of a lot more than I am). I am certainly not a great artist - which is what I used to dream of being.

I am not a great author. I struck lucky with my first childhood memoir and was signed up by a publisher to write two more. (Again, I could have said no, but do you know what, it's great seeing books on a shelf with your name on them, and your work inside them, and one does have to make a living.) My secret - which I tried to get across in my most recent memoir, which unfortunately very few people bought - is this: I have survived for 20 years in the media by being reliable and personable. I have made very few enemies in TV, radio or print, industries that are full of prima donnas and vicious feuds. This does not make me special. In fact, it's far easier to make a name for yourself by shouting loud and slagging others off.

My views on science and conspiracy theory have only really come out on my blog, which is my blog, it has my name on it and I must stand by the entries helpfully linked to by Extra Texture above. Like other bloggers, I could air these theories from behind a pseudonym, but I choose to be myself. This gets me in trouble occasionally - not with the authorities, but with the self-styled authorities of the internet. I think I have allowed these crackpot views to come out in the past couple of years because for five years, 2002-2007, I was a contracted BBC presenter and had to operate within strict presenter guidelines. Which I did. It was quite liberating to come out of that contract and be allowed to have an opinion. Most of the things I write about in my blog are benign anyway, but I don't do it as a soapbox, rather as a debating society. If a dialogue doesn't spring from a blog entry, it's almost pointless writing it, as far as I'm concerned. (It is perfectly easy to disallow comments on a blog.)

As for Extra Texture's final comment, that I blow with the "middlebrow consensus" on the issues about which I am not "passionate" - I don't really know why that's a damning criticism? I am accused of adhering to a consensus for some views, and not for others, which strikes me as a fair representation of most people.

I think "smug" is an over-used term of abuse. I've had it plenty over the years, so there must be something in it. In mixed company - and I don't mean among media people: I don't really hang around with media people - I am rather quiet and reserved and rarely talk about my job. If I was "smug" I would bang on about it all the time, but I really don't. When asked to appear on a TV programme to give an opinion, you automatically risk appearing "smug" as you has been given a platform. I try to bring something other than mere opinion to the programmes I am asked onto, such as context or trivia, but usually you get edited down to soundbites. In real life, you can prefigure an opinion with, "This is just my opinion." Not on TV.

That'll do. I expect those who think me "smug" will decide that writing this long defence is "smug." I can't really do much about that.

I disagree passionately with a lot of people who have blogs. I avoid them. There's enough hate and anger in the world without subjecting yourself to it voluntarily when it's just as easy to read something else.

This blog and the replies has all that I could wish for in a snapshot of Britain today:
Hatred, irreverence, whingeing, good humour, sexism, bad language, humility...it's all here.

And of course we have the icing on the cake. A reply from the subject himself.

Can anyone get in contact with James Corden?

Who was renowned for giving people what was termed a "public A&C". A&C was the abbreviation for an appraisal and counselling interview that would normally take place once a year in private between manager and underling. This particular gentleman if displeased was quite happy to tell anybody their shortcomings in public and in fairly aggressive terms. In short (and he was short) he was a bully. I really think that Mr Collins has gone through a bit of that on this thread and it's all a bit sad. If you don't like what he does, don't read it. If you really, really don't like it, write to him or write to the editor. I just don't think we should be slagging off a Word contributor on here.

You don't annoy me in the slightest!

In fact I once said hello to you as we passed on the street once, thinking that you were someone I knew. I hadn't, I had just seen you on telly so much I thought I had met you before. You were very polite though and said hello back, which is more than most nano celebs would do...

I didn't mean it like that!

And isn't Mr Collins quite ironic about his own nano status in his best selling book "That's Me In The Corner"? I'm assuming he is, I haven't read it...

Previous to reading this thread I can't say I had given Andrew Collins much thought either way and surely this is the way it should be. He is around to give opinions or reviews and you either agree or not and if not move on. Now that I have read his replies I have a healthy regard for him as he was honest and comes out looking better than alot of the contributors and he does not hide away. Oh and for the record I thought goatboyuk was funny.

To those hated NME & Melody Maker journalists of yesteryear, I used to think "Oh great, article on (insert name of band) oh no (insert name of journo) is doing the interview. I hate them" and vice versa. Now I'd struggle to name any NME writer (lets not call them journalists eh?) even the poor sap who was recently humiliated by Moz

Andrew Collins I have bought all your books and read most of the stuff you write for the Word.The sad fact is if you put yourself out there with your opinions then you have to take a bit of stick yourself.You are in the public eye . I like your books and i admit I am a tad jealous of of your idyllic childhood and seemingly pain free life. Its because Im jealous that I like your stuff cos its escapism for me. I hope I havent hurt your feelings with what I said

Is fine by me. I like his writing. His opinions are interesting if not always agreeable (he himself admits to being a woolly liberal and its largely that stance I find difficult to concur with) and his podcasts with Richard Herring are very amusing.
He writes well on music, is insanely popularist in his TV viewing and I enjoyed his first book. I recall Q magazine being good under his stewardship.

He is wrong about homoeopathy and I'm not sure why he avoids certain food groups but that's about all I can say against him. And, after all, he is like all of us here, a fellow Word blogger who deserves a little more respect than parts of this thread offer.

First of all, kudos for coming on here and replying. You are clearly a greater man than I had any right to imagine you were.

I'm sincerely sorry if my attempt to be funny by disparaging you through the medium of my partner, and a few added sarky commnets of my own, distressed you in any way. Celebrities, and I'm afraid you quite clearly are a celebrity albeit of the minor sort (stellar by Word message board standards), tend to attract comment in a way which negates their status as vulnerable human beings. If I've inadvertently created something which hurt a fellow human being then I'm deeply sorry and I'd be happy to see the thread pulled entirely.

My original post wasn't about you at all really. It was about my mystification at the apparently deranged hatred someone I thought I knew had for a distant public figure and my reaction to it. It could have just as easily been about David Hepworth or anyone at all.

I've actually rather enjoyed your books- I had a similar childhood - so I'm sorry to have created a vehicle for the annoyance of someone I generally admire. And no, i still don't understand what my girlfriends problem is.

Regards

Isn't it great how these threads can accommodate robust exchanges of opinions, veer close to punch-ups and then wind down to a pleasant agree to differ/bygones-be-bygones/maybe-I-was-wrong sort of thing? Seriously, no sarcasm intended at all - it's genuinely heart-warming. I've always found - in life, as much as web forums - that it's good to bear in mind the Alastair Sim film of 'An Inspector Calls' - the moral being that people can truly destroy other people through careless/hasty words or acts. I could - seriously - have cost an individual their job once, through not exactly vicious but reckless and inappropriate comments made, behind a psuedonym, concerning me on a BBC web forum (I'm a total nonentity, mind - unlike Andrew who is, as others have said, essentially a public figure BUT I am still a real person, with real feelings, like everyone else on this thread!). But I deliberately chose not to follow through on the negativity precisely because I'd recently watched that film. Mr Sim would have been proud! I still think it's a good way to live your life. I disagree with Andrew C on one thing though: he IS a good writer - I may not be drawn to his memoirs, but he's a brilliant, witty, thought-provoking columnist with a mind-boggling cultural hinterland. He watches/reads/thinks about it so we don't have to. And then he boils it all down to a few hundred very entertaining words and makes it look easy (and we know it's not).

You sir, are a gent, I'm off to order your books from Amazon central.

and when I read his reply, I liked him even more.

He's always struck as me as someone you'd happily spend the night in a pub with and be wholly entertained.

He does what he does and generally does it well.

I loved his post on Kelly Groucutt on here too.

errrrr that's it.

"Can't Get It Out Of My Head" being a later ELO track though, "Eldorado" predated "Out Of The Blue" by about 4 years, for that he should be forced to clean the biscuits out of Jeff Lynne's beard.

..and I think you do great work.
Now get cleaning!

that the name Jo Wiley hasn't come up in this thread yet. So is it just me who thinks she is locked into a traditional sixth form game? "I'm so cool i was into them WAY before you...and anyway they are crap now 'cos everyone likes them"

... to have sparked a debate like this on the word website, as far as I'm aware, and he's done it before, with the whole "Squirrel-gate" issue. Ponder how many articles by messers Harrison, Hepworth or Fitzpatrick we have all read down the months and years, and wonder why none of them have ever engendered the fevered comment (both positive and negative) that A.C has now done twice.

I think it revolves down to subject; no-one has ever bithced or moaned about Mr Collins' reviews (of which he does many, and they're not great - he's praised some pretty average records in his time, not least the Long Blondes and M Ward.) The attention is always focused on his opinion pieces/autobiographies, simply because they aren't always about music, or even popular culture in general. Thinking particularly of his ponderings on lads-mags, end of year round-ups, and science.

Does the fact that some of us don't read Word for social comment (how could it possible compete with other publications?) play a role in his divise journalistic status?

The initial post is quite innocent really, I'm sure goatboyuk69 (I really hope that's his real name) didn't expect to stir such a cauldron of vitriol and bile.

I'm a listener to Andrew's podcast with Richard Herring and it sometimes makes me laugh, sometimes bores me (as I'm sure it does them), I've read his books - the last one was notable because I finished while on an internal flight in Papua New Guinea, and I read his articles in the Word (again sometimes it entertains me other times I stop reading). I've not seen many TV appearrances other than "talking head" stylee shows - I can't see any reason for the above from any of these.

I disagree with his stance on squirrels, and if he can only manage 50 bird species during a weekend on the Norfolk coast he should ring me next time he's coming and I'll show him at least 40 more species!

But how on earth can anyone even try to justify some of the downright idiotic, nasty and probably libellous shite above amazes me.

Hi all

This is the first time I have been moved to post a message on a blog but as my beloved goatboy has decided to make my private and irrational aversion - hatred is too strong a word - to Andrew Collins public I feel I have to.

I'm not going to try and explain or justify myself just as I don't try to explain my unusual crushes on Andrew Marr, Nick from the apprentice and BBC Scotland football pundit Richard Gordon other than to say AC is out there is the public domain so has to be prepared for some stick, I'm just astonished at the reaction this has caused but reading back on the blog it has produced some intetesting debate and isn't that what these blogs are all about?

Anyway Mr Collins ,isn't provoking a strong reaction better than provoking nothing at all? And many people have been moved to say how much they like you - it takes all sorts.

So thats all I want to say and I'm now off to check the other blogs to make sure goatboy hasn't said anything to excite Andrew, Nick or Richard.

and she says that he is a very personable and friendly chap. That's good enough for me. I would also like to say that Mr Collins' podcast, along with the Word, A&J and Guardian podcasts are helping me through a particularly awful period of ill health at the moment. And for that, I can only say thankyou.

Does anyone know what happened to these Word posting guidelines, in the above thread?

*Keep things clean (like Brian Clough said: no swearing, gentlemen, please), friendly, and polite.
*Any comment you make can easily be taken the wrong way. If in doubt, leave it out.
*If you do offend someone, apologise.

I'm also curious about the anonymity on here. I have no problem using my real name on the Word site (my friends really do know me as Jess/Jessica Adams and it's the way I'd be introduced to you at the pub). So I wonder why it's become accepted to fake a name online? Particularly if you're writing vicious abuse?

I love the work of Andrew Collins, Andrew Harrison and Stuart Maconie. I feel very happy to be able to read them all in one magazine. At the same time, even.

of concerns over potentially offending someone - and god knows theres always someone out there willing to be offended. Quite a few of them have posted on this thread for instance - resulting in an extremely dull, anodyne and sanitised message board.

For example, the Brits Live thread, which consists almost exclusively of people being extremely rude about pop stars, would have to go for a start.

A message board relies on contrasting opinions and, as has been pointed out above, debates no matter how heated usually end, on this site, in agreement and virtually shaken hands all round.

We police ourselves rather well and Fraser's fairly relaxed approach is the best bet for a board like this one and it clearly works.

Anyway, does anyone have James Cordens email address?

I *heart* Andrew Collins. And Messrs Hepworth, Harrison, Ellen, Lewry, Fitzpatrick and anyone else who writes so wonderfully for a magazine that is woefully too short for its own good. I've already read this month's and want MORE!

Having said that, I will not sleep with you, buy your books (unless they look interesting) or stand you a drink unless you put your hand in your pocket first. I've also ordered a hitman for whoever decides to put Bob Dylan on the cover of a forthcoming issue.

Hmmm. I'm changing my name to irritablebowelsyndromewordreader1964 immediately just so I can post here, and courageously attack Rod Stewart's Crab Ladder with the bile it so richly deserves. PS What is it exactly?

So if you don't like reading about him I'd cancel your subscription and head for the hills.....

After posting further up the thread in support of Extra Texture, I then read all the subsequent posts, including AC's spirited self-defence.

I still stand by my criticism of his 'ordinary bloke' stance masking, to me, often quite extreme and even offensive views, but despite that, he really does seem a good bloke, and anyway, as I said, just going with the flow of much of middle England, especially anti-Americanism.

..over someone who is by all evidence is completetly personable human being.
(Unlike the Tourettes afflicted chap he works with...ahem)

I think it is healthy to use your own name and assume that you may be held personally accountable for anything that you write. Even though you probably won't. A pseudonym can be the refuge of a scoundrel.

Having said that, some of the false names of the posters here are very amusing - my favourite being Bang Em in Bingham.

I must say, in the absence of anyone else doing so, that I'm seriously impressed with Jess's multi-tasking abilities as expressed above:

I love the work of Andrew Collins, Andrew Harrison and Stuart Maconie. I feel very happy to be able to read them all in one magazine. At the same time, even.

AC has never quite jelled into the system since I can recall his first TV appearance as a contestant on Noel Edmund's ' TV Addicts' Show.
His attempt at popular music funny man with that Saturday lunchtime programme on BBC Radio2 was mind splitting boredom.
His recent musical confessions on the podcast only served to amplify that here was a man stuck in some kind of time warp existence.

Don't you lot have better things to be banging on about. Who cares if you like the geezer or not. Let's talk about proper bollocks instead of this load of old bollocks.

When the hoodoo comes, you better run...

Some of the comments here made me wince. I thought this sort of 'hatred' thing didn't happen in this oasis of calm as we battle against the desert of sand storm out there. 'Hate' of someone via a web forum is the sort of nonsense twelve year olds were posting on MSN groups in 2001.
...and talk about misplaced. Andrew C appears to be a thoroughly likeable bloke who simply gives his views on subjects and sometimes makes jokes. He writes well. His work usually has a beginning, a middle and an end. It is constructed professionally. Whatever, he doesn't deserve abuse.
As an example of how one can overcome aspects of life to which one is not drawn, I do not like the Herring/Collins podcasts. Richard Herring's view of what is funny does not tally with my view. I sometimes have felt that Andrew may feel a bit uncomfortable with some of the podcast material, but, of course, I could be wildly wrong.
My solution is I don't download their podcast. I don't listen. Nobody gets hurt, and nobody is 'hated'.

I'm sure Andrew didn't come to work to get slagged off today. I wouldn't have got out of bed, leave the poor guy alone and leave the site/magazine alone if you don't like it.

Gratuitous abuse kills forums, and dissuades decent people from joining in.

The comedian, actor and writer David Mitchell has a nifty way of tackling what he calls 'online bile' here...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/mar/15/online-feedback-publ...

So thats why this is the most commented thread on the site in the last week?

I'm not seeing all that much gratuitous abuse here to be honest though, if the AC beatrification campaign continues, I might start some just to be contrary.

I think tedium and fear of debate and anything other than concensus opinion kills forums.

Anyway, as the thread originator can I request we bin this now? I don't know whether the abuse or the sanctimony are the most annoying.

Edit -Can I ask what the deal is with new posts seemingly jumping into the thread near the top. Theres a fair few I'd missed which could fairly be described as gratuitous.

Can we, really, please call it a day here?

I am drifting by to note that the gratuitous abuse was (thankfully) removed.

The Pope has emailed - he says that the beatification of Andrew Collins is on track. Andrew needs to perform one more miracle and his sainthood will be confirmed. He already has a Rose D'Or, so this saintly task will be a breeze.

If you want to take that personally fine.

Anyway, just a bit puzzled why its fine to take a pop at any, musician, actor, politician, celeb etc as has frequently been seen on here in pretty strong terms but the moment anyone has a go at a critic it's Daily Mail "Broken Britain" land in here all of a sudden.

I mean, did any of you actually read the Brits blog? Trust me. AC is getting off very lightly.

how I'm responsible for other peoples comments. I quite clearly didnt request abusive comments about anyone. The post was about being mystified by someone elses passionate feelings about something to which you are generally ambivalent. I wondered if others had experienced this.

I regret a couple of digs I made and apologised very quickly but I cant be blamed for some of the nastier stuff. I also requested the thread be pulled some days ago but, as you'll unsderstand, thats not my decision.

I still dislike some of the more sanctimonious hand wringing and strongly disagree to the idea the site should become a sanitised exercise in congratulation. I'm also at liberty to respond to inept sarcasm being lobbed at me - as is AC.

So. Enough now. The unco' guid on here are clearly in the ascendancy. Good evening to you.

Wank.

but will I cause offence to suggest Mrs Path has to hold onto something?

"How long has this been going on?"

Cross threading Andrew Collins with Rod's crab ladder (you need to scroll up a bit if you wonder what I'm on about) - who'd have thought there would be a connection? Welcome to The Word blog.

the collins/maconie/radcliffe axis is only symbolic of the way the 'indie kid' generation has now wormed its way into the music establishment - the 6digital/broadsheet/radio2/word-mojo-uncut backslappers club that envious twats like me aren't talented enough to join - however, it's people like charlie brooker who claimto be outside this incestuous media orgy who reallywind me up - this is from my ezine last month...

For some reason Guardian TV critic and BBC TV pundit, Charlie Brooker has escaped the kind of critical mauling that he quite rightly dishes out to other programmes and ‘broadcasters’ – they love calling themselves ‘journalists and broadcasters’ these cunts don’t they? – so I think it is Swine’s duty to have a pop at these scared cows of the trendy liberal critocracy.

Brooker’s elevation to almost Eamonn Holmes style ubiquity began once the Guardian’s former TV critic, Jim Shelley took him under his wing and secured his Guardian Guide ScreenBurn column once Shelley pissed off to do ScreenBurn Lite for the Mirror. Brooker’s TvGoHome website had secured his rep as a fearless parodist of existing TV formats and was a very good site that picked its targets well and featured the magnificent ‘Cunts Corner’ where readers could nominate their own cunts, media or otherwise. I contributed a few myself, in the wake of 911 one was New York Firemen which didn’t go down well as I recall.

So, fair dos, Brooker’s angry, nasty, accurate style was usually bang on and because we’d done a few similar things ourselves for the Guttersnipe (Claudia Winkleman’s Late Nite Piss Orgy, Bez’s Beasts Of Burden, Mud’s Enlightenment Masterclass etc) some of which I sent off and to which he replied ‘you really don’t get it do you?’

What didn’t I get exactly? Charlie never really made that bit clear so forgive me if this sounds like extremely sour grapes harvested from years of resentment and a fair degree of jealousy, which is exactly what it is.

In the words of Joey, Johnny, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Titch ‘Hey ho, let’s go!’

Last month I watched Brooker attempt to de-mystify and deconstruct the creative writing process with the ‘cream’ of Britain’s TV writing talent; y’know megatalents of the caliber of Russell T. Davies and Paul Abbott (they should join forces and become Russ Abbott). These two in particular have assumed some kind of superstardom within the hallowed circles of London’s critocracy and some of their work has indeed been top drawer but not the things they’re widely praised for; Queer As Folk and Shameless. Both series offered cheap voyeurism in other peoples sexuality and poverty. Whether or not the writers had experienced these ahem, ‘lifestyles’ themselves wasn’t the issue; they were cheap titillation and Shameless in particular sneered at its subjects whilst claiming to ‘celebrate’ their sense of family and community values. Fuck off! If anything Shameless was nowhere brutal enough (benevolent bizzies?) just as Quuer As Folk was nowhere near GAY enough. Whatever, both programmes cemented the writers reputations and launched them into the upper echelons of the TV hierarchy, which is when they both began to take themselves and their ‘art’ very seriously indeed.

Brooker gave them both such an easy ride sat there nodding along with his ‘journalist and broadcaster’ pen pressed eagerly in his hand, as if poised to scribe these gems of wisdom for future generations…..of Dr Who script writers. Dr Who? Exactly! It’s not Chekov or Hemingway or even Alan Bennett or Dennis Potter, it’s Doctor fucking Who!

As if these two self-regarding whoppers weren’t bad enough, Brooker also spoke to Tony ‘Eastenders’ Jordan who outed himself as a posh scouse Mockney pretender even though BBC bigwigs regarded him as a ‘genuine Cockney East End whelk.’ Jordan’s another of these super-writers who gets wheeled out every once in a while to produce sub-Alan Bennett melodramatic tearjerkers. Other notable ‘comedy’ writers such as Father Ted’s Graham Linehan and the two It’s Grim Up North London stereotypes who gave the world ‘Peep Show’ also provided valuable insights into the torturous process of writing professionally. Poor tykes!

This is where these self-absorbed media twats always let themselves down, no matter how self-deprecating they are, they forget that they exist in a privileged bubble of cosy self-congratulation. People like Brooker like to crack on that they’re outside of this self-perpetuating cycle of buttering up commissioning editors and fellow hacks and ‘broadcasters,’ that he’s some kind of maverick who’s deconstructing the process for the benefit of us all. Cheers mate. I think most people know how TV works, even those who’ve never been on the inside.

Brooker has two weekly columns in the Guardian, one of which he recently devoted to defending his own Channel 4 series ‘Dead Set’ against the charges of fellow Zombie film maker and TV comedy genius, Simon Pegg that ‘zombies can’t run’ – self-indulgent? Charlie? Nah, he’s deconstructing the process for ya lad. See, Brooker wants it both ways, he’s happy to snap off the hands of the very people who pay to produce his TvGoHome spin-offs, Nathan Barley, Dead Set etc and those who pay for him to write about his own medium and his own post-modern miserable life sat around writing newspaper columns and making tv programmes.

He’s never happy Charlie, he’s a grump, a misery boots, a cynic, an existential parody of a man but that’s his shtick. That’s his ‘image’ his ‘USB.’ No matter how much he attempts to dress his modern angst up as genuine despair - and maybe it is sincere and maybe he really is as cut up and fucked off with life as he makes out - there’s no getting away from the fact that Brooker is in on the act, he’s one of ‘them’ and that’s fair enough, as long as he’s honest about it.

At his best Chuck B is a very perceptive and extremely funny writer and ahem ‘broadcaster’ - I still recall his description of Nigel Lythgoe as ‘the kind of man stood behind you in a motorway service station ordering a gammon steak.’ (not as good as Shelley’s ‘no wonder he shot himself’ line about Lennon mind) and his critical judgments are almost always spot on. It’s a pity he’s now moving away from his Screenwipe ‘persona’ to become yet another fawning idiot nodding along with a false smile to Graham Linehan’s woeful ‘IT Crowd’ anecdotes.

Make it stop.

Posting guidelines??

I feel that Mr L needs him more than he wants him. Sorry, it's Friday afternoon and the sun is shining and I can't be serious.

...for WL as Charlie Brooker is on the front cover of tomorrow's Guardian Guide promo'ing his new show. Speaking as someone from a neighbouring suburb of Manchester, I can confirm that the locals wander round Wythenshawe Civic Centre all ranting to themselves in a similar manner

It passes the time after the co-op's shut and there's nowhere else to rob from.

This just keeps going on and on, more comebacks than Terrorvision.

I don't know if this or the "absolutely apalling album review" thread is worse.

Both are littered with replies from people who have to have the last word (tm).

Leave the poor man alone. Like him, love him, it's really not worth all this grief.

Perhaps we can revisit it when the tenth anniversary of the thread arrives in 2019 and complain that the original comments weren't explained to the readers enough and there's been some bad edits and the quality hasn't been mentioned.

See how I linked the two most boring threads in wordland by cynicism?

Apparently, a cynic is a passionate person who doesn't want to be disappointed any more.

On that note, Night Night!

Will it be digitally remastered with previously unreleased comments, alternate takes of views originally expressed in a better or worse manner, a director's commentary from goatboy, a bonus interview with Andrew Collins on how his career has prospered/failed as a result of all the inexplicable attention, a typically exasperated book by Clinton Heylin listing all the world-beating demo versions of the views posted and how the thread would have been a masterpiece if ONLY they'd been posted instead... and, of course, a miraculous radio edit of the Walthamstowe Lineman's epic rant featuring newly recorded backing vocals from Charlie Brooker?

Or will the whole thread as-is be reprinted as a postmodern appendix in the next volume of Andrew Collins' memoirs?

Stranger things have happened...

Not Going Out has been cancelled. He wrote a few episodes.

He'll not be going out much, then.