People you like who everybody else hates.

[Ciarán2]

Reversing the People You Hate thread because it's so damn negative. I like...

Noel Fielding
Stuart Maconie
Robbie Williams
Tony Benn
Josie Long

This can be like a Verbwhores' coming out thread. "Oh actually I like Tony Blair..."

[El Unicornio, mang]

Bono. I've tried really hard to dislike him like everyone else does but I just can't. It might be because he looks a bit like my uncle though.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Stuart Maconie
Tony Benn

...and I think they are liked by plenty of the population anyway.

This is damn hard. Hatred comes more naturally.

[micanio]

Ricky Gervais

[runs]

[non capisco]

Ainsley Harriott. Has put his name to a tasty range of soup-in-a-cups, especially the Hot and Sour and Shropshire Pea ones. Probably quite a nice bloke when he calms down.

[Ciarán2]

Ricky Gervais

[runs]

Good man! That's the spirit!

Although I think he's a goon of immense proportions of course.

[gazzyk1ns]

I wouldn't go as far as to say that I actually "liked" Jeremy Clarkson, because he talks so much utter shit about the few things he's actually meant to be an expert on... but I don't dislike him either. His more controversial outburts are the result of playing a harmless (well, pretty much as harmless as any person in the public eye could ever be) character in the way old Gervais could only dream of. He also knows that he can be a right berk sometimes, which, as someone said on here the other day about somebody else, does make a difference.

Urm, sorry about the Gervais-bashing there, it really was just coincidence that I felt the need to mention him with regards to Clarkson.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

You obviously haven't seen his appearances on Question Time. They proved without any doubt for me that it isn't an act- he does honestly hold those opinions and he considers himself worthy of appearing as an 'expert' or luminary on a panel alongside politicians. Given that, given his columns, his books and his show, it all adds up to a really despicable individual that realises his humour and machismo allows lots of easily led young men to think like him. He's a thoroughbred shit with an eye for a joke. No more, no less.

[gazzyk1ns]

Nah, I haven't seen him on QT. I saw some of his 'Clarkson' programme, and whilst I thought it was shit, he still came across as not being very serious at all. Oh well.

[Brutus Beefcake]

I thought everyone loves Tony Benn?  He seems like a nice enough guy but he comes across as an idiot in this clip with Richard Dawkins.

[Marvin]

Everyone loved Tony Benn a few years ago but it's now gone the reverse it seems.

I used to idolise him as a teenager when my politics were more simplistic, and then I grew up a bit and realise that he's done and said some pretty stupid things over the years and then got pretty pissed off with him a few times recently, not least for wasting his time still trying to reclaim the labour party, when if he gave his considerable weight to the campaign for a new workers party he could do a lot of good. I still like him and have a lot of respect for him, and his books and diaries are must-reads for anybody with an interest in politics really.

[Marvin]

Oh I just thought of one; Jamie Oliver. Yeah, I hated The Naked Chef series as well and I fucking hate the merchandise and the Sainsburys adverts ('why not have a bit of cheese, with some apple!') but as an amatuer chef I think he's done a hell of a lot for progressing the general attitude towards food and cooking in this country recently. It's become a cliché now but his school dinners series has had a huge impact on getting decent food into schools, which is a very important issue.

The work he's done with encouraging young offenders etc into a career in cheffing is admirable, and also some of his recipes are ace and I've fallen back on them several times. I made his apricot and chestnut stuffing for christmas this year and it was superb.

[Al Tha Funkee Homosapien]

George W Bush - Nothing to with his politics, but his reputation for being stupid is unfair, he just isn't that good at speaking but he's aware of that and is quite funny about it. He has a folksy quality about which is rather endearing. Still a cunt though.

[Milo]

Mark Knopfler. Well, people don't particularly hate him but kind of scorn him despite him coming out with some of (nay, all of) the greatest guitar playing in my lifetime.

He's never mentioned as an influence and his music appearing in top album charts and so on is always totally glossed over as if he's some kind of embarassment while complete bollocks in similar things gets wanked over by grinning talking heads.

[Famous Mortimer]

Tony Benn used to be my MP back in the day, and I've always had a soft spot for him, even if he wasted many years of his life in the Labour Party, when it will never in a million years be a socialist organisation again (as much as it ever was). But I'm glad he exists, completely unlike the way I feel about pretty much every New Labour MP.

[extradave]

Neil Warnock

everybody seems to despise him!

I think he's a genuinely funny chap.

[Mister Cairo]

Marcus Brigstocke

I saw him this summer and found his act funny and refreshing. Not sure why other people dislike him so much, he doesn't seem snobby in the least. He did do that "What's The Problem" show though, which was cack.

[Gamma Ray]

George W Bush - Nothing to with his politics, but his reputation for being stupid is unfair, he just isn't that good at speaking but he's aware of that and is quite funny about it. He has a folksy quality about which is rather endearing. Still a cunt though.

Some would say that deriding Bush as stupid is in itself stupid, or at least ignorant. They would reason that his goofs are part of a calculated act aimed at projecting him to the US public with exactly that endearing folksy quality you mention.

I couldn't possibly comment.

[Morrisfan82]

I've started to quite like Marcus Brigstocke lately too. His smart-ass delivery and humdrum satirical stuff used to make me dislike him, but seeing him recently being quite impressive at a recording of Just A Minute, plus his appearance on Room 101, have turned me to finding him much more pleasant.

[aaaaaaaaaargh!]

Away from CaB I have always seem to have to defend Danny Baker.  Most people I know seem to think he's just a cockney twat and don't seem to realise all the good things he's done (no I don't mean the Daz adverts, Pets win prizes, or Win Lose or Draw).

I love Peaches Gelolf (I explained the reason why in the people you hate thread)

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

I think Neil Warnock gets too much stick. He's basically no more a cunt than the rest of the Premiership managers yet the fact he's always open in his comments, and maybe because he's northern, he's hated by an extraordinary amount of people. I think he's a decent manager and less of a twat than some of the people that the BBC pundits think are creamy Gods.

[quadraspazzed]

Richard Herring.

Actually I'm not sure if people generally hate/dislike him, but I've seen a lot of disparaging comments directed towards him on here. But I generally find him funny enough (ok the Yogurt thing was pretty dire), and especially liked him on Banter.


Steve Staunton.

Actually that's a lie. Staunton must go! Staunton must go! Staunton must go!

[terminallyrelaxed]

Neil Warnock probably knows his stuff (he's been kicking around long enough), its just he comes across as a bit of a twat, I don't know why and he probably doesn't deserve it.

[Captain Crunch]

Ainsley Harriott. Has put his name to a tasty range of soup-in-a-cups, especially the Hot and Sour and Shropshire Pea ones. Probably quite a nice bloke when he calms down.

Seconded.  He gives great tips, explains things clearly and can work with children without patronising them.  He's also managed to avoid the trap that most celebrity chefs slip into - thinking people care about your opinions just because you cook on the telly.

Mark Knopfler. Well, people don't particularly hate him but kind of scorn him despite him coming out with some of (nay, all of) the greatest guitar playing in my lifetime.

He's never mentioned as an influence and his music appearing in top album charts and so on is always totally glossed over as if he's some kind of embarassment while complete bollocks in similar things gets wanked over by grinning talking heads.

I'd say exactly the same thing about Richie Blackmore.  Once or twice some tit will pipe up and go "tee hee, he thinks he's a GNOME now, ha ha ha" but most of the time he's criminally overlooked.

Other nominations:

Gyles Brandreth
Dale Winton
Joe Pasquale

Easy targets for the terminally glib all of them.

[3pin]

Neil Warnock

everybody seems to despise him!

I think he's a genuinely funny chap.

I think he's a genuinely disturbing chap.  Only because he looks like Jeffrey Jones who seems to always play the evil character in any film.
 .

[extradave]

But Neil didn't get roundhouse kicked by her out of Dirty Dancing, did he?

Give the guy a break! He'd probably swear prodigiously at your girlfriend if he came round for dinner, but thats probably why I like him.

[Al Tha Funkee Homosapien]

YES! That's it, I've been trying to put that together each time I see him MOTD.

[Peking O]

Well Jeffrey Jones is creepy both on and off screen. He's on the sex offender register for all sorts of kiddie porn charges.

[23 Daves]

Lily Allen.  Not her songs, necessarily, which go in one ear and out the other, but I like a lot of her more inflammatory statements.  I enjoy the fact that she seems like a PR person's nightmare.  I also like her really silky, soft speaking voice even though I can't say I actually fancy her... but I'd probably be happy to listen to her talk for two hours.

Also increasingly, though I'm still not sure, Kelly Osbourne.  I did a thread slagging her off on here a few years ago, but just lately she's come across as a likeable person, quite self-effacing and honest.

And... Danny Baker.  I agree with the sentiments already expressed.  He's not all crap adverts and regrettable television ideas you know.  He did once host a brilliant radio show.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

What exactly has she said that is so controversial? All I've read is some predictable and rather mild comments that effectively harm no-one. She isn't really outspoken, just a person who is in the right position in the market to be able to say some of what she thinks. And given how depressing that sounds, it doesn't make for likeability in my opinion.