Worst Person Of The Day: 22nd July 2020

It's time for the miscreants, mountebanks and maniacs, the irrepressible and the irredeemable.  It's not totally serious, it's not totally silly, but it is my nominations for the Worst Person Of The Day.

The bronze medal goes to Police in Syndey, Australia, who asked a woman to remove her tampon during a strip search.  This comes from a report from Australia's Law Enforcement Conduct Commission who were investigating 5 controversial strip searches that had taken place.  They've ordered the police to apologise to the woman.  Obviously they're not pussyfooting around...

The silver goes to Housing Minister Robert Jenrick, who is apparently unrepentant about approving a housing scheme in East London, despite it being put forward by Richard Desmond, the former owner of the Star, Express and Channel 5, and also a noted donor to the Conservative Party.  He did say that he regretted sitting next to Mr Desmond, at a Tory dinner last November where they actually swapped telephone numbers.  I guess Desmond needed to Express himself to the minister...

But our winner is Kanye West, and I need to be serious here, because what is going on with Kanye right now is not funny, and it's not clever, it's just sad.   And I'm not just talking about his supposed presidential campaign, that has actually missed a bunch of deadlines to file for candidacy in several states.  No, that's just a symptom of the real problem.  BiPolar Disorder is not fun at all, not for the people around you, not even for you, and I can say truthfully, I have been there.  I have suffered BiPolar Disorder, and you do suffer it.  You can go from being on a maniac high, all the way down to a manic depressive state, in virtually no time at all, just a couple of minutes, and you can swing back again just as quickly, and you can keep doing that, multiple times an hour, never mind a day.  Yes, he posted some tweets on Monday which indicated he was looking to divorce his wife of 6 years, Kim Kardashian, and talked about how doctors wanted to 51/50 him, which means temporary involuntary psychiatric commitment of individuals who present a danger to themselves or others due to mental illness, and those tweets were later deleted, but it just shows just how volatile somebody with BiPolar Disorder can be.  So, this award comes with a proviso.  Kanye, get some psychiatric help for yourself.  I came out the other side, you can too.  And if you do, this award will be recinded.  But for now, Kanye West is the Worst Person Of The Day.

30 idiots complain about Celebrity Big Brother.

The Daily Star reported that 30 people had complained to Ofcom about Celebrity Big Brother, specifically the task that required some of the housemates to perform 18-rated entertainment, a task that by the way, producers had to censor for broadcast after the 9pm watershed.

Honestly, what do these 30 people think they are watching?  Celebrity Big Brother is nothing more than licenced and legalised voyeurism.  It's the only way the general public can watch celebrities being themselves without finding themselves in court on a stalking charge.

Unsurprisingly, Mediawatch, the ex-Mary Whitehouse organisation, ciriticised it, but then, that's not news.

It's not high culture, it's programming designed to appeal to the base instincts.  That was just another expression of that. 

By the way, extra hypocrisy points go to Daily Star and Channel 5 owner, Richard Desmond.  He owns the channel that commissioned it because he wanted material to fill up his newspapers and magazines, and now his own newspaper is giving voice to those criticising the programme on his own channel, and partially encouraging the criticism.  That takes a total lack of any scruples.  If you are going to have a programme on your own channel, and you allow your own newspaper to be critical, then you are undermining the staff who produce the programme, and you are also saying that you are only interested in ratings and sales, not in anything else.