Analysis: A belligerent Steve Coogan gets my vote

SELDOM does one feel more out of sync with the mood of the nation than when perusing the results of a nationwide poll in which a Royal Wedding features, not once, but twice, in a list of favourite happenings.

While I appreciate that this illustrious event was generally considered to be quite a big deal, I’d be lying if I claimed to regard it as anything other than a day off work and an opportunity to make sarcastic comments at the television.

I must also admit to deliberately choosing to remain only vaguely aware of this year’s battleground of faded celebs attempting to remind the nation of their existence, as I’ve wasted far too much lifeforce watching former X Factor contestants annihilate crustaceans in recent years. It is tempting, however, to celebrate a cockroach crawling up Fatima Whitbread’s nose as some form of belated insectoid rebellion. More power to their antennae.

And while Russell Grant being fired from a cannon is the sort of absurd and startling occurrence I’m all for in theory, the reality of it feels strangely underwhelming. Perhaps if he’d done it with a cockroach stuck up his nose, the results would have been more dramatic.

The only genuine highlight from this list is, of course, Steve Coogan visibly willing himself to refrain from physically attacking former News of the World journalist Paul McMullan on Newsnight. Plus, his Alan Partridge book was hilarious. So, Steve Coogan wins 2011 then.