I’m a big cycling fan and I know what some of those Tour de France hills are like I really admired Germaine Greer’s book this year, The Boy. Too often we see boys as just hoodies involved in petty crime until they become men, but she brought the preciousness back to boyhood. She also looks like my mother.Villain: the mediaEspecially in the US, which likes to see things purely in black and white. He is entertaining (and very sexy.)Villain: Michael BarrymoreI used to love Barrymore, because I’m a fag hag and I knew he was gay even before he did. I don’t love him any more; I don’t respect people who aren’t true to themselves If you’re gay – so what? He was brave once Not any more. He seems to have lost his sense of humour.STEVE NORRIS Tory candidate for Mayor of LondonHero: Ken LivingstoneFor introducing the congestion charge.Villain: Ken LivingstoneFor introducing the congestion charge.GRAYSON PERRY Turner prize-winnerHeroes: Lance Armstrong and Germaine GreerI’m torn between Lance Armstrong and Germaine Greer, which probably says a lot about me.

they usually hide behind brand names or political parties.KEN LOACH Film directorHeroesThe million and a half who marched in February against the war and the lying politicians who presume to act in our name. My hope for the new year is that there will be a coalition to the left of Labour for whom we can vote without feeling ashamed and betrayed.Villains: Tony Blair and Gordon BrownFor their services to corporate interests and their trampling on international law.SHAZIA MIRZA ComedianHero: Simon CowellHe’s intelligent and he knows what he’s talking about. If people don’t like him, it’s because they know he’s right and the truth hurts That’s why his opinion in the industry matters. such as nurses and doctors, or charity workers who carry on doing their work in underpaid and stressful circumstances. We don’t know them or acknowledge them much, and it’s a pretty thankless task.VillainsVillains are often behind the scenes, too… Despite his decision to give up smoking at the start of the year, he still ignores the deadly effects of passive smoking by refusing to ban smoking in enclosed public places.

Low-paid workers in bars and restaurants across the UK deserve protection.ANNIE LENNOX MusicianHeroesReal heroes usually go unsung… There are now 27 co-operatives feeding 6,000 people every week in North Cumbria, and the model is being repeated all over the country.Villain: Bob WorcesterThis rich pollster uses all too familiar ways to influence the debate. This is the man who claimed that a majority of public opinion in rural areas was against hunting just months after his company, Mori, had published a poll showing the opposite. Regrettably, there are two villains in my mind: one tabloid columnist who is now so desperate for attention that she readily prints exactly what her scurrilous sources tell her. The other, a tabloid diarist, is also now so desperate for attention that she derides everyone and everything. I choose the columnist as my villain, for she is a danger to society. The diarist knows not what she does.JOHN JACKSON Chairman of the Countryside AllianceHero: Sharron RourkeSharron, who works for the Rural Regeneration Unit, helped the North Cumbria Health Action Zone set up co-operative schemes improving health and diet by linking urban consumers with local food producers.

You can support them at .uk.VillainsI’m tempted to say David Blunkett for his disgusting comments about taking the children of asylum-seekers into care, but George Galloway trumps even him. Most of the anti-war people were good and decent; Galloway, by contrast, is a monster. He has dedicated his career to lauding, defending and promoting dictatorships. I hope he has a long and miserable retirement in a bunker somewhere.MAJOR CHARLES INGRAM Convicted ‘Millionaire’ and insurance fraudsterHeroThe bold decision-maker who works for RDF, the makers of Wife Swap.