The teen category features a line-up of books with hard-hitting themes including the impressive My Sister Lives on the Mantlepiece by Annabel Pitcher, which deals with family bereavement and terrorism. The section, which includes Crook’s book, also features the witty Brilliant Wold Of Tom Gates by Liz Pichon and the tender and elegant Sky Hawk by Gill Lewis.

Sarah Clarke, Children’s Buying Manager at Waterstones, said: “The teen shortlist reflects a growing appetite in the Young Adult market for books that deal with tough social issues. It demonstrates how young people this day are not afraid to speak about serious subjects, in some cases, more so than adults.”

James Daunt, managing director of Waterstones, said: “This award is chosen entirely by our booksellers, whose experience and knowledge results in a fascinating and inspiring shortlist every year.”

The winners will be announced at a reception at Waterstones’ Piccadilly store in central London on Wednesday March 28.

1. No! by Marta Altés (Child’s Play)

2. I Don’t Want to be a Pea! by Ann Bonwill & Simon Rickerty (Oxford University Press)

3. The Pirates Next Door by Jonny Duddle (Templar Publishing)

4. A Bit Lost by Chris Haughton (Walker)

5. I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen (Walker)

6. Good Little Wolf by Nadia Shireen (Jonathan Cape)

7. The Windvale Sprites by Mackenzie Crook (Faber and Faber)

8. Muncle Trogg by Janet Foxley (Chicken House)

9. Sky Hawk by Gill Lewis (Oxford University Press)

10. The Brilliant World of Tom Gates by L. Pichon (Scholastic)

11. Milo and the Restart Button by Alan Silberberg (Simon & Schuster)

12. Claude in the City by Alex T. Smith (Hodder Children’s Books)

13. You Against Me by Jenny Downham (David Fickling Books)

14. Being Billy by Phil Earle (Penguin)

15. Amy and Roger’s Epic Detour by Morgan Matson (Simon & Schuster)

16. My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece by Annabel Pitcher (Orion)

17. Divergent by Veronica Roth (HarperCollins Children’s Books)

18. Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys (Penguin)

source : telegraph.feedsportal.com

A groundswell of support for her was generated on the social networking site, with many vowing to protect her and hundreds “retweeting” her message.

“I hope whoever’s threatening @kylieminogue knows there is more than 1,000,000 of us ready to jump to her defence,” wrote one.

Another wrote: “No-one messes with our Kylie. Leave her alone.”

Minogue, who is currently dating Spanish model Andres Velencoso, celebrates her 25th anniversary as a professional singer this year, after her hit debut single “Locomotion” was released in 1987.

The singer, orginally from Melbourne, who rose to fame after a stint on the Australian tv soap Neighbours, has previously attracted unwanted attention.

In 2003 she received more than 700 threatening letters at her home in Chelsea, west London and to her British record company, EMI.

The letters started as ordinary fan mail but become increasingly aggressive. The singer’s management later stated the letters “were of an annoying nature” rather than being dangerous.

The previous year, the singer disclosed that she had been stalked by a fan for five years but believed the man meant no harm. The latest case is unlikely to detract from the pop star’s 25th anniversary year celebrations.

Her plans include a live show at Sydney’s Mardi Gras in March and re-recordings of some of her classic tracks backed by an orchestra.

Her spokesman declined to comment on Tuesday. It is not clear which country’s police force she has contacted.

source : telegraph.feedsportal.com

Mr Gallagher, who was among the stars at former Prime Minister Tony Blair’s “Cool Britannia” party in 1997, added: “Under Thatcher, who ruled us with an iron rod, great art was made. Amazing designers and musicians. Acid house was born. Very colourful and progressive.

“Now, no one’s got anything to say. Write a song? No thanks, I’ll say it on Twitter. It’s a sad say when more people retweet than purchase records.”

He also spoke out about the summer riots and stated he was “embarrassed” to be from Manchester.

“I saw children on the telly saying in their Ali G voices, ‘It’s payback for the police,’” he said.

“What does that mean? ‘Cause they arrest yer for stupid things?’ Like what — hopping on one leg? Doing a silly walk like John Cleese? Get home, you idiot.

“All over the world — Syria and Egypt — people were rioting for freedom. And these children in England are rioting for tracksuits. It’s embarrassing.”

source : telegraph.feedsportal.com

The couple hitched a lift to the reserve. “It was breathtakingly beautiful and instantly inspiring, full of vibrant, happy people living in easy buildings made from wind-felled trees. There was no electricity, radio or television. Allie and I were broke, so when they offered to let us stay as volunteers, it was like a dream.

“There was a dress code,” he continues. “Very short hair and beards for men – the founder didn’t want us looking like hippies to outsiders – and long hair for women, while ‘modesty’ dictated a ban on bare legs. The image was scientific and professional.”

The reserve seemed well‑organised, with families, single men and single women all living in separate buildings. As well as Costa Ricans, there were Americans and a Dutch woman.

On their first evening, Nick and Allie joined a group discussion that ended with a short meditation. “It was a bit like a yoga class. We got the impression we were among some very good people who were welcoming two hard‑working Europeans into their community.”

Everyone had a timetable, and the couple were given guidelines on community life, meal times and working patterns. “As we got into the swing of the timetable, the meditations became more intense. We only spoke basic Spanish at first, so our understanding was limited. The conditions were loose early on, but gradually we lost more and more freedom.”

Soon the pair were assigned their own individual tutors, who helped them “integrate”. “It was help with factual things at first, practical stuff, but soon we were being tutored in the beliefs and values of the group. Looking back, the religion was a hotchpotch of everything from Buddhism to Christianity. We were never told things – it felt as if our own inquisitiveness led us to find things out. After a month we asked if we could stay there permanently.”

Nick and Allie discovered that the community had been set up in the 1980s. The founder had persuaded an initial group of people to follow his teachings: give up their lives, sell everything, and pool their resources into buying a piece of land.

To gain acceptance into the group, Nick and Allie were asked to make a one-off payment of £500 each to cover their living costs and kit out their cabin – there was a comprehensive list of items they required, such as two spades and a two-ring cooker. Rather like the dress code, every cabin had to be identical.

Nick had no money, so he returned to England to work in a cousin’s factory. When he arrived back at the reserve two months later, Allie had changed. “She had become much more like the others – I think even at the beginning, I had held something back – and was very sure of her new beliefs. She began calling the leader – a charismatic 30-year-old – ‘The Master’, and she was distant with me, less tactile, and mechanical in our lovemaking. Her emotions were tightly controlled.”

The couple soon found they were being given very tiny to eat – and requests for more of the vegetarian food were met with accusations of greed. Meanwhile, the new timetable dictated that they wake up at 3.30am for meditation, sermons and parables.

“We were told, why sleep when you can be doing something useful?” states Nick. “I realise now we were being weakened by sleep deprivation and a meagre diet so we’d become too weak to resist the force of the group. They’d speak about how consumerism was destroying the world, agricultural reforestation, how to create a harmonious lifestyle – all topics we found fascinating.

“That was the external face of it. The internal face was the development of self, spiritual evolution, how to become the perfect human being, with the leader a sort of living manual to achieve this. If you questioned him that wasn’t tolerated, and people were ostracised and shunned as punishment.”

Nick was being fed barely enough to live on and was physically exhausted from the manual work, the martial arts and long runs that were part of the regime. He lost three stone in weight. The questioning part of his mind remained active, but he silenced it because he wanted to keep his family intact.

Allie, on the other hand, had turned into an unquestioning devotee. Their relationship became strained and she moved out of their shared cabin into the single women’s accommodation. Nick could still visit his son, but this eventually became difficult and Allie accused him of “snooping”. Soon he was forbidden from visiting Oscar at all.

‘I tried to gain more acceptance from the cult leader, but it was hard as he used psychological tricks, with rewards for compliance and punishments for crimes such as questioning the teachings. When I managed to get myself into ‘acceptance’ mode, everything made perfect sense – and when you see how together everyone is, how close, and that you’re not part of that, you want to be. You would strive for acceptance. But no matter how hard I tried to give myself up to the group, a part of my brain always resisted.”

A year passed, and Nick became more compliant. He recalls this period as the time he was most engaged with the group. The leaders weren’t convinced, however, and suggested Nick return to the UK to work on environmental study for a year, and to come back when he was clearer about what he wanted.

“I had become good at detaching myself emotionally, which is what they encourage, but I was very sad about leaving Oscar. They wouldn’t let me take him. When I arrived home my parents were mortified at my physical appearance – I was very thin and gaunt. I didn’t know it then, but they had sought professional help on how to deal with me and my situation, and had been told that challenging me could be the worst thing they could do. So they decided to sit it out and hope I’d one day see the light.”

Nick returned to the group a year later. The thought of being estranged from his son overwhelmed him, so he knuckled down with his “tutor”, who persuaded the leader to let him stay.

“I didn’t question a thing, and the leader was pleased. I stopped listening to my quiet voice that challenged them, and I continued like that for two more years, believing I was learning to be the perfect person. We were told the end of the world was coming. We were so cut off from the world, with no newspapers or anything, the beliefs of the group were all we had. The longer you are in the grip of a cult, the harder it is to leave – you think you are an evolved being and the outside world is meaningless. There’s also a huge part of you that won’t admit it’s all rubbish, that you were wrong to accept it’s not real, to admit defeat.”

Nick eventually became close to Danny, another member who was becoming disillusioned with the community, “and speaking to him, my mind started opening up. I started questioning things I had been told. For instance, the leader had stated that he’d had an accident as a child and had been pronounced clinically dead, that he was a soul from another planet – rubbish, of course, but by the time we were told this we were so far gone, we believed it. Recruitment is a slow, steady process, you kind of slip into it, and before you know it ‘facts’ such as these are plausible. What you don’t know early on is that everyone else is in on it, so you are being recruited by the entire group. I remember an American girl arriving and we all recruited her, me included. I’d become one of them.”

Nick knew he had to leave with Oscar, so he focused on being ultra “good”. It worked. The leader concurred that Nick could take Oscar to England for a holiday.

When Nick arrived home he was a fragile mess, seeing the outside world through the group’s eyes one minute, and as a critic the next. “Everyone at home seemed so self-indulgent. I’d been brainwashed to think my parents were very negative, which they weren’t – it’s all part of being accepted, to be alienated from those who care about you. I’d had no contact with my parents for a year, as their letters had gone unread, left in the town a two-hour walk away.”

Three months passed. It was time to return to Costa Rica, but in his heart Nick knew he wasn’t going back. He contacted Allie’s parents to explain, and they invited Nick to visit their home to discuss the situation. They hadn’t told him Allie would also be there, and she grabbed the boy.

An eight-month court battle ensued, during which time Nick made contact with the anti-cult expert Graham Baldwin, who runs Catalyst, a charity that helps cult victims get their lives back. Graham counseled Nick and helped prepare his court case against Allie, putting him in contact with a specialist lawyer. Nick was only granted to see Oscar with a child psychologist present. Suicidal thoughts crossed his mind.

“This group wasn’t about money but power,” explains Graham Baldwin. “Nick was very confused when I met him, like many people in his position who are trying to make sense of what happened to them. I let him speak a lot, but I asked a lot of questions, such as ‘why do you think they did this or that?’. Cult victims must find the answers themselves. Cults target intelligent young people who are often searching for something. Anyone can be recruited. There is no immunity.”

It was actually Allie’s sister who saved the day. Having visited the group in Costa Rica, she came forward and stated she believed Oscar was better off with his father. Oscar was made a ward of court.

Nick, meanwhile, slowly started rebuilding his life – and Savannah Miller became a huge part of this rehabilitation. When they first met at a friend’s wedding eight years ago, she describes him as a “poor lost puppy”. They married in 2005 and now have three kids – as well as Oscar, 16, who continues to live with them.

Nick kept a diary during his stay with the group, something that is helping with Paradiso, the film script he is working on, about his experiences in a cult. He intends to donate some of the profit to Catalyst to help pay for a therapy centre for the victims of cults – unlike many countries, the UK still lacks such a facility.

Catalyst currently deals with around 200 cases a year, and estimates that approximately 1,500 cults operate in the UK alone. As Savannah says: “Without Graham’s help, who knows if Nick would have recovered and turned into the confident man he is today.”

source : telegraph.feedsportal.com

Why Hawaii? “It’s sunny and beautiful and beachy, I like the lifestyle, I like the people. I like the culture. You climb a coconut tree, get a coconut, sit there with your dog and eat it.” There, he says, people are barely aware that he’s a motion picture star; rather, he’s known as “the dude who lives up the road who has good coconut trees and a funny dog”. He tells me that he has a new girlfriend, even though he won’t divulge her name and states she is not an actress. “She hangs out with me, she doesn’t need a job,” he grins, adding he is learning to separate work from his home life. “I think I’m still a very difficult person to live with, because my motor’s always running, but you try as you get older to slow that down and live life at a calmer pace. My lifestyle is extremely weird, so if you can be with a girl and have a level of normalcy, then traveling around the world doing this kind of thing seems like a holiday adventure.”

Even James Cameron – a director whose exacting standards have driven other actors to the edge of insanity – was impressed with his leading man’s Spartan lifestyle and Herculean work ethic on Avatar, which involved gruelling 18-hour days for 14 months. The actor himself compares the Avatar experience to “going to war” and clearly thrives on challenge – the tougher the better. He spends most of his latest film standing on a narrow ledge outside a hotel room window, 200 feet above the ground, threatening to jump. Worthington has a fear of heights, something he states he “forgot” when he signed up to the film. “I had to man up and do it,” he says. “I was lucky I didn’t burst into tears and go into a fetal position because that wouldn’t have been a very good begin to the film.” A broad grin flashes across his face. “It’s called Man on a Ledge d—head! Get out of the window!”

Man on a Ledge is pure escapist entertainment that doesn’t take itself too seriously. Worthington is an ex-cop jailed for a crime he didn’t commit, who sets out to prove his innocence by orchestrating a heist with his brother (a lively Jamie Bell). Ed Harris is the villain, and owner of the building with the ledge Worthington spends much of the film perched on. He wore a safety strap that jammed like a seat belt when he fell. And when that happened he’d “hang like a marionette. Your life flashes before your eyes, before it clicks and you go, that was it?”

Success has certainly not gone to Worthington’s head. If anything it appears to have given him a grave sense of duty about his position, a responsibility to give the audience more bang for their buck: “If a guy who works in a power plant 12 hours a day all week goes with his family of four to see a movie, that’s a lot of money out of his pocket.”

Self-effacing to a fault, he is constantly questioning himself, course-correcting, concerned about the effect he has on others. He confesses that he regrets the techniques he used to get into the mindset of the character he played in 2010’s Last Night, a romantic drama with Keira Knightley. “I tried to be real method and I think my ‘method’ backfired on me,” he says. “I screwed up.” In the film he and Knightley play a married couple who’ve become distant and complacent. In the first week of rehearsal Worthington was friendly, and they socialised together. But he was struggling to get into the role, so in the second week he was distant – so distant that he stopped turning up for rehearsals. “I thought if I treat her with complacency maybe that might help,” he says. “In my head, I thought my character should be a bit of a jerk. So then Keira started to hate me, obviously. But to me that meant things were going well: we had nailed our relationship right there! But she just thought I was a jerk – and I WAS a jerk,” he shouts. “I won’t use that method again.” Has she forgiven him? “I’ve seen her since and she’s cool.”

Nor has Worthington forgiven himself “for letting down” everyone who paid to go and see him in Clash of the Titans, the 2010 film that was panned for the acting and the quality of the 3D. “I was disappointed with my performance,” he says. “I was a f—— bland action dude. I don’t think I created a character and I screwed up. When it comes to 3D, I’ve been in the motion picture that got revered the most [Avatar] and the motion picture that got slated the most,” he grins.

Despite the slatings, the film was a staggering box-office hit and a sequel, Wrath of the Titans, comes out this summer. “I’m so lucky I’ve got a second chance. In this one Perseus is the type of archetypal hero that I want to see on screen. It’s 10 years on and he’s now a dad. So I stated ‘let’s not make him a superhero even though he’s half god, let’s make him a normal dad who has trouble running, who’s out of breath, who’s scared and realises he can’t save the world’. I like it when heroes get hurt because they’re unfit. Mel Gibson did it perfectly in the Lethal Weapon series; you feel the pain.”

Off screen the actor has an intriguing mix of humility and confidence. The balance I suspect stems from his childhood. Born in Surrey, his parents Ronald and Jeanne emigrated to Australia when he was a baby; he was raised in Perth with his sister Lucinda. “They were normal working-class people, my dad worked in a power plant, my mum used to clean people’s houses and she looked after old people.” There were no thoughts of acting.

It was his dad who persuaded Worthington to leave Perth at 18 and travel around Australia. In Sydney, he accompanied his then girlfriend on an audition to Nida (The National Institute of Dramatic Art). She didn’t get in, he won a place, the relationship ended and the young actor (who’d worked at a variety of jobs from bricklaying to nannying) discovered that he had talent. Television and film roles followed including an award-winning performance in the Australian film Somersault. After he lost out to Daniel Craig for Bond (after reportedly telling Casino Royale director Martin Campbell that his take on 007 was wrong), Cameron cast him as Jake Sully in Avatar on the strength of a two-minute audition tape. Cameron, along with Russell Crowe, then recommended him for a role opposite Christian Bale in Terminator Salvation. “He’s the guy who changed my life, full stop,“ he states of Cameron. “I can email him and phone him about anything.” Indeed, Worthington recently had an idea for a film and showed it to Cameron, who concurred to produce the project.

“He does it because he’s my mate and he’s that kind of guy. He wouldn’t do it if it was a dumb idea.” Avatar has granted him to purchase a automobile for his sister (even though she didn’t want one) and a house for his parents. “They stated they wanted to live in Tasmania. I stated ‘Fair enough but who wants to live in Tasmania?’ They’re never there though, they state it’s freezing. I stated ‘It’s f—— Tasmania!’ So they go on holiday to hot places.”

It’s also given Worthington clout in Hollywood, which he has used to help get financing for his friends’ films, such as the Seventies-era surfing drama Drift. “It’s a fictional tale about the beginning of the surf brands, like Ripcurl and Quicksilver. I told my mates ‘I’ll help you out, I’ll play this small part in it’, that got them the money.” A lifelong surfer himself – “I like to hit the waves hard” – he doesn’t surf in the film, instead playing a photographer. “I didn’t want to outshine my mate and I rocked up on set with huge beard, a huge beer belly and rainbow-tipped hair extensions. I said, ‘I’m only going to wear wetsuit shorts’. My mate (Myles Pollard) goes, ‘Man you look totally ridiculous, like a huge fat seal’. I said, ‘What do you want? Mr Glitzy Hollywood? This is the character. You’re the lead man, you’re the one who has to look good’.”

Cameron once described Worthington as being “the opposite of narcissistic”. So he has no vanity? “Not when it comes to the job.” He must, I point out, be aware that he is considered a heart-throb. The comment elicits hilarity. “You should see me in the morning when I’m hung-over, there’s nothing heart-throbic about that. Oh my God!” He collapses into the sofa. “Even the dog runs.” Though he spent two months learning Krav Maga for his role as a Mossad agent in The Debt, Worthington states the only exercise he takes other than surfing is walking Bacon: “You can barely pay me to go to the gym, I hate it.” I tell him he looks fit and muscular. “I don’t think about these muscles,” he says, flexing his biceps. “My mate would laugh if he heard that, he would call them chicken arms.”

This year the actor is making an Iraq war motion picture that uses Avatar’s motion capture technology with Scottish actor Gerard Butler. “I like Gerry he’s a good bloke, he’s my mate.” Then, of course, there is Avatar 2. As with the first film, it’s shrouded in secrecy. But rumour has it Sigourney Weaver will somehow come back from the dead, it will be set partly underwater, and may be in cinemas in 2014. What can Worthington say? “I can tell you it’s directed by James Cameron, that’s about it.”

When asked if he has any other ambitions left, Worthington’s answer is disarming, to state the least. “I wouldn’t mind doing a comedy,” he says, “with me, Russell Crowe and Christian Bale.” At which point I burst out laughing. “See, you’re already laughing, so we’re on the right track. It would be awesome.”

‘Man on a Ledge’ is out now in cinemas

This article also appeared in SEVEN magazine. Follow SEVEN on Twitter @TelegraphSeven

source : telegraph.feedsportal.com

W obecnych czasach w pewnym sensie każdy z nas ma wzięty jakiś dług. A to na pojazd, dom – czy mały – komputer itp.

Poniektórym zdarza się zapożyczać na poczet rozlicznych okazji: świąt, wyjazdów na wczasy, urodzin itp. Zaciągając zobowiązanie, optymistycznie spoglądamy w przyszłość wierząc, iż opłacanie opłat będzie tak łatwe jak w czasie wzięcia pożyczki. I podczas gdy niespodzianie okazuje się iż nie jesteśmy w stanie oddać podjętych długów, wpadamy w histerię. Jednakże jest nieco wybiegów, jakie umożliwią nam wyjść z biedy obronną dłonią.

Spłata kredytu na atrakcyjnych warunkach

Przede wszystkim rozmawiajmy z instytucją finansową. Trafnym wyjściem jest rozciągnięcie terminu spłacania zobowiązania co pozwala ograniczyć miesięczną opłatę.

Inny tryb to refinansowanie pożyczki, inaczej zastąpienie starego kredytu nowym korzystniejszym.

Mamy również konsolidację zobowiązania – w wypadku, kiedy płacimy parę długów, bądź potrzebujemy przewalutować pożyczkę.

Niektóre instytucje finansowe zezwalają także na odroczenie kredytowania na określony okres. Też z tego warto czasami zrobić użytek.

Did you enjoy this article? Share it!

source : www.celebrityspicynews.com

He claimed his two-and-a-half-hour meal “seemed like as many days”, writing: “Forget the Edge of Glory. On opening night, ‘Lady Gaga restaurant’ Joanne… was closer to the edge of collapse”.

“This has been a lifelong dream, and I could not be happier that it’s finally happening,” Mr Germanotta told New York’s Daily News.

Mr Cuozzo, it seems, would have called it more of a nightmare.

Along with the food, he also attacked the traditional wooden furnishings as “loud as an avalanche” and “plain cramped”. The staff did not escape either: they seemed “plucked from the ‘burbs’”, and “clueless”.

There is still hope, however. As New York blog Gothamist pointed out, “Just because a restaurant was born this way, doesn’t mean it cannot better itself. Right?”

source : telegraph.feedsportal.com

Sharon returned in 2001, to take over at the Vic, which had formerly been run by her adoptive parents, Angie and Den Watts.

She stayed until 2004 and then returned again the following year, only to bow out once more in January 2006, following the stabbing of Dennis who died in her arms.

Dean went on to compete in BBC1′s Strictly Come Dancing in 2007, as well as tour in the stage production of Calendar Girls.

Details of the circumstances of her return are being kept under wraps.

Dean said: “I am really looking forward to being part of the EastEnders team again, as it has always been very close to my heart. I cannot wait to work with my old colleagues and see what is in store for Sharon.”

Executive producer Bryan Kirkwood said: “I’m thrilled that Letitia is coming back home to Albert Square where she belongs.

“Sharon is a real favourite amongst EastEnders’ fans and I for one cannot wait until she arrives back in the summer.”

source : telegraph.feedsportal.com

For all this, he received a relatively modest £2,486. Blair wouldn’t get out of bed for less than a six-figure sum.

Sir Richard Paget, the cousin of the late Lord Glenconner, is celebrating the engagement of his daughter Emma, who will marry Mark Arnold, 29, a Dubai-based business consultant, this summer.

“We’re all delighted,” the baronet tells Mandrake. “Mark is a good man.” If Emma, 25, is anything like her eccentric great-grandfather, the inventor Sir Richard Paget, the couple’s marriage promises to be quite an eventful one. Born in 1886, the mustachioed chap gave the world a mechanical voice box, a prototype sonar device and a new sign language, based on syllables not words.

To test the effectiveness of the latter, he poured a large amount of treacle into the ears of his young daughters in order to block out sound completely.

Later, when “newfangled” electricity was installed at the family home, Sylvia, his nine year-old, was given the job of doing the wiring. Whether Emma and Mark will treat their offspring in quite the same way remains to be seen.

source : telegraph.feedsportal.com

Mr Campbell has previously rejected suggestions that the bullying political aide portrayed by Capaldi bears any resemblance to himself, even though he has admitted swearing liberally at work.

Yesterday, the former journalist declined to comment on the revelation, simply saying: “Peter Capaldi is a terrific actor and a really nice guy.”

Capaldi, who also played Tucker in the feature film spin-off In The Loop, returns for the fourth season of The Thick Of It later this year.

The Oscar-winning Scottish actor added: “I like Malcolm very much. He’s got a heart of gold and he’s only trying to do his job; it’s not his fault that he’s confronted by an army of idiots.

“It’s quite exciting to play him, because he tends to always be on the offensive and he gets given wonderful lines, lots and lots of them.

“His verve, his vigour is a great tonic. Also I think he’s quite complicated, he’s not just a swearing man. He lives in a real world full of tough people making tough decisions. At his ideal he cuts through that world with a certain spring in his step and humour; get in his way, though, and he’ll cut you open with his face.”

source : telegraph.feedsportal.com