Why I yearn to tear Billy Connolly’s trousers off

(and not for THAT reason!)

WONDERFUL to see Billy Connolly receiving a welldeserved lifetime achievement TV award for the joy and laughter he has brought us over so many years. But why, on such a happy occasion, did he turn up wearing a pair of tartan trews bearing a hectoring ecoslogan printed on one leg?

It read: ‘We are Earth’s parasites. We multiply and eat Mother Earth away. If Mother dies, parasites die with her. That is why we must save the Earth.’

Let’s set aside the trite banality of that statement. What really sticks in the craw is the hypocrisy of celebs such as Billy who preach high-minded sermons about saving the Earth while criss-crossing the globe in planes, yachts and limousines in furtherance of their careers.

Climate scientists claim air travel is the biggest per-capita contributor to carbon emissions, with some saying it accounts for 5 per cent of global warming.

Yet celebs who think nothing of jetting across the world to pick up their latest gong, or plug their latest project, are always the first to lecture the rest of us about our selfishness for driving to work in a Ford Fiesta and taking an annual holiday on the Costas.

It’s not just Glasgow-born Connolly, whose tours have taken him to Canada, the United States, New Zealand and Australia, with a bit of Britain for good measure. Take Leonardo DiCaprio, who made an appearance at the Davos economic shindig this week to warn us about the true cost of our reckless consumerism and corporate greed.

This from an actor with at least four homes, a taste for superyacht holidays and a personal fortune of $245 million made on the back of the ‘corporate greed’ of Hollywood.

DiCaprio was receiving a Crystal Award for his environmental campaigning. (Apparently, he’s an eco role model as, when he’s not flying around in a private jet, he drives a Lexus hybrid.)

Fossil fuels must be kept in the ground, he said, or global warming would destroy the planet. He’d seen the melting of the snow first hand making his latest film, The Revenant.

For the record, this would be the same movie filmed over nine months in 12 locations in Canada, the U.S. and Argentina. That must have left a carbon footprint even bigger than his ego — yet DiCaprio still lectures the rest of us!

That’s almost as hilarious as one of Billy Connolly’s jokes, if it wasn’t so deeply irritating.