R-E-S-P-E-C-T, find out what it has to do with An-ar-cheeee

Once again, John Lydon takes time to give his side of the claims that his entourage had a pop at Kele Okereke:

“He's talking nonsense, right. Bloc Party! What, you can't sell a record, so you need to try and tarnish my name? You mugs. I've done more for this world than that bunch of fucking losers could ever hope to offer. All right? But for me, bands like that really wouldn't be existing. All right? Respect is Johnny Rotten's motto, but for that lot: none.”

Lydon doesn't actually list exactly what he's done for the world - clearly, helping Dairy Crest sell Country Life butter will be part of it, but this particular gift has yet to be formally unwrapped. Public Image were wonderful, but we suspect that might not constitute a gift to the general populace.

It's also quite revealing that Lydon assumes that the motivation for the telling of the tale is simply to sell records - as ever, he assumes that everything's about the deal.

As the Times buys him lunch, he trots through the same old, same old - but things turn nasty when Andrew Billen tries to get a point clarified:

When I gently check if he is referencing David or Dickie Attenborough, he turns nasty.

“You're playing games. There you are. Caught you! Gotcha!” He had lost me, I promise. “I'm going lose you very quickly. I've been nice enough to come here and talk to you, don't you fucking ever try and mug me off.”

Ah, yes - how sweet of Lydon to make time in busy schedule to promote his DVD and eat Rupert Murdoch's puddings.

There's then an attempt to strong arm Billen:

I ask for the bill. Rambo shoulders his way towards me. “Don't fuck us over. OK? Don't. We don't like it.” Frankly, the bill is scarier.

This at the end of an interview where Lydon attempts to claim he doesn't preach and that his mantra is respect. It's like a little pool of delusion, where only Lydon is trustworthy and everyone else is out to get him. Perhaps everyone else is wrong. Or at least if we tell him we believe that, he might go away.

At least until the next DVD he's flogging.