Homer And His Giant Neighbour

Noteworthy publicity stunt by the promoters of the new Simpsons film in the news today, where a huge image of Homer holding aloft a giant doughnut has been painted onto the hill alongside the Cerne Abbas Giant. This is much to the chagrin of local pagans who’ve been chanting gripes, getting their pentangles in a twist and flinging up their cassocked arms in protest.

Ann Bryn-Evans, joint Wessex district manager for The Pagan Federation, said: "We'll be doing some rain magic to bring the rain and wash it away." Righto then Ann, good luck with that.

It’s all a question of relativity. If Armageddon happened tomorrow and all civilisation was instantly destroyed, in thousands of years time, when silver-suited space archaeologists unearthed the twin images of Homer and his neighbour it would be entirely debateable which will appear the more ridiculous – the image of a portly man in underpants holding up an oversized doughnut, or a giant with his nob out brandishing a wobbly club .

And who’s to say the Cerne Abbas Giant itself wasn’t some grand centuries-old publicity stunt long since forgotten, advertising mead or medieval strippograms or, err… something?