Comedian on why litter picking is like exercise

I thought the return of football was a sign of us getting back to normal. Maybe too much normal returned.

Large crowds of Scottish fans headed to London, flares were set off and supporters chanted: "No Scotland, no party." It’s a strange chant and seems derivative of: “There ain’t no party like an S Club party.”

While we could focus on the trouble, the better news is what happened the following morning. Scotland fans headed back to the places where a mess had been made to clean it up before they left.

Steve Allen says after a few months of living with your partner you’re done with the hugging phase (Image: Steve Allen)

If I had known that they were going to tidy up I’d have invited them here and taken my rubbish out. I always have too much for the bin.

Those fans are nicer than most people. Before the lockdown, if you walked through parts of the town centre on a Saturday morning, you could see evidence of the Friday night.

You could see the points where alcohol and kebab won the battle against people’s stomachs. I have never seen a hungover local stagger back to the scene of their pavement pizza with a bucket and mop.

The problem is we think of picking up litter as a punishment. It’s handed out by teachers when we’re young or as community service.

Litter picking should be like exercise.

You might not want to spend your time off doing it but there are convincing reasons why you should. It offers mild exercise and will improve the look of your local environment.

While the players on the field might have given an uninspirational performance, some of the supporters really put the effort in when it counted most.