It's that end-of-year poll

"Politicians insisting against all evidence that there has been no dumbing down of education at any level and whining academics claiming standards have disintegrated utterly" - Susan Bassnett, Times Higher columnist, casts her vote for the most annoying people in the media this year.

As the countdown to the Poppleton Awards for Notorious Teaching and Scholarship gathers pace, the votes are streaming in, with more than 100 polled so far. George W. Bush is winning the most annoying person in public life by a landslide, while the UK Independence Party has the most votes for the worst effect on British cultural life.

Most unlikely research is currently anything that shows obesity is good for you.

Make your vote count by visiting www.thes.co.uk/endofyearpoll/ before the closing date, December 10. Winners will be revealed on December 24.