Max Mosely and John Lydon might, superficially, seem like the most peculiar of bedfellows. But it seems that the year may end with both of them having taken the British press to court over accusations they they've a penchant for a spot of right wing behaviour.

"There's been a hell of a lot of 'freedom of the press', shall we say, where they’ve run wild, absolutely atrocious, really hurtful stories," thundered Lydon on the BBC's One Show last night. Lydon said he was "Absolutely not" a racist, adding "any bugger that says so is gonna have their day in court with me."

"My grandchildren are Jamaican," he told jowly presenter Adrian Chiles. "It's an absolute offence to them and me when I read stories like that, that are allowed to go to print absolutely unfounded."

He explained his anger with the freedom of the press angle: "[Newspapers] have the liberty to take liberties with a man like me and call me racist when my entire life has proved exactly the opposite."