The Laws of Attraction Are Mysterious and Uncontrollable

Some crushes are inappropriate but excusable. For example, you may find yourself doing a double take when someone from the sales department walks past. He may be cute but it's not a good idea to admit you have a thing for him, because you work with him. And because he's a salesman.

Still, at least he's hot. What happens when you find yourself going weak in the head for somebody who really is not in the slightest bit nice to look at?

Funny Guys

It's vaguely understandable when the object of your crush is attractive in other ways - for example, he could be funny. Take American talk-show host Conan O'Brien. (I would.) He looks a bit like Tilda Swinton, only more unsettling. He has ginger hair. He has no discernible eyebrows. He's about nine feet tall and can't weigh more than 65kg. But every time he gives the double thumbs up, grins into the camera and says 'Buddy boy,' I want to jump his bones. Funny is so sexy that it can make up for there being no actual sexy present at all.

That's why I'd happily do Michael Cera or Seth Rogen. Or Steve Carell or Vince Vaughn, spare tyre and all - though - if you needed glasses but didn't have them on, you could justifiably think those two fairly good-looking.

Right, so we can like men because they make us laugh, but that doesn't explain it all the way. It's not as though the world is short of sexy men who are also funny. Remember Brad Pitt in Snatch? Hysterical. Jimmy Fallen is adorable and one of the funniest men on screen. But, given the choice, I think I'd rather sleep with Jack Black. I think it's the chubby cheeks.

Nerds

One step away from the funny-looking funny guy is the funny-looking clever guy. Cathy, is into Barack Obama. Who isn't? But if you take away the power and the stage lights, what you're left with is a sexy voice stuck in a stick figure with big feet and crazy ears.

Still, Obama is an extremely glamorous nerd, and he does have that smile, the one that could probably charm even Julius Malema into submission. Obama is also cool. Cool goes a long way. That's how men such as Billy Bob Thornton and Slash - get my sexiness vote.

My own nerd crush is not cool. If I ever saw Jarvis Cocker walking in the street, I would immediately delete all the Blur songs off my iPod and run over to accost him. I might break a bone, but I'd do it anyway. I don't know why. I can't explain it.

Crusty Old Men

Which takes us another step further, into the category of just plain inexplicable. These are the really inappropriate crushes, because they seem not to have any redeeming features at all. Or, if they do, they are not enough to cancel out all the scary features. And yet these men are sexy. I'm not the only one who thinks so - just look online.

Did you sense that I was procrastinating a bit in the last paragraph? I was, because I keep cringing at the thought of typing what I need to type next. Okay, I'll be brave. Here goes: Gordon Brown. I would totally do Gordon Brown. I expect it would take years of therapy to discover why.

Some people believe power can make a man sexier. In some ways they're right. It might be because charismatic people are often the ones who end up holding power, and charisma is sexy. Someone I know once met red-faced, puffy-nosed Bill Clinton - just after the Monica Lewinsky thing - and described him as 'sex on wheels'.

But the thing is, Gordon Brown doesn't even really have power on his side. He's one of the least popular prime ministers in British history. He's not funny; he looks like he doesn't brush his teeth; he has a freakier smile than Dracula.

At least Jeremy Clarkson, my number-one 'older' crush, is less embarrassing than Mr. Brown. He's crusty and flabby, and his habit of wearing jeans that sag around the bum has been blamed by some for the decline in denim sales during the '90s.

But he's also opinionated and clever and funny. And politically incorrect and often inappropriate. Like my crush on him.