As one of the first Twitter storms of 2022 raged Kent emerged almost unscathed.

The county featured heavily in comedian Stewart Lee's 'pedestal' list of good things about 2021.

Kent Refugee Action Network (KRAN), 'The Christmas Lorry Jam Dover Sikhs', 'The Kent Lorry Park Sinkhole' and the RNLI were praised, alongside Faversham's Bob Geldof.

There was also room for the England football team and satirical politician Count Binface.

Meanwhile, the much longer 'in the pedal bin' list included Tonbridge and Malling MP Tom Tugendhat and the under-fire Aspinall Foundation and its head of communications Carrie Symonds alongside the likes of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, The Taliban, Ricky Gervais, 'all [his] yellow Fred Perry shirts' and Home Secretary Priti Patel.

The lists, included in a section of his newsletter called 'My cultural year 2021', saw Lee trend on Twitter, a platform he does not use.

They do not include reasons and it is unclear why Mr Tugendhat was included, although he did previously slam Lee over a column which poked fun at his and others' names.

The Jewish Chronicle and Mr Tugendhat perceived the insult as anti-semitic, the latter posting on Twitter at the time: "The idea of uppity foreigner coming over here and conspiring to take power is literally the archetypal antisemitic trope. It is so standard it’s dull but that doesn’t make it any less true. The search into my name shows he knows the origins. It’s not new."

Those praised reacted with joy to their inclusion, with KRAN's Bridget Chapman saying: "I have been vaguely aware of the Stewart Lee furore today but only now do I realise that he put Kent Refugee Action Network on the good list. Absolutely excellent."

But for some of those on the 'pedal bin' list and their supporters it compounded their view that Lee is "irrelevant" and "elitist" – the newsletter's sub-heading ironically reads: "FROM THE METRO-LIB-ELITE DESK OF Stewart Lee January 2022".

Some of the controversy stemmed from the inclusion of people like Graham Linehan, the Father Ted creator and anti-transgender activist.

In an open letter to Lee posted on his subscription channel he wrote: "Long time no see! How are you doing? The last time we spoke we had a nice chat at a music festival. I believe it was about two years ago and therefore right at the centre of various attempts to destroy my ability to make a living because I was standing up for women's rights and vulnerable children. It surprises me you didn't have the courage to raise any concerns with me then, as now you have included me in a list of people who should be "put in the pedal bin". I'd love to know what I've done to offend you or where we disagree."

Lineham, who was banned from Twitter over transphobic comments, goes on to ask Lee for his views on various topics around the debate.

He concludes: "I want to thank you for one thing. When people stick their heads over the parapet on this issue from the other side, they tend to reveal that they haven't thought much about it much beyond the very little they need to bloviate and condemn others. I'm sure that's not the case, as you’re a thoughtful, Oxford-educated chap, so I look forward to your answer to these questions. You can send the reply to my email, which you could have used at any point over the last two years to point out where I’m getting all this wrong."

The last comedy show played by Stewart Lee was at Canterbury's Marlowe in March 2020. The run was cut short due to Covid-19 but he returns to the theatre on Monday, February 28.