12 reasons I love the Oscars

#1. Because we all love Julie Andrews. Because we all loved The Sound of Music. Because we love every song from it. Because we didn't mind even Lady Gaga's tribute to it.

#2. Because if Richard Linklater had to lose best director to someone it could only be to Alejandro González Iñárritu. Birdman flies!

#3. Because if Boyhood had to lose to anything, it could only be to Birdman.

#4. Because Oscars allows people to say the truth, with humour. Everyone loves Oprah because as Neil Patrick Harris put it, "You're rich".

#5. Because Oscars love Englishmen, especially those who do disabilities, from Daniel Day Lewis to Colin Firth, which explains why Eddie Redmayne won for The Theory of Everything over Michael Keaton, who was a strong contender with the most stupendous comeback movie ever.

#6. Because it gave us three reasons for believing there is justice in this world.

a) Julianne Moore won for Still Alice after a string of Oscar-worthy performances over the years which went largely unrecognised. Because she puts her heart and soul into every film she does, big or small - whether it is The Kids Are Alright or The End of the Affair, she gives it her all, no matter how small the audience and how tiny the budget.

b) Patricia Arquette won for Boyhood in a performance so accomplished that every working mother who has ever tried to hold her family together anywhere in the world can recognise themselves in her. For her shape shifts, her emotional breakdowns, her easy-peasy dressing style, for putting on her glasses to read her speech. And for a speech that instantly made her a feminist icon for demanding equal rights for women.

c) Wes Anderson's The Grand Budapest Hotel won so many artistic awards - finally recognising his amazing body of work.

#7. Because they bring out everyone's inner beast. We always knew there was something creepy about John Travolta - not just Scientology but also all those gay rumours. Finally when he got a little too touchy feely with Adele Manzim, I mean Idina Menzel.

#8. Because there will always be one English winner who will say the word bugger - this time it was Matt Kirby, one of the winners for best live action short.

#9. Because it's nice to see no matter how famous you are you still have to drop names. So good to see how everyone in Hollywood is a friend of Gwyneth Paltrow, including Tim McGraw who sang the moving Glenn Campbell song.

#10. Because Oscar loves a journeyman. JK Simmons was brilliant as the demonic teacher in Whiplash but that's not the only reason he won. Simmons won because he's paid his dues playing dad to all manner of Hollywood women - a pregnant teen in Juno, an anorexic pregnant teen in Men, Women & Children, you get the picture. In fact, he's such a pro at playing dads that he played a caricature of it in the Hugh Grant movie this year, The Rewrite (I suspect I am the only one who has watched it). No wonder his speech was entirely dedicated to his being a dad to two "above average" children.

#11. Because Meryl Streep is the new Jack Nicholson. She will always be in the front row - or near there - and every host will have to acknowledge her presence. She showed us why she is the boss by standing up to appreciate Patricia Arquette's cry for equality and then by quoting Joan Didion. Waiting for the day she starts turning up in dark glasses and leering at all the young men.

#12. Because Neil Patrick Harris looked even better than Michael Keaton did in his socks and underpants in Birdman.