St. Jade

As the news broke that the Prime Minister 'led' the tributes to St. Jade Goody I nearly wretched

A heartfelt gesture...to someone whose name he didn't even know a month ago, and I still doubt whether he knows why she is famous, or cares to

And you know what, Gordon? I would've actually finally found somewhere to respect you had you callously ignored the media furore around a woman was considered 'the stupidest woman in Britain' when she went on Big Brother in that fateful year of 2002

Your obvious politicking was made all the more shameful by your failure to get her bloody name right...at least if you had we could've believed you actually watched the news - and in my book switching off at that point would've gotten you respect, so well done for failing on both intellectual and populist fronts there, matey

People may call me callous and unsympathetic for my views, and I have begun to wonder if I am more naturally cold-hearted than many, but I am not passing judgement on the girl - which is exactly what all those tabloids have been doing for years. I don't care what she did with her life, but likewise why should I feel sympathy for someone I've never met and has never achieved anything of worth? I'm afraid we cannot feel pain for everyone's tragedies, if we did we'd be emotionally crippled - and why it should be any different for someone foisted on us by the media beats me

As I referred to, those tabloids currently leading the story of 'brave' Jade, were the original ones who poured vitriol right from the start; calling her a hippo, a baboon and most memorable of all, a pig

Then of course it got worse - she went from all round entertaining buffoon, to figure of hate over the Shilpa Shetty incident, and her 'career' was in tatters...but then she got cancer

As I said, I don't judge her - as a lot of people accuse the critics of doing, saying it's a class thing and they never did this to Diana - I'm not, and a lot of sensible people out there aren't either. If I was her I probably would've got as much money as I could out of it too, the fundamental issue is why is this woman considered worthy of our attention (I appreciate the irony of writing a lengthy post about it) and why is it considered acceptable for the people running the country to comment on it? To me it seems disrespectful for the leader of a nation to single out one person when they have no real claim to fame

But I suppose my real beef is with the tabloids - they are the architects, the ones who made her into a figure of ridicule and hate, and then of sympathy - all to sell their papers, and if people really respected her then they wouldn't buy the rags that originally demonised her

Goodbye Jade, you will always live on in our hearts as the symbol of Britain's celebrity-obsessed culture