I just don't understand - oh hold on, now I do

The death of Jade Goody was the lead article on the BBC Radio 4 News yesterday evening; why? A minor celebrity famous for:
1. being less than intelligent

"Do they speak Portuganese in Portugal? I thought Portugal was in Spain."

2. for making racist remarks to Shilpa Shetty
3. for making a lot of money from a little talent

has died. For some reason this "news" is the lead item on the BBC why? In OK magazine, the Sun newspaper and on Radio 1 maybe, but on the home of intelligent speech radio?

Then it hit me, Gordon Brown the man who vowed to mark the end of "celebrity culture" has waded in so as to share the nation's grief. The BBC loyally report that:

"Prime Minister Gordon Brown is leading tributes to reality TV star Jade Goody who has died of cancer at 27, praising her as a "courageous woman".

...

The prime minister said he was "deeply saddened" by the news.

"The whole country has admired her determination to provide a bright future for her children.

"She will be remembered fondly by all who knew her and her family can be extremely proud of the work she has done to raise awareness of cervical cancer, which will benefit thousands of women across the UK."

It is more than apt that whilst Tony Blair lead the Country's grief at the death of the Princess of all our hearts, Gordon Brown tries to lead the Nation's "grief" at the death for a minor celebrity of limited intelligence.


Where Gordon Brown leads the BBC must follow so the lead "Have Your Say" subject is What is Jade Goody’s legacy?. It appears that the BBC is agog to know:

"Did you know Jade Goody? What contribution do you believe she made to cancer awareness? What are your thoughts?"

As is often the case the Readers recommended comments are a breath of sanity, take a read, it would seem that there are some people out there with a sense of perspective.


As an aside I have a friend who is currently trying to fight off cancer, she is managing this with dignity and honour whilst raising money for cancer charities rather than for her family and there are many more like my friend. I would have thought that their life and fight was more worthy of celebration than that of the self-obsessed Jade Goody.