IT'S OFFICIAL, THIS IS MY FIRST RANT OF 2012.

Well, I bet that's put a few of you off stopping by but visitors or not I just have to get this off my chest.

I confess that as much as I hate the whole culture of celebrity ..... and here's why (or at least one reason why).........

Way back when I was a girl when asked what we wanted to be when we grew up the answer was very often (for us girls at least) a nurse or a vet or a teacher or, perhaps most glamorous of all, an air hostess. How unlike today when so many of our young people seem to want to be famous for, well, being famous.

Which brings me back to today's celebrity culture.

Despite part of me loathing myself for it, I admit that in previous years I've getting well and truly drawn into Celebrity Big Brother (CBB) which for those of you who don't know is a game show in which a group of contestants known as housemates live in in isolation in a house which films their every move but I digress ........

My problem with this years CBB is the contestants, the so-called celebrities who number

• 2 soap stars
• A Hollywood 'star'
• A rugby player
• A self proclaimed all-round entertainer *
• A pop singer
• No less than 4 glamour models
• A young man made 'famous' by being asked to leave another reality show after it turned out he had a drug habit and, aged, not yet 17, claimed to have slept with more than 90 woman, having 7 of their names tattooed on to his bottom ..... classy, eh?
• Another young man who is best known (make that only known) as, and I quote ........ a womanising rich boy who 'starred' in yet another reality show
• A woman whose only real claim to fame is her having had an eight year affair with her husbands brother who just so happens to be a professional football player

..... (Click HERE to see just who is who)

OK, I'll give you that the Hollywood star could be classed as a celebrity as could the soap stars, the rugby player, the pop singer and the 'all round singer-come dancer-come actor, as after all, believe it or not, it is generally accepted that they have a talent (even if, as in the case of the singer/dancer/actor, it seems to be the ability to do the splits and generally be annoying).

Not so the glamour girls who basically make their money being photographed wearing very little if not less, the man (and I use the term loosely, very loosely) who admits he's famous for his outrageous behaviour nor the rich womaniser and, certainly not, the woman having an affair with her brother-in-law.

Now I know this isn't a show aimed at youngsters but, like it or not, some do watch and what kind of a message is this sending? Yes, whoopee! its great to earn your money taking your clothes off for a living, and what better way to make your self known than to sleep with someone already in the public eye such as a famous football player?

Oh I don't know perhaps its just me becoming old and grumpy/grumpier but what really puzzles me is when did we start celebrating those individuals famous for these (and similar) activities and these activities alone as opposed to/alongside those with a genuine, recognisable talent?

What says you?

* NB. Having sat in my draft box for a week now, I always give myself a cooling-off period before I publish my rants, I'm led to believe that the all-round entertainer was evicted from the house this Wednesday.