The Third Lesson - Celebrities can be kind of stupid

Ok, so I'm back on my soapbox - it's getting really comfortable up here. Once the sunny days of Summer come along I'm thinking about pimping it out. You know, a deck chair, a jug of Pimms, iPod and some stunners just chilling. Because in all honesty so many things are going on at the moment that my mind cannot comprehend. My mother once told me that common sense is not common and for years I treated it with the same disdain as most of her other old mother's tales. Tales of  square eyes and face freezing gusts of wind, but you know what, she was right!

Carol Vorderman should communicate in binary code...

Spending Thursday night doing what I do every Thursday night, I found myself in front of a Question Time panel that included the usual mix of politicians and celebrities (Journalist Will Self and Carol 'I've done nothing since Countdown' Vorderman were the guest celebs). My main bone of contention is with the former Countdown host, who while trying to appear to be an impartial commentator was quite clearly pushing  a conservative political agenda. Now I'm not a conservative and I didn't agree with much of what she said, but that's not my issue. My issue is that she tried to fool the audience and us at home that she wasn't repeatedly pushing an agenda only to then push said agenda with the very next breath. Whether she was talking about the public's right to know the crime John Venables' went back to prison for (we don't have a right to know by the way) or whether Lord Ashcroft was wrong to have not become a domicile of the UK when he said he would before accepting he peerage in 2000 (he was by the way) she just spouted out a load of Right Wing propoganda and slung mud at the opposition parties - that's what the politicians are there to do, celebrites are just there to prove they're not idiots and you failed. Honestly Carol, we're not stupid but you clearly are if you think we're going to fall for it. I sat there wondering whether Will Self was going to call her on it, but clearly too kind to embarrass her in front of millions simply gave her a masterclass in impartial commentary as only he can.

A quick mention for Estelle. What, if anything, were you thinking?

I was reading one of my favourite blogs the other day (Soul Bounce) and it turns out Estelle's latest track 'Freak' finally got a video. I watched it and Estelle, for whatever reason, decided that blacking up her face like some kind of freaky golliwog was a good look. We all know that Estelle's not exactly had the best stylists over the years - in fact I can't recall when she's ever looked as good as she probably could with some direction - but blacking up really?!?!?!

We all know the racial history associated with this look, so why would you want to recreate that? It's not even a parody. Then she went ahead to defend it basically saying that she's black, how can she black up? That's not an excuse... it's like a Jewish person dressing up as an Auschwitz guard and saying, it's ok I'm Jewish! It was offensive and stupid - anyone with common sense would have known better... but then again it's not common is it?