WHY can’t people do what they’re paid to do?

I’m absolutely sick of ‘stars’ making their money by pursuing a certain line in entertainment or sport then thinking that gives them the right to inflict themselves on us in any given media.

Matt Dawson plays rugby union for England, gives it up then turns up on any TV reality programme he can get his smug face on.

Alesha Dixon has a couple of hit singles and thinks that qualifies her to be a judge on Strictly Come Dancing, on which the aforementioned Dawson has already shimmied and twirled his way around the floor for our delectation.

If a roadsweeper fancied working in the library for a while, before returning to his day job, would he be able to?

No. If a docker expressed a liking for having a go at being a monk for a while, would his employer allow him? Of course not.

Former Python Michael Palin is to blame. He started it, then Paul Merton bezzed off to China and India, Stephen Fry took himself off to America and Ewen McGregor thoughtfully decided to travel around the world, all for us.

What nice people these celebrities are, travelling around the world on our behalf and probably refusing to take any pay into the bargain.

Well, I want it to stop. I want newsreaders to read the news, singers to sing, actors to act and retired rugby union players to hole up in a care home for retired rugby union players with cauliflower ears and bent noses.

So, I don’t want to see professional Scot, supposed anarchic comedian and friend to Prince Charles, Billy Connolly, jetting off around the world and shoving his good fortune in my face.

You’re supposed to be a comedian Connolly, so get your dyed beard back on the stage and make me laugh.

But no, Billy doesn’t want to do that, he wants to go to places that none of us have ever been or will ever go to and tell us how exciting they are.

Billy’s 10-week voyage from the Atlantic to the Pacific, by way of the North West Passage through Canada, takes in some absolutely breathtaking scenery and he meets people ranging from fake Scots and fake Vikings to some genuine, native Inuit.

This week, in the last of the series, he headed through the White Pass towards Vancouver Island.

En-route he learned how to hunt for moose, before moving on to a First Nations settlement, where he took part in a spiritual ritual, then went riding with cowboys and joined a group of loggers to fell a tree.

Most of all though, Connolly couldn’t help but flaunt his good fortune as he took in the incredible scenery of that vast country and buddied up with some less fortunates than he, laughing and joking and coming across as an all round good guy, safe in the knowledge that while they continue to live their lives in harsh circumstances, he can return home to the comfort of his mansion.

Yes, he’s quite funny, engaging and enthusiastic, but he’s rather too pleased to be Billy Connolly for my liking and I would have presented it for a 10th of the rate he commands.

Yes, it would have been rubbish, but in this difficult financial climate . . .