MANY people will agree with today's remarks by the Bishop of Blackburn, Rt Rev Nicholas Reade.

He talks of the "lust for power and publicity" of couples like Posh and Becks and says they are "built up to be knocked down by the media."

It's certainly true that we sometimes seem to be drowning under a tidal wave of magazines and television programmes devoted to "celebrities."

And newspapers, some more than others, are also guilty of having an interest in the goings on of such "stars", some might think occasionally to the point of obsession.

But the economic fact is that this media interest wouldn't exist if there wasn't a public demand for it. It does provide a bit of light relief from a diet of war and natural disaster.

If you the public found such matters truly uninteresting you would make your feelings felt in the way every editor dreads - by not reading or viewing!

Also before people feel huge pangs of sympathy for those famous names when they claim their lives are being made a misery by the "evil" media hordes there is one fact worth remembering.

Almost all of them have spent years courting publicity at every turn to promote themselves and further their "careers."

After reaping these benefits people like Naomi Campbell can hardly complain when they receive publicity they don't see as "positive."