Skillset: Celebrity

There are days when, even before I get out of bed in the morning, I am in a rage at the world.  This is generally because of something I have read via my phone on either web-based news or twitter.  Neither of these acts are to be recommended so early in the day and I must give them up.  Today's pillow rage was caused by a tweet highlighting that Waitrose have dumped one cookery writer and hired another.

Firstly the fact that this should even appear on my radar is worrying.  I could channel my menopausal rage to direct it at far more worthy causes.  I don't currently live near enough to a Waitrose to shop there regularly.  Even when I did, I abandoned them in disgust when they stopped selling 'Black Farmer' sausages and introduced Duchy of Cornwall instead (you have to like sausages a lot to understand this, and possibly be menopausal as well).   They did over-egg the Delia Smith connection, however this I could just about forgive, because I was one of the many who learned to cook via Delia's bible.  Nigella and Jamie's books have passed me by,  Delia's tomes will be with me forever.  I think it is sad that at 71 she is on the shelf, or in Waitrose's case off the shelf, but she will hardly struggle for money and, for all I know, may even have instigated the departure.

Secondly, I don't know Pippa Middleton, the 'up and coming writer' who, according to the tweet (so it must be true) ousted Saint Delia.  Ms Middleton is not an offensive person, as far as I am aware.  She has neither said nor written anything worthy of my ire.  When I did shop in Waitrose, I didn't buy their magazine, so why would I care who writes for it?  I care because Ms Middleton is famous for her family connections, not for her ability to either write or cook.  It seems an odd choice for Waitrose, but it has garnered publicity, so I suspect it has fulfilled its purpose.  Should Ms Middleton turn out to be a terrible columnist, it will give Waitrose even greater publicity, so in some respects they are in a win-win situation. 

However, I expect more of Waitrose with their much spouted values and ethics.  We are obsessed with the cult of celebrity, but along with 'good food honestly priced' (overlooking a recent meatball hiccup) I expect good columnists, honestly hired for the experience and talent.  It is a sad indictment of our society that if you are directly related to an ageing rockstar or royalty, or were once a member of a plastic-packed pop band you are well-placed on the ladder to any one of a number of careers including journalism, fashion (either designing or modelling), photography, television and radio presenting.  One ageing rocker's daughter has tried pretty much all of those routes and received a succession of lucrative contracts despite her lack of experience and talent.

Nepotism is hardly new, it was much employed by the Borgias in the middle-ages.  We should also be grateful that the current rich and famous do not maintain their status and wealth in the same manner as the Egyptian pharaohs, who extended the divine right to rule to include a divine right to practice incest, in order to retain the sacred bloodline.  It is less the nepotism and more the triumph of mediocrity that bothers me.  If you can just about scrape by as a writer, a DJ or a fashion designer or, and I suspect this is more likely, put your name to another's work, you can sell.  Between 2007 and 2011, only one female DJ even made it onto an industry-recognised DJ Top 100 list.  Evidence that female DJs are struggling to be recognised, when they have the talent and experience to do the job, so as a radio station boss, why hire someone with no experience, and little discernible talent for that job or any other, but wait - they were once in a girl band, so the sprinkling of waning celebrity glitter will gloss over any shortcomings.

Why I am surprised, I don't know.  Letting celebrities play at any career of their choice is the least of our worries.  We also let straight to management morons run huge corporates and public services because they are CEOs, that is what they do.  The evidence stacked up against them that what they 'do' is done very badly, sometimes with catastrophic results, is sadly no obstacle to continued and very well-rewarded employment in a similar organisations, most likely funded by our tax money.  I suspect that it isn't them, it's me.  I am the one who is behind the times and set in my ways.  I am also a consumer, so I can choose not to shop in Waitrose, not to listen to Heart FM, not to buy newspapers with celebrity columnists and ghost written sports columns.  However it still grates that so much mediocrity is so well rewarded, because those with the talent, skills, enthusiasm and experience for the roles are knocked out of the way by a famous surname, or a much photographed backside.  By reading tweets about it all and blogging it I am as guilty as anyone of celebrating the undeserving.  However, it is now harder than ever in my neck of the woods to buy Black Farmer sausages and Waitrose fondness for the products and progeny of the Prince of Wales have to take a portion of the blame.