Maybe it's because I'm grumpy

Maybe it’s because I’ve just finished reading Mark Watson’s Crap at the Environment (blog passim) and am much more conscious of green issues.

Or maybe it’s because I hate gmtv with a passion. Whichever it is, I am at a loss to understand how the producers can justify sending Ross King and Mel B* to Beverly Hills merely to promote a competition to win £100,000, in association with a Beverly Hills hotel.

Avoiding pointless air journeys such as this, is the first, easy step to take to cut down on carbon emissions - and the hot air the duo creates in their ‘chummy’ banter can only damage the environment further. Have they not heard of library footage at gmtv?

Personally I’d rather they spent the money on getting another decent news reporter so they could stop being tv’s version of OK! magazine (just don’t get me started on Carla Romano).

Are gmtv viewers so thick that they don’t realise the location of Beverly Hills and that for £100,000 you can afford an air fare? Are they so stupid that they wouldn’t know what to do with 100 grand? And are they so shallow that they need B-list celebrities to encourage them to enter a competition?

I think we all know the answer is probably ‘yes’.

How else can you explain the fact that in thousands of houses every morning people jump up excitedly from the breakfast table because they realise they know the answer to a multiple-choice question which is only slightly more difficult than ‘what is your name?’

It’s easy because they want thousands of people to phone in and cover the cost of the prize you numbskull. Chewing gum for the eyes? It’s not even that high-brow . . .

And if any of the three people who read this blog on a regular basis use the above link to actually enter the competition I will personally come round to your house under cover of darkness and remove all sharp objects for your own safety.

*And if, as has been suggested by a colleague of mine, they were in the US anyway, they'd probably still have taken internal flights, which, it could be argued, is an even greater sin

** Said colleague has pointed out that King and B may well live in Beverly Hills anyway. In which case I take back everything about a carbon footprint. Just concentrate on the fact I hate gmtv. Never let a smart-arse ruin a good rant.