IF I did anything more useful than journalism and I thought they d have me, this week I d be looking to pack up my troubles and move to Australia. I m absolutely fed up of this rainy, grey, crowded island we call home. It s probably the January blues or w

IF I did anything more useful than journalism and I thought they'd have me, this week I'd be looking to pack up my troubles and move to Australia.

I'm absolutely fed up of this rainy, grey, crowded island we call home.

It's probably the January blues or whatever but it's really starting to get on my nerves now.

I'm sick of all these storms, of the bad wind, of the biting rain and the constant grey skies.

Due to volume of traffic, my 16-mile journey to work each day is now taking me at least 45 minutes.

So I start my day stuck in traffic, watching my windscreen wipers go back and forth and trying to see the sun through the clouds.

What has compounded my misery is the awful, monstrous debacle that is Celebrity Big Brother.

I've long been one of those people who think they have the moral high ground because they don't watch any reality television on account of it being absolutely dreadful.

Largely because I'm housebound due to the awful weather (oh, I'm so cheery!) I've had the misfortune this year of seeing some of the latest version.

It has always been a concept which escapes me, this desire to watch people carrying out the most mundane tasks.

The other day, when I flicked over on to it, they were showing two people cleaning out the fridge after the milk leaked.

I mean, really, I'm bored when I clean out the fridge, why on earth would I want to watch anyone else doing it?

I was almost immobilised by the inanity of it all before coming to my senses and reaching for the off switch on my remote control.

But what's made it even worse than usual this year is the vicious, overt bullying that has been going on.

I'm sure some of it is racist, but the rest of it is immature, ignorant nastiness and that is almost as bad.

The behaviour of Jade and the other two no-mark Z list celebrities is making me ashamed to be a British woman as they are the 'fairer' sex at its worst. Jealous of Shilpa Shetty's undeniable beauty, grace and poise, they have ganged up to dish out some vicious, bitchy treatment.

Perhaps I am just lucky and have especially nice friends but I assumed that this kind of behaviour finished by the time people left school - I've not seen women behaving that badly since I was a teenager.

I know there is always conflict in Big Brother, to a certain extent it's what the makers hope for, but this year it is going too far.

What makes me even more fed up and gloomy is the very fact that some of those people have even made it onto the "celebrity" programme.

I vaguely know who the Jo woman is, I've never heard of Danielle and although I've obviously heard of Jade as she's everywhere, I find her celebrity status as depressing as it is ridiculous.

The woman is a talent-free halfwit but she has made herself a fortune.

What really rankles is that there are useful, decent, hard-working people out there, like nurses and care assistants, who are paid a pittance and struggle to make ends meet, yet Jade is a millionaire.

Oh, it's great to be British.