Michael Parkinson has caused quite a stir with a Radio Times attack on the media circus surrounding Jade Goody.

Parky said that Goody represented "all that's paltry and wretched about Britain".

He added: "Her death is as sad as the death of any young person but it's not the passing of a martyr or a saint or, God help us, Princess Di," he wrote.

I've been complaining for a while now, both on this blog and in the paper, that I've been at a loss to understand the media attention given to Jade Goody's illness.

Most of all, I've been disgusted by the hypocrisy of national papers which lauded "brave Jade" just a year after branding her "the most hated woman in Britain".

Papers like The Sun, Daily Star and even the Daily Mirror should be ashamed of themselves for such two-faced, over-the-top coverage.

Parky is spot on.