AGAINST all odds, Rik Waller, the 20-something stone 20-year-old with the voice of an angel, was voted by viewers into the finals of the Pop Idol TV programme. This was after a panel of experts had pointed out, some more bluntly than others, that Rik simply didn't have the look.

The public's response has been viewed as a victory for common sense over our shallow, image-obsessed pop celebrity industry. But was it?

We have, rightly, come to revile the near anorexic look that was, tragically, once regarded as fashionable. The gaunt image once projected by stars like Calista Flockhart, model Kate Moss and the jagged Victoria Beckham has now, thankfully, been overtaken by the voluptuous, healthily-rounded curves of beauties like Nigella Lawson, Liza Tarbuck.

There would be an outcry if an anorexic-looking teenager were selected as the new Pop Idol. That is not the sort of image we want our impressionable youngsters to look up to and emulate. But is Rik Waller any better? Rising levels of obesity, particularly among the young, are a much greater problem today than anorexia ever was.

Rik, who is being feted as a "new sex symbol" is unhealthily overweight, yet says he doesn't intend to lose an ounce because he is happy as he is. There won't be many youngsters who dream of shooting up to 20 stone because of Rik's success, but it may just convince those who live on chips and burgers and spend most of their evenings on the sofa, that they're fine as they are.

GEORGE Harrison will be remembered for many things. But, in the same week that a survey revealed half of the UK's smokers think the habit is not dangerous, perhaps his greatest legacy is his very public, and brave, declaration that it was his own smoking which killed him. His death could have been avoided. He knew that, and he told us so. So why are so many people still kidding themselves?

THE makers of the disgusting looking chips and beans in a can say it appeals to the sort of laddish bloke who can't be bothered to cook. But what makes them think he will be able to open the tin and find a saucepan?

CHARLOTTE Church's records are being boycotted in the States and she has become the victim of a hate campaign after she apparently made "insensitive" remarks when questioned in an interview about the terrorist attacks of September 11. Charlotte is only 15, she is not standing for election. What sort of journalist would question a child about world affairs and then condemn her ill-thought out response?

I COULD just about cope with everyone from butchers to farmers, rugby players and horse riders, stripping off for calendars. The adverts which followed, for every thing from soap powder to computer systems, featuring ordinary naked people, big and small, were a bit much. But now, with Neil and Christine Hamilton posing naked for a men's magazine, it's all gone too far. I'm already having nightmares about all the other tired old has-beens who could soon start stripping off for publicity - let's put a stop to it now.