They're everywhere - stars who stubbornly refuse to retire and yummy mummies who have it all. It seems we're not allowed to be slackers anymore.

Slackers of the world unite! We need you to set the rest of us a bad example. It's been an exhausting week and all I've done really is read the papers. First of all there was the story of the Anne Robinson divorce, which detailed her daily routine - healthy breakfast, early morning jogs, personal trainer, 12-hour recording sessions for The Weakest Link, frequent trips to New York.

Not to mention, of course, the botox and facelifts and shopping expeditions to keep her looking young and slim and fend off her 63 years.

It seems an awful lot of effort just to look that scary at the end of it. Though I guess the reported £60m helps.

Then Liz Taylor, 75, in a wheelchair, chronic back pain, is said to be getting married again to a 47-year-old black millionaire businessman and making a new film. Why?

Mick Jagger's doing a solo album, Paul McCartney's dating again. What happened to the pipe and slippers and the afternoon nap, the cardigan and the elastic waist, the graceful slide into peaceful old age?

Not allowed any more.

But it's not just the oldies who are fighting nature. Waiting in a traffic queue alongside the park yesterday I spotted a young mum in Lycra and leggings, jogging with a very tiny baby in a buggy.

"Go home," I wanted to say. "This is the only few months of your life when you can get away with living in baggie jeans and comfy jumpers decorated with baby dribble and letting your roots grow out. Make the most of it. Chill. Enjoy your baby and forget the flab. If only till Christmas."

Gosh, I'm glad I had my children before yummy mummies were invented. Hardly surprising that thirtysomething mums are now said to be increasingly unhappy with their lot. You have to have the career, the flat tummy and the genius baby, and probably a prize-winning novel and an allotment too. Sleep, presumably, is an optional extra.

But when you have such contrasting high profile examples of motherhood as Victoria Beckham and Nigella Lawson, then messages are bound to be mixed. What's a mum to do?

Then there was a report about rising stress levels in teenagers. All those exams and the pressure to look good and be popular. One out of three should be enough. Not any more.

Teenage girls are increasingly asking for cosmetic surgery. Teenage boys are increasingly abusing steroids in their desperate bid for the perfect body. No wonder they're all taking to drink and dope.

The irony is, of course, that while half the country is piling on the pressure, trying to make more money, look good, get fitter, do more, another chunk is spending their days under the duvet doing absolutely rock all. Maybe they're not so stupid after all.

Both sections could learn a little from the other.

Forget the pressure and take a break. Relax. It might not earn you Anne Robinson's millions - but it might make you feel happier