Letter: Celebrity status is polluting our lives

Many a survey has been carried out in the recent years, investigating the aspirations of young people. Many answer the question "What would you like to be?" with one word, "famous".

The purpose of this letter is to encourage youngsters to aspire to a nobler future, and to view the culture of "celebrity" as a form of pollution; corroding the very quality of modern life.

Surely one of the saddest stories of our time is that of what I can only describe as the decline and fall of Nelson Mandela.

He has been the very embodiment of the concept of "noble" but, as he prepared to leave prison and begin his astonishing journey to the presidency of his nation, no-one prepared him, warned him, of the insidious, poisonous culture of "celebrity".

Like moths to a light bulb they came to him: The Spice Girls, Beckham, Titchmarsh, Naomi Campbell, and editors jump for joy. The trial is front page news.

And on a day when the nation, as a news priority, should have been alerted to the dreadful flooding in Pakistan, the first words of the morning's news on the BBC Today programme were: "Naomi Campbell. . .".

So when young adults ponder over their A-Level results and their futures, they should think twice about "I want to be famous".

Fred Phipps, Bridgnorth