I'M with Anne Diamond on this one. And if you're the sort of person who can eat a bar of chocolate a day and still get into your skinny jeans, well, you can just keep your lip buttoned...

Last night Anne confessed on Celebrity Fit Club that she had had an operation to help her lose weight. The gastric band sounds horrendous - as well as expensive - and Anne is in trouble for not telling them about it before she started. She has been accused of cheating... of letting her life get out of control... of being weak-willed and pathetic.

Look, she's just fat, that's all. And desperate not to be. I mean, how desperate do you have to be to get weighed on national television for a start and then go through all the ritual humiliation of the series? No-one does that for fun. She can't like the way she is.

What's worse, is that she was once tiny, elfin even. As her features disappear into the rolls of fat, it must be deeply, deeply depressing.

And yes, there was a bit of poetic justice when she conned us into buying her workout video - and couldn't keep to the regime herself. But she's certainly paid the price for that now.

There are plenty of people who eat far too much and never take any exercise, who are wobbling their way to early graves. But there are some, like Anne, who keep trying , who eat sensibly, never take the lift, do their best and just watch their weight creeping ever upwards.

Celebrities dealing with problems of drink or drugs by and large get sympathetic support. But be too fat and you're immediately a laughing stock.

There is, of course, no justice in this world. I have worked with colleagues who chomped through endless chocolate bars and biscuits in their working day and weighed no more than seven stone. While I would eat a stick of celery, run up all the stairs and still put on five pounds.

"There are no great secrets to losing weight," say the commentators smugly, probably tucking into a bacon sandwich, or a second glass of wine. "Eat less. Exercise more."

Sometimes, it's not that easy. And it would be nice occasionally if the smug skinnies realised that. Just ask Anne Diamond.

Fathers4Justice protestor Michael Downes smashed an egg on the head of Education Secretary Ruth Kelly when she arrived at court to give evidence against another of their number this week.

Oh very big and bold and clever. But I suppose in their organisation, chucking eggs at people counts as serious political argument.

When they first started out, Fathers4Justice had a lot of public sympathy and goodwill. Well, they've managed to waste that, haven't they.

And the more you hear of their antics, the more you wonder if there perhaps isn't a good reason why they're not seeing their children.

Published: ??/??/2004