How celebrity TV manipulates our responses - and grief

The British Prime Minister recently led the tributes for TV "celebrity" Jade Goody, who lost her battle with cervical cancer at the tender age of 27.

"I am extremely saddened by her death. She was a courageous woman both in life and death," said Gordon Brown. "She will be remembered fondly by all who knew her."

You might be forgiven for thinking the PM was delivering a eulogy to a Head of State. The fact that he paid tribute at all spoke volumes for the modern-day status of celebrity and in particular, reality television. After all, can you imagine Winston Churchill addressing the nation to lament the passing of a TV personality? Within hours of Goody's death hundreds of people had visited her home outside London to deliver gifts for her two children and thousands more had already paid tribute online.