Anyone else sick of being confronted with endless pictures of famous ‘bikini bodies’ parading in the sun just as us normal humans are struggling back to work in the dark, hugging our little chocolate and mince-pie bellies to keep ourselves warm?

Why do the papers think there’s a clamouring in the midst of the British winter to see photos of Paris Hilton in Hawaii or Cameron Diaz in Cabo san Lucas, looking as taut as a snare drum and as rich and smug as a snoozing Piers Morgan?

Most sensible women accept that the men of the UK might enjoy looking at Rihanna bending over to get into a boat, especially if their own companions are spending every evening slobbing out on the sofa in huge jumpers.

But what’s curious is that it’s women’s magazines which are really going overboard displaying pages and pages of bikini-clad celebrities. So assuming most of their readers are heterosexual (even after seeing those Rihanna pics), the motivation can’t be providing eye candy.

Could there possibly be a connection between these guilt-inducing snaps and the pages of joyless diet tips and ‘miracle’ work-out routines such magazines dedicate huge sections to every week?

Might that explain the little carps (‘sporting a rounder tum’ ‘after a big lunch’) which accompany the odd imperfect celebrity photo?

I say dismiss those ‘new year new you’ promotions as the exploitative nonsense they are — no one looks better in a frock than Nigella anyway, and I bet she’ll be tucking into calorific leftovers for a few weeks yet.