A few months ago, I suggested that our apathy towards politics could best be dealt with by holding a Celebrity Reality TV show instead of a General Election.

I shouldn't have joked. Eddie Hobbs, the businessman, financial adviser, public speaker, TV presenter, columnist, magazine editor ... (actually, is there anything the little man doesn't do?) is apparently being courted by Fine Gael to stand for office in the next election.

Some people's reaction will be "Eddie Who?" He is, as we say in media circles, "a bit last week". As the presenter of RTE's Show Me The Money and Rip Off Republic, Eddie's star once shone brightly. But then, strangely, the phone stopped ringing.

Rich

The concert tours didn't sell, the TV show wasn't recommissioned, his much-touted Brendan investments company that was going to make us rich by investing in car parks in Dusseldorf never really took off.

Pretty soon, all there was to remind of us Eddie's heyday was his little features peering out at us on a magazine rack.

Financial advisers have their place, but it's in a neat little office, a framed photograph of the wife and kids sitting on a neat little desk, with a bespectacled man in a sombre suit sorting out your pension. In a world suddenly full of celebrity hairdressers, fitness instructors and lawyers, perhaps the idea of a 'celebrity financial adviser' (as Eddie is called on Wikipedia) was just too much to bear.

Eddie seems like a decent man, and I'm quite sure that much of his financial advice is sound - but am I the only one who thought him a tiny bit too fond of his high profile? He was constantly to be found commenting on other people's faults. He warned us that the Irish property bubble was going to burst -- well, he started predicting that in about 2004, so I guess he was going to be right sometime.

Success

If you're in the middle of a heatwave, and someone suggests that eventually it's going to rain, we don't hail that person as a visionary. It's called "stating the bleeding obvious".

But spurred on by the success they had with RTE's George Lee, Fine Gael are apparently courting him to stand. Their belief is that "high-profile candidates" are easier to sell -- that someone's celebrity rather than their political experience or, heaven forbid, convictions, are paramount in a campaign. So they're apparently going to approach Eddie. A man who has made his name mostly by rabble-rousing the good, plain people of Ireland with a bit of specialist knowledge, a lot of sound bites and an ability to point out what everyone else has done wrong, while not actually coming up with many solutions himself.

Come to think of it, it's a stroke of genius -- he's made for Fine Gael.

Eoghan Quigg: two words of warning for rising Jedward

Typical. You wait months for a decent breaking story for VIP, then two come along at once. The eviction of Breffny 'The Breffmeister' Morgan from The Apprentice, and Jedward from The X Factor, means there's suddenly an abundance of riches to chase up this week in VIP Towers.

We'll have to act quickly, however, not because the people in question will be world-famous and out of our reach within a few months -- quite the opposite. The reality is that their star will burn for a few months but, no matter how talented and cherubic they are, the public probably won't give a tuppence about them after that. You don't believe me? Two words -- Eoghan Quigg. So if we're going to do them, now is the time.

Jedward are the hottest thing in celebrity right now, and we'll try everything to land them. The difficulty is that everyone in the UK wants them, which means they'll be able to command big fees from the likes of OK! and Heat for photoshoots. Which means we'll have to wait until they've had their fill of them across the water.

Tattooed

The Breffmeister, on the other hand, is an exclusively Irish story and, no offence dude, I don't think Max Clifford has you on speed-dial. Small-time though he may be compared to Jedward, I think his stellar turn on The Apprentice has endeared him to the Irish public.

And if you ask me he's got 'made for VIP' tattooed on his forehead. Well, here's hoping ...

You go girl! Oprah's Midas touch

So, farewell then Oprah -- hero to women of a certain age all over the world -- who has just announced her intention to end her 25-year reign as America's queen of daytime TV.

The darling of the "you go, girl" set, Oprah is a a global phenomenon, with practically everything she touches turning to gold.

One of her most impressive achievements is the extraordinary success of her magazine, O, which has managed to do two almost-impossible things in the publishing business.

It attracts a middle-aged audience, at a time when most magazines are aimed at women aged 18 to 35, and it has done so by being based around one person -- Oprah herself -- which is so difficult in a business where readers are fickle and tastes change so quickly.

Risky

Celebrity publishing is a very risky business, the main problem being that when your star-power fades, there is no reason left to buy your magazine.

But fuelled by the vanity of seeing their faces on magazine covers, and by a belief that it is good for business, many are undeterred.

Wedding planner Peter Brides-of-Franc Kelly recently launched his own bridal magazine into an already crowded Irish wedding magazine market.

But only a few months before, a gardening magazine bearing Diarmuid Gavin's name had to close down.

Still chugging along, however, albeit in a slimmed-down form (the magazine, not the person) is You and Your Money, the Eddie Hobbs-driven mag to help you with your financial queries and woes.

What, you thought he'd gone away or something?

- Michael O Doherty