"I wouldn't mind Twittering your Skype into next week"

Is it too cynical to suggest that Jason Manford using this sex text 'scandal' to engineer a move away from The One Show?

In the latest of what is becoming a bizarre procession of mid-ranking celebrities using technology to achieve orgasm, Manford has owned up to sending risque and/or downright rude messages to women through Twitter and Skype and what have you. I say 'owned up', but last month the first bird with whom he'd shared some e-shenanigans shopped him to the popular press and he was left without a leg to stand on. His defence was that he was lonely in a hotel room, but I'm not buying that. I've been on my own in hotel rooms loads of times, and not once have I thought "I know, I'll go online and flirt outrageously with birds. My heavily-pregnant wife won't mind".

His behaviour isn't exactly deplorable, but it's not on is it? If he'd said the same things to a woman in the flesh, it would be deemed inappropriate, so it's no different just because it's virtual. He rises slightly above the usual 'celeb-gets-caught-with-kecks-down' mire simply because he came clean (grow up), rather than carrying it on for months, getting caught then saying "Woe is me - I was in a dark place" or other such dreck which ends up in the sleeve notes on their next album.

He says there were '10 or 12' women in total, so clearly the first woman was just the tip of the iceberg. Apparently he's told his wife and they're working through it, but he's also quit The Beeb just to be on the safe side. Personally I think that's the shot in the arm his career needed. His stand-up was doing fine until he jumped on the gravy train, asking The Fonz what he thought of knife crime and listening to Gyles Brandreth's camp droning. He can get his head down while he sorts out his martial status, then get back on the road, further his comedy career and get some street cred back. Might be an idea to leave the laptop at home though.

On a wider note, this is a further example of fame going to blokes' heads. I can categorically state that in a position of fame, I wouldn't stray from the wife, simply because I've got what I want at home, but it does surprise me about the choices some of these chaps make. Vernon Kaye, for example. Yes, he's got an enormous face, but the birds seem to like him. He too was embroiled in a childish sex text scandal, but he's got the lovely Tess Daly at home, so something's amiss there. Likewise Tony Parker, who plays basketball for some reason. He's gone as far as having an affair, but all the while he's got Eva Longoria washing his underpants. As I mused to a friend, she might be a pain in the arse and we're doing him a disservice, but if there's a better put-together Latino woman out there, I don't want to know about it. I'm not saying that just cos they're fit then the husband shouldn't stray (let's face it, they shouldn't be dabbling under any circumstances) but if they're that unhappy, they should man up, own up and split up. At least then us normal folk get to have a crack at their other halves (providing the Mrs doesn't find out).